Developmental History and Learning Disabilities

Abstract

Neurodevelopment disorders (ND) are experienced by at least 10% of school-age children being important causes of school evasion since they give rise to learning disabilities (LD). It is proposed that both genetics and environment are sources of ND. Regarding environment, pregnancy and neonatal conditions are important factors. The present work assessed LD by means of standard reading and arithmetic tests, similar to those used at school, while developmental variables correlated with maternal health during pregnancy, neonatal conditions, neuropsycomotor development and familial antecedents, were studied by means of standard questionnaires. The correlation between the results of the academic tests and the developmental variables showed that pregnancy and neonatal conditions are very influential upon child’s school progress. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that standardized data about the learning capabilities are obtained from groups of children in different schools and correlated with the developmental history of those children.