DYSMETRIC DYSLEXIA AND DYSPRAXIA: Hypothesis and Study

Abstract

Of 115 consecutive dyslexic children selected and referred for psychiatric evaluation on the basis of their poor or refractory response to reading instruction, 112 (97%) children showed evidence of a cerebellar-vestibular dysfunction. This cerebellar-vestibular dysfunction manifested itself in the dyslexic children by: positive Rombergs, difficulty in tandem walking, articulatory speech disorders, dysdiadochokinesis, hypotonia, and various dysmetric or past-pointing disturbances during finger-to-nose, heel-to-toe, writing, drawing, as well as during ocular fixation and scanning testing (Dow and Moruzzi, 1958). Goodenough figure drawings (1926; Bender, 1951) and Bender Gestalt designs (1938) revealed in all cases a disturbance in spatial orientation, i.e., rotations of the Bender Gestalt cards, copying paper, drawn Bender Gestalt figures , as well as rotations of the head and body. This, together with tilting of the Goodenough and Bender Gestalt drawings from their intended horizontal and vertical axes and steering difficulties during angle formations, suggested that the