Abstract
Several studies have examined postural control in dyslexic children; however, their results were inconclusive. This study investigated the effect of a dual task on postural stability in dyslexic children. Eighteen dyslexic children (mean age 10.3±1.2 years) were compared with eighteen non-dyslexic children of similar age. Postural stability was recorded with a platform (TechnoConcept®) while the child, in separate sessions, made reflex horizontal and vertical saccades of 10° of amplitude, and read a text silently. We measured the surface and the mean speed of the center of pressure (CoP). Reading performance was assessed by counting the number of words read during postural measures. Both groups of children were more stable while performing saccades than while reading a text. Furthermore, dyslexic children were significantly more unstable than non-dyslexic children, especially during the reading task. Finally, the number of words read by dyslexic children was significantly lower than that of non-dyslexic children and, in contrast to the non-dyslexic children. In line with the U-shaped non-linear interaction model, we suggest that the attention consumed by the reading task could be responsible for the loss of postural control in both groups of children. The postural instability observed in dyslexic children supports the hypothesis that such children have a lack of integration of multiple sensorimotor inputs.
Highlights
Several studies have explored the effect of a dual task on postural control [1,2,3], and it has been found that cognitive tasks do influence postural stability
Dyslexic children were screened for developmental coordination disorder (DCD) with the movement assessment battery for children (MABC) and their score was above the 21th percentile
Figures show the postural parameters that were measured during the two experimental conditions for dyslexic and non-dyslexic children
Summary
Several studies have explored the effect of a dual task on postural control [1,2,3], and it has been found that cognitive tasks do influence postural stability. The nature of the cognitive task used is most likely responsible for the different results In line with this thinking, the U-shaped non-linear interaction model suggests that the cognitive demand of the secondary task can either improve or diminish postural stability. The third model, the task prioritization model, hypothesizes that subjects prioritize postural control over cognitive activity. This strategy is often used by older people [14] and in cases of pathologies [15]
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