Objective: to determine the occurrence of children with poor school performance and to investigate which intrinsic influences are most prevalent among them. Methods: a total of 104 children from the 1st grade to the 5th of elementary school participated in phase 1 (selection of children with poor school performance by a standardized test and based on average grade) and 56 of them (54%) were classified as having poor school performance. In phase 2 (differential diagnosis), 35 of these 56 children underwent multidisciplinary assessments and the results were submitted to a descriptive analysis. Results: out of the 35 children who completed phase 2, 18 (51%) were diagnosed with mood disorder (2 - 6% depression; 16 - 45% anxiety disorder/signs), 14 (40%) showed attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, 1 (3%) showed specific language disorder and 1 (3%) showed specific learning disorder. Among the most prevalent changes in reading/writing/arithmetic dysortography (19 children - 54%) and the presence of non-literate children (10 - 29%) were observed. Conclusions: more than a half of the school-age children studied had learning deficits in written language and/or arithmetic, and the most prevalent intrinsic variables were internalizing disorders and the attention deficit/hyperactivity one.

Summary Introduction: This is an objective laboratory assessment of the central auditory systems of children with learning disabilities. Aim: To examine and determine the properties of the components of the Auditory Middle Latency Response in a sample of children with learning disabilities. Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional cohort study with quantitative, descriptive, and exploratory outcomes. We included 50 children aged 8–13 years of both genders with and without learning disorders. Those with disorders of known organic, environmental, or genetic causes were excluded. Results and Conclusions: The Na, Pa, and Nb waves were identified in all subjects. The ranges of the latency component values were as follows: Na = 9.8–32.3 ms, Pa = 19.0–51.4 ms, Nb = 30.0–64.3 ms (learning disorders group) and Na = 13.2–29.6 ms, Pa = 21.8–42.8 ms, Nb = 28.4–65.8 ms (healthy group). The values of the Na-Pa amplitude ranged from 0.3 to 6.8 ìV (learning disorders group) or 0.2–3.6 ìV (learning disorders group). Upon analysis, the functional characteristics of the groups were distinct: the left hemisphere Nb latency was longer in the study group than in the control group. Peculiarities of the electrophysiological measures were observed in the children with learning disorders. This study has provided information on the Auditory Middle Latency Response and can serve as a reference for other clinical and experimental studies in children with these disorders.

RESUMO -Este estudo objetivou investigar a sobrecarga emocional e a percepção da própria qualidade de vida em mães de crianças com Erros Inatos do Metabolismo (EIM). Participaram 21 mães de crianças com EIM, com comprometimento neurológico grave, de ambos os sexos, com idade até dez anos. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio dos instrumentos WHOQOL-Bref e Burden Interview. Os dados foram analisados estatisticamente e comparados. Foi observado que os cuidados com a criança com EIM interferem negativamente na qualidade de vida das mães, sobretudo no domínio relações sociais, acarretando uma sobrecarga emocional, de tal forma que quanto maior a sobrecarga, mais baixa a percepção sobre a própria qualidade de vida.Palavras-chave: doença crônica, sobrecarga emocional, qualidade de vida Emotional Burden and Quality of Life of Mothers with Children Having Inborn Errors of MetabolismABSTRACT -This study aims to investigate the perception of women having children with Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEM) about the experienced emotional burden and their own quality of life. The participants were 21 mothers of children with IEM, with serious neurological injury. The children were of both sexes, up to ten years old. Data collection was accomplished through instruments WHOQOL-Bref and Burden Interview. The data were statistically analyzed and compared. The care of children with IEM interfere in a negative way in the quality of life of the mother, especially in the domain of their social relations, resulting in an emotional burden; the greater the burden, the lower the perceived quality of life.

Purpose: to compare aspects of memory, learning and oral comprehension between children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and children with Anxiety Disorder (AD). Methods: thirty-two children (7-10 years) were divided into: G1 - children diagnosed with ADHD, and G2 - children diagnosed with AD. The children were not under drug treatment. The tests applied assessed working memory (phonological loop and visuospatial sketch), learning, episodic memory and oral comprehension. Results: both groups showed changes in working memory for visuospatial sketch and phonological loop (worse performance in pseudowords in the ADHD group and digit-reversed order for children with AD), and in oral comprehension. Group comparison showed a statistically significant difference regarding the most complex level of the oral comprehension test and the repetition of nonwords with three syllables. Both groups showed a suitable performance in learning ability, however, the group of children with ADHD suffered from backward interference, with no memory consolidation, showing low episodic memory performance. Conclusion: children with ADHD and anxiety disorder showed various altered cognitive skills, although group comparison revealed that children with ADHD exhibited worse cognitive performance.

Language is a complex cognitive function, characterized by a system of principles and rules that enable people to code their meaning in a symbol, and vice-versa. 1 It has both expressive and receptive components. 1 Under a natural course, oral language skills are developed first (pragmatic, phonological, morphosyntactic and semantic aspects), and then metalinguistic and written language skills are acquired. Arithmetic skills, in turn, are related to numerical properties and operations. 1 To develop arithmetic skills, three different systems are recruited, depending on the task: a nonverbal system (responsible for presenting the relationship between numbers); a verbal system (the numbers are expressed as a type of word); and a visual system (numbers can be decoded as Arabic numerals). 2 Development of the abovementioned cognitive skills is of utmost importance to the life of every human being within literate society. 3 For these skills to be adequately developed, children need to be integrated into various environments, and to acquire other levels of development. Recent reports have shown prevalences of alterations in written language and/or arithmetic performance of approximately 22% among Indian schoolchildren 4 and 54% among Brazilian schoolchildren. 5 Regarding the prevalence of specific learning disorders (dyslexia and/or dyscalculia), the same studies stated that the percentage was 3% in Brazil, 5 9% in Turkish-born children 6 and 7.5% in India 4. They also showed that high rates of comorbidities were present in children with

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Objective: to analyze the prosodic aspects of speech in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Methods: 21 children aged 3 to 6 years participated and were divided into three groups: Group 1 - children with Autism Spectrum Disorder; Group 2 - children with language delay; Group 3 - children with typical language development. Three judges performed a subjective evaluation of the emissive prosody (characterization of pitch, loudness, sentence stress, stressed syllable and others) of the children during interaction time (video recording and use of specific protocols). The equality of proportions test was applied for group comparison (α=0.01). Results: the prevalence of a history of delay for speaking the first words was high in Groups 1 and 2. Regarding the prosodic characteristics, all Group 1 children had difficulties in the use of the stressed syllable, and some in the accentuation of the sentence. On the other hand, no Group 3 children showed these changes and few Group 2 children presented excessively stressed syllable. Conclusion: inappropriate stressing of words seems to be one of the features in the differential diagnosis of verbal children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar se as habilidades cognitivas de controle executivo e visuoespacial se relacionam a desempenho prejudicado na elaboração da escrita em crianças do ensino fundamental, com queixa escolar (comportamental ou de aprendizagem). Foram analisados 70 prontuários de crianças de 6 a 10 anos, atendidas em ambulatório especializado, de 2013 a 2018. Desse total, foram consideradas 40 crianças, as quais foram divididas em dois grupos, com e sem dificuldade na elaboração escrita. Coletaram-se dados de caracterização, desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor, intervenções prévias e desempenho na avaliação neuropsicológica quanto às habilidades de controle executivo e visuoespaciais. A regressão logística com o LASSO foi utilizada na avaliação estatística. Os resultados sugerem uma relação positiva entre o histórico de integridade da linguagem/desenvolvimento da leitura e a construção coerente da narrativa e, a experiência escolar como variavél importante no processo de aprimoramento do nível de coerência escrita. A variável não linguística (habilidade visuoespacial) não se mostrou diretamente associada ao processamento da escrita.