Background: We analyzed the hypothesis that the vestibular and auditory systems are integrative functions. Methods: The study involved 383 children (5.5 ± 2.4 years old). We assessed the conduct of auditory information by recording the auditory brain stem response (ABR), post-rotational nystagmus (PRN), and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP), and calculated the integration of the parameters. All procedures were carried out using the JACOBI 4 software package. Results: We have found out that PRN, ABR, and cVEMP represent three different groups of integrative functions, each of which is conditioned by its own integrative mechanism. We have proven that PRN and ABR are associated with age, but no relationship was found between cVEMP and age. Conclusion: According to our data, the severity of ABR and PRN depended on age, while cVEMP was not associated with age. The functional immaturity of the child’s vestibular system, which probably arose in utero, often becomes apparent only at school when reading and writing must be mastered. These skills require maturity of both the vestibule ocular and vestibule spinal functions of the vestibular system.
The article discusses the results of the dynamic visual acuity test in children aged 5-15 with learning difficulties. Dynamic acuity is a parameter that reflects the correlation between the vestibular and oculomotor systems. One of the functions of the vestibular system is automatic eye-ball stabilization during head movements. This mechanism allows to keep the picture stable on the eye's retina, which makes visual perception possible. To test visual acuity of test subjects we used the standard table by Sivtsev or LEA symbols table under two conditions. The first condition (static visual acuity): the test subject was sitting still with no head movement and naming the letters or symbols that the tester showed. The second condition (dynamic visual acuity): the test subject was making quick head movements from side to side with the frequency of 2 Hz and naming the symbols the tester showed. Under normal conditions, due to vestibular ocular reflex which occurs in response to quick head movements, dynamic visual acuity and static visual acuity do not show much difference. The difference is no more than one line on the visual acuity chart. The research involved 174 children with learning difficulties. It was found that 37% of the study participants had impaired dynamic visual acuity. Impairment of dynamic visual acuity is connected with hyporeactivity of semicircular canals of the vestibular system which results in low efficiency of the vestibular ocular reflex. This dysfunction may explain the difficulties in the automation of reading in children -reading requires additional energy resources a child has to allocate to stabilize eye balls and recognize figures. This simple test is easy to administer in any educational facility. It allows to detect at-risk children who must do special exercises to develop dynamic visual acuity.
The article describes the results of application of the inTime neuroacoustic training by Advanced Brain Technologies (USA) when they were organizing assistance to children who had learning disabilities. This training optimizes the functional state of the brain by using sounds of various frequency and rhythm. The effectiveness of the inTime technique was monitored by the Complex Auditory Subcortical Evoked Responces (CASER) functional diagnostic test developed by the specialists of the Prognoz Children's Neurological Center (St. Petersburg, Russia). The article shows that the inTime program improves the effectiveness of intervention to overcome learning disabilities. This method is suggested to be used in schools in order to support learning process of children with learning disabilities as well as to prevent to help children of the risk group.
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