Is learning disability of low birth weight children due to visual information processing obstruction?

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16H07343
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Special needs education
• Research Institution: Osaka Medical College
• Principal Investigator: FUKUI MIHO 大阪医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (70782241)
• Research Collaborator: SHIMAKAWA Shuichi ; OKUMURA Tomohito
• Project Period (FY): 2016-08-26 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 低出生体重児 / 学習障害

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated the rate of children with reading disability, and evaluated whether visual perception and hand-eye coordination were implicated in reading skill in the first to third grade children who were born as very low birth weight infants (VLBWIs). 26% of the children developed reading disabilities. We used the Wide-range Assessment of Vision-related Essential Skills (WAVES) test to assess visual perception and hand-eye coordination in this study. Participants were divided into those with and without reading disabilities (Dys and N-Dys, respectively), and the results of the WAVES test were compared between the groups. In the WAVES test, subjects in the Dys group had significantly lower abilities compared with the N-Dys group in the following skills: tracing (p<0.05), comparing numbers (p<0.05), and copying shapes (p<0.01). Our findings suggest that visual perception and hand-eye coordination were implicated in pathophysiology of reading disabilities in VLBWIs.

Free Research Field

学習障害