The cortical evoked potentials in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

Purpose: Evoked potentials were recorded in patients with DCD to evaluate the integrity the afferent pathways and to rule out the presence of any neurological lesions.

Material and methods: Two boys: 5 and 16 years old with recognized DCD were examined. Battery of tests: short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP), pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (VEP), cognitive event-related potentials (CERP) and EEG were recorded. CT and neuropsychological assessment were also performed.

Results: N20 and P25 latencies and also central conduction time of SEPs in both patients were longer. N9, N11, N13 latencies were normal. VEP, CERP, EEG and neuroimaging scans were normal.

Conclusions: Relationship among perceptual--motor skills, cognitive impairment and electrophysiologic findings in children with developmental dyspraxia are discussed. The disturbances of the integrity of the afferent pathways could to be one of many causal factors. Further researches are required to determine the specific source of the neurological deficit of clumsy children.