Étude comparative de la dyspraxie : évaluation neuropsychologique d’enfants porteurs d’une dyspraxie développementale ou consécutive à la prématurité

Objectives

The aim of the present study was to compare and contrast developmental dyspraxia and dyspraxia following preterm birth.

Material

Three different domains (attention–executive function, sensorimotor and visuospatial functions) were evaluated using Nepsy battery tests and the Purdue pegboard test.

Method

The results of a neuropsychological evaluation of 32 children with developmental dyspraxia (the DVLT group) were compared with those of 16 children with dyspraxia following preterm birth (the AP group). The population inclusion and exclusion criteria were set according to Gérard's (Gérard C-L. Le concept de dyspraxie. In: Gérard C-L, Brun V, editors. Les dyspraxies de l’enfant. Paris: Masson; 2005. p. 15–24.) definition of dyspraxia.

Results

The two groups had similar visuospatial performance. However, differences between the DVLT and AP children appeared in a test of attention–executive function (visual attention, specifically) and in some sensorimotor tests, with better performance by the DVLT group in all situations.

Conclusion

The difficulties exhibited by preterm-born children (poor upper limb motor control, more severe dyspraxia and the presence of oculomotor impairments) could explain the latter's poor performance relative to children with developmental dyspraxia. Indeed, oculomotor impairments are especially likely to impair performance in visual attention and visuomotor accurary tests — the two situations in which preterm-born children performed worse.