Diagnosis of oculomotor anomalies in children with learning disorders

Abstract

This systematic review presents the existing scientific evidence for oculomotor anomalies in children with three different types of learning disorders – namely, dyslexia, dyspraxia and attention deficit‐hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This review was registered in the PROSPERO database (registration number: 139317). The QUADAS‐2 tool was used to systematically evaluate the quality of the diagnostic tests used in the evaluated studies and to confirm whether the oculomotor alterations observed in the different groups of children with various learning disorders had a consistent diagnostic basis. Using this tool, the design of the articles was well elaborated, although concerns exist regarding the selection of patients and the diagnostic criteria for the binocular conditions. All the studies reviewed conclude that a pattern of oculomotor anomalies exist in the groups of children with these three types of learning disorders compared to healthy children. However, there is a concern regarding the diagnostic methodology, as no clear range of normality for the parameters used to characterise ocular motility was identified and no gold standard or reference test has been defined. In future studies, this range of normality must be developed for different oculomotor skills, and a reference test (possibly video‐oculography) for the measurement of these skills must be established.

Key words:

• attention deficit‐hyperactivity disorder
• dyslexia
• dyspraxia
• eye‐tracking
• learning disorder
• oculomotor anomalies
• saccades

Acknowledgements

The authors have no proprietary or commercial interests in the medical devices described in this manuscript. David P Piñero is supported by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain within the program Ramón y Cajal, RYC‐2016‐20471.

Additional information

Funding

Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad