Assessing Children with Poor Coordination Can Be Tricky – A Review on Ataxia and Ataxia Mimickers and a Study of Three Children with Severe Epilepsy

Figures & data

Table 1 Causes of Poor Balance and Incoordination

Cause	Examples
(A) Extrapyramidal movement disorders	Sydenham’s chorea
(B) Intoxication	Alcohol, drugs, heavy metals, medications eg, benzodiazepines, antineoplastic, and antiseizure medications
(C) Epilepsy	Nonconvulsive seizures, postictal state, antiseizure medications
(D) Motor weakness, clumsiness	Stroke, developmental coordination disorder
(E) Psychiatric	Psychogenic movement disorder
(F) Musculoskeletal disorders	Irritable hip
(G) Ataxia	Intoxication with alcohol, cerebellitis, spinocerebellar ataxias, maple syrup urine disease, posterior fossa trauma

Table 2 Types of Ataxia

Type	Examples
(A) Vestibular	Labyrinthitis, vestibular mononeuritis
(B) Proprioceptive	Guillain-Barré syndrome
(C) Cerebellar	Posterior fossa stroke, phenytoin toxicity, medulloblastoma, multiple sclerosis, mitochondrial disease, Angelman or Rett syndromes