Abstract:

Developmental dyslexia is the most studied disorder of literary laguage. It can have an adverse effect both on the individual's academic development and the career as well as on his/her quality of life and mental health. Crucial for any succesful adaptation may be an early diagnosis and treatment. One promising method for early diagnosis could be the examination of eye movements in non-language/non-reading tasks that can be administred to pre-school children.The authors examined eye movements in a sample of pre-school children (N=107) in the year preceding first year of elementary school. Using non-reading tasks, we were observing these children for five years of their schooling. The aim was to investigate the predictive ability of the oculomotor test as it relates to developmental dyslexia. In the sample, authors found a child whose eye movements differed significantly from the others, with oculomotoric performance below average. This child was later diagnosed with developmental dyslexia in co-morbidity with ADHD. Authors discuss the ability to generalize as well as the differential diagnostic value of this oculomotor finding. The case report can serve as an example of how eye movements investigated in non-reading tasks in pre-school age can predict the neurodevelopmental deviation of the language/reading type with the co-occurrence of ADHD. The results of the study support the hypothesis that information about neurodevelopmental deviations is included in eye movements and can be examined in pre-school children.

Keywords:

Eye movemnts, developmental dyslexia, ADHD, screening.