Learning Disorders and Comorbidity

Abstract

Objective :

To review clinical manifestation of learning disorder and its comorbidity

Materials and methods :

This retrospective descriptive study was performed in completed chart of new cases of learning disorders following the criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,4th Edition,Text Revision (DSM IV-TR) at Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health during January 1, 2006 - December 31, 2010.

Results :

Two hundred and thirteen completed chart of patients were reviewed. Male : Female ratio 3.8 :1. Mean age was 8.8+2.2 years. More than half of cases (54.9%) received the initial treatment during their primary school. The main reason for further evaluation was learning problem (83.6%) followed by behavioral and learning problems (33.8%). Seventy percent of patients had a single problem. The remaining had multiple problems such as learning together with behavioral, emotional and/or physical problems. Delay in language development was found in 37.4%. The average IQ was 86.8±13.7 which 39.9% of patients were classified as normal IQ. Fifty seven percent had impairments in reading, writing and calculating skills while 19.7% had reading and writing defects. The most common disorder associated with LD were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, motor skill disorder and adjustment disorder (67.6%, 27.2% and 14.6%, respectively). Moreover, familial LD was found in 8.9 percent of patients. Major cause of medical attention was learning problem in spite of their normal IQ (86.8±13.7). Patients who had 3 accompanied problems which were reading, writing and calculating defects were mostly found (56.9%). The comorbidity was 87.8%, such as deficit hyperactivity disorder , motor skill disorder and adjustment disorder. Thirty percent of cases had a combination of emotional, behavioral and physical problems.