Vestibular compensation in infants and children with congenital and acquired vestibular loss in both ears

In children with semicircular canal anomalies, vestibular compensation during their development and growth was studied. The damped rotation test elicited absence or poor per-rotatory nystagmus and absence of post-rotatory nystagmus in all cases. Development of gross motor and balance function was seriously delayed in each case during the first 2 or 3 years of life. Thereafter, during the pre-school age, all children could achieve most landmarks of motor development, such as head control, independent walking and running. However, balance functions at the age of entrance of the elementary school (6 years old) were variously impaired in each case. The better case could swim under water but the poor case could not maintain static balance with eyes closed. These motor skills due to vestibular compensation presumably depend on integration of the compensatory input from visual, somatosensory and proprioceptive senses, and the maturation of motor control systems in the cerebellum, basal ganglia and motor cortex. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.