Familial study of attentional and behavioural problems in children with Dyslexia and their first-degree relatives in Indian setting.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Dyslexia is one of the common problems seen in children worldwide. There is high co-morbidity of dyslexia with attentional and behaviour problems which could have familial pattern. This study aims to compare the attentional and behavioural problems in children with dyslexia and their first-degree relatives with controls. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional comparative study with single interview method in an out-patient setting. Formally diagnosed (ICD-10) cases of 30 children with specific reading disorder and 30 healthy matched controls and their first-degree relatives were assessed using scales in a single setting after application of inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS: The children with dyslexia had significantly more problems in the domains of selective attention and behavioural problems as compared to controls and the siblings of the cases had significant problems in selective attention but not in behavioural problems. Also, no difference was seen in ADHD symptoms of parents in cases and controls. CONCLUSION: The results from our study are keeping with most of the published literature. We expect that this study will help in laying a good foundation for further studies with stronger methodologies incorporating molecular genetics.