Psychiatric co- morbidity among learning-disabled children

Despite a strong reciprocal association between dyslexia and behavioral problems in children, their co-occurrence is often under-recognized and under-treated resulting in less than optimal outcomes in all areas including academic emotional outcomes.

The primary goal of this study was to identify the co-morbid behavioral problems in dyslexic children and delineate its types to minimize its burden on dyslexic children; in order to design a better management plan.

This study was conducted on 62 dyslexic children between the ages of 6 to 10.5 years, belonging to different socioeconomic standards. They were subjected to the Learning Disabilities assessment protocol (including Modified Arabic Dyslexia Screening Teat , MADST )of the Phoniatrics Unit, Ain Shams University also they were subjected to the Arabic version of the Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL) which was conducted at the Psychiatric Unit, Ain Shams University.

Reading disabilities was positively correlated with total behavioral problems, internalizing behavioral problems, anxiety, depression, social and attention problems, while there was no significant association with somatic, thoughts problems and externalizing behavior (aggression and rule breaking behavior).

this study showed that reading disabilities is associated with behavioral problems, which may affect the efficiency of there habilitation program