Objective: to determine the occurrence of children with poor school performance and to investigate which intrinsic influences are most prevalent among them. Methods: a total of 104 children from the 1st grade to the 5th of elementary school participated in phase 1 (selection of children with poor school performance by a standardized test and based on average grade) and 56 of them (54%) were classified as having poor school performance. In phase 2 (differential diagnosis), 35 of these 56 children underwent multidisciplinary assessments and the results were submitted to a descriptive analysis. Results: out of the 35 children who completed phase 2, 18 (51%) were diagnosed with mood disorder (2 - 6% depression; 16 - 45% anxiety disorder/signs), 14 (40%) showed attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity, 1 (3%) showed specific language disorder and 1 (3%) showed specific learning disorder. Among the most prevalent changes in reading/writing/arithmetic dysortography (19 children - 54%) and the presence of non-literate children (10 - 29%) were observed. Conclusions: more than a half of the school-age children studied had learning deficits in written language and/or arithmetic, and the most prevalent intrinsic variables were internalizing disorders and the attention deficit/hyperactivity one.

The process of school learning occurs in an evolutionary dynamism from the maturation of the upper cortical areas. They allow the acquisition of writing, reading, interpretation, argumentation, calculation and logical reasoning. Thus, many factors can interfer in this process negatively, generating learning disabilities. These interferences can be associated with; (1) primary intrinsic factors like the neurobiological alterations observed in the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD); (2) secondary intrinsic factor like the psicoemotional problem or cronic diseases; (3) extrinsic interferences such as unfavorable ambient. This work described interdisciplinary evaluations to diagnose learning disabilities in children to 6 from 10 years. All the students are at the same school. It was chosen just one place to homogenize the population sample. The tests were applied in the Behavioral Disorder Learning Ambulatory (BDLA) in the Clinical Hospital of the School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto-University of São Paulo. Due to the complexity and the interdisciplinary question, different types of health and educational professionals (speech therapist, neuropsychologist, neuropsychologist, child psychiatrist, occupational therapist and educacionalist) participated in this study. It was made a sorting of 104 children based on their school performance, which was selected 56 (54%). However, just 27 students (48%) finished the evaluation. After the tests, all students presented at least one diagnosis associated with learning disabilities. The most important causes found: 15 students (55%) with anxiety symptoms, 13 (48%) with ADHD and 6 (22%) with Specific Learning Disorders. In some situations, this conditions occurred simultaneously. In this way, it was concluded that: the statistical analysis showed a good sensibility; the lower accession in this research showed that the parents didn't know about the importance of this investigation; the interdisciplinary approach were carefully and conclusive evaluation of various diagnoses and the most frequence of them were: anxiety symptoms followed by ADHD and Specific Learning Disorders.