No abstract

The efficiency of different screening instruments for tic disorders seems to vary in different settings. Telephone-based interviews may be a valid and convenient backup to ascertain the diagnosis of tic disorders when face-to-face neurological examination is not possible.

Background: Mild hand tremor occurs in most normal adults. There are no surveys of the prevalence or clinical correlates of such tremor among children. Methods: A cross-sectional study of tics, tremor and other neurological disorders was conducted in Spanish children; thus, 819 schoolchildren in Burgos, Spain, drew Archimedes spirals with each hand. Tremor in spirals was rated (0–2) by a blinded neurologist and an overall tremor rating (0–4) was assigned. Results: The mean age was 10.9 ± 3.1 years. A tremor rating of 1 (mild tremor) was present in either hand in 424 (51.7%) children, and in both hands in 88 (10.7%) children. Higher tremor ratings were very uncommon. The overall tremor rating was higher in boys than girls (1.31 ± 0.41 vs. 1.22 ± 0.34, p = 0.002) and correlated weakly yet significantly with age (ρ = 0.09, p = 0.01). Within subjects, the left hand spiral rating was greater than the right (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study of 819 Spanish schoolchildren, mild tremor was commonly observed. As in adults, males had more tremor than females, tremor scores increased with age, and tremor scores were higher in the left than right arm, demonstrating that these clinical correlations seem to be more broadly generalizable to children. The functional significance of tremor in children, particularly as it relates to handwriting proficiency, deserves additional scrutiny.

No abstract

The research conducted is part of the European project Erasmus+ FORDYSVAR, whose main objective is to contribute to the educational inclusion of students with dyslexia, aged between 10 and 16 years old, through the use of technology, specifically virtual reality (VR), to improve the access, participation, and educational achievement of students with this learning difficulty. This is a qualitative and interpretative study with a descriptive character. The objective of this work is to design a VR application that contributes to the learning of students with dyslexia based on user-centered design as a methodology. The developmental lines to be addressed in the application have been defined, the features to be included have been determined, and the activities that make up the software have been designed. All this is based on the analysis of the needs and interests of the end users (students with dyslexia) as well as the vision of professionals (teachers and dyslexia intervention specialists). The results obtained allow us to conclude that VR technology is an interesting avenue of treatment, as it offers a ludic, safe, controlled, and motivating environment for students with dyslexia.