Developmental correlates of school-age children with a history of benign congenital hypotonia.

In order to clarify the prognosis of benign congenital hypotonia (BCH), 25 children aged 6 to 8 years who had been diagnosed with BCH as infants were examined on a variety of sensory, perceptual-motor, and behavioural measures and compared with 26 control children. There were no significant differences between the two groups on any of the medical or neurological measures of the Touwen Neurological Examination (Touwen 1979), nor were there significant overall differences on any of the sensory or behavioural measures. However, the BCH group showed inferior gross motor performance on the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (Bruininks 1978). They scored significantly lower on the Gross Motor Composite, and performed worse on each of the four Gross Motor Subtests, reaching significance on two: Bilateral Coordination and Strength. The follow-up of children with BCH should continue even after the apparent resolution of the hypotonia, with particular attention to the gross motor aspects of performance.