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Impact of Neurofibromatosis Type 1 on School Performance

Departments of General Pediatrics and Neuroscience, The NF1 CoRe Team, (Cognitive Research Team), Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Femke K. Aarsen, MA

Departments of General Pediatrics The NF1 CoRe Team (Cognitive Research Team), Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Arja de Goede-Bolder, MD

Departments of General Pediatrics, The NF1 CoRe Team (Cognitive Research Team), Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Coriene E. Catsman-Berrevoets, MD, PhD

Pediatric Neurology The NF1 CoRe Team (Cognitive Research Team), Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital

Willem F. Arts, MD, PhD

Departments of General Pediatrics, The NF1 CoRe Team (Cognitive Research Team), Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Henriette A. Moll, MD, PhD

Departments of General Pediatrics The NF1 CoRe Team (Cognitive Research Team), Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Ype Elgersma, PhD

Neuroscience Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital The NF1 CoRe Team (Cognitive Research Team), Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, y.elgersma{at}erasmusmc.nl

School functioning of 86 Dutch neurofibromatosis type 1 children (7-17 years) using teacher questionnaires was analyzed to determine the impact of neurofibromatosis type 1 on school performance. In all, 75% of the neurofibromatosis type 1 children performed more than 1 standard deviation below grade peers in at least one of the domains of spelling, mathematics, technical reading or comprehensive reading. Furthermore, neurofibromatosis type 1 children had a 4-fold increased risk for attending special education and a 6-fold increased risk for receiving remedial teaching for learning, behavior, speech, or motor problems. Children without apparent learning disabilities still frequently displayed neuropsychological deficits. Only 10% of the children did not show any school-functioning problems. Finally, it was found that the clinical severity of neurofibromatosis type 1 correlated with the cognitive deficits. Taken together, it was shown that neurofibromatosis type 1 has profound impact on school performance. Awareness of these problems may facilitate timely recognition and appropriate support.

Key Words: neurofibromatosis type 1 • learning disabilities

Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 23, No. 9, 1002-1010 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0883073808316366


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