Cumulative Minor Deficits

Abstract

In order to uncover trends and relationships between achievement and physical factors, data were collected over a seven-year period on 71 children in a normal school population. The subjects in the study were an entire entering kindergarten class in a suburban public school in a middle to upper-middle class community. The data indicate that an unusual birth history is present to a far greater degree in children who achieve below their intellectual ability than in children who achieve up to their potential. No single causative factor was found in the underachieving group. However, an accumulation of minor deficits (unusual birth history, eye muscle imbalance, abnormal EEG, other neurological interference) appeared in all of the severe underachievers.