Level of Sensory Integrative Functioning in Children of Vietnam Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange

Abstract

This study investigated the sensory integrative functioning of offspring of veterans exposed to Agent Orange, a herbicide used extensively in Vietnam. The Southern California Sensory Integration Tests and the Southern California Postrotary Nystagmus Test were administered to 12 children: six children whose fathers were exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam and six matched control children. Test scores of the two groups were compared on various parameters: general level of sensory integrative functioning, perceptual-motor functioning, visual-perceptual functioning, vestibular functioning, eye-hand coordination, visual-motor integration, and somatosensory functioning. Test results showed that the experimental (Agent Orange) group scored lower on all of the parameters. Statistically significant differences were evident on a composite score of sensory integrative functioning in general, as well as for a composite score on the perceptual-motor subtests. The results of this study, while limited in terms of sample size, suggest that children of Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange are at greater risk for sensory integrative dysfunction than children in the general population. Results also suggest the need for additional research on the offspring of Vietnam veterans exposed to herbicides in Vietnam, as well as a need to assess the consequences of ubiquitous environmental chemical toxins on the neurological development of all children.