Associations Between the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire – Brazilian Version (DCDQ-BR) and Motor Competence in School-Age Children

Abstract

Aim: Parental screening of children’s motor skills can be helpful for early identification of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). The present study examined the associations between the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire – Brazilian version (DCDQ-BR) and motor competence in school-age children.Methods: 707 children (332 boys, 375 girls) aged between 6- to 10-years and one of their parents participated in the study. Parents completed the DCDQ-BR and children’s motor competence was determined using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency – 2nd edition (BOT-2).Results: The agreement between the BOT-2 and DCDQ-BR results was comparable across age, ranging from 74-84 percent. In general, there were low- to moderate correlations between all aspects of the parent report and children’s motor competence. Sensitivity and specificity of the DCDQ-BR were 70% and 81%, respectively. Overall, boys had higher motor competence than girls, but parent reports were similar for gender.Conclusions: Parental assessment of their child’s motor ability is moderately associated with motor competence, and this association is similar for boys and girls, even though boys scored higher in motor competence. Our findings suggest that it may be possible to reduce the length of clinical assessment by only testing children that flag as suspect for DCD in the DCDQ-BR.