Perceptual-motor contributors to the association between developmental coordination disorder and academic performance: North-West Child Health, Integrated with Learning and Development study

Elna De Waal,Dané Coetzee,Anita E Pienaar

doi:10.4102/sajce.v8i2.562

Abstract

Background: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) portray motor coordination and perceptual difficulties which can hamper daily activity and academic task execution. Aim: This study examined the association between DCD and academic performance, and explored which perceptual and motor coordination skills had the largest contribution to academic performance. Setting: Ten-year-old children ( N = 221, 10.05 years + 0.41 standard deviation) who formed part of the North-West Child Health, Integrated with Learning and Development (NW-CHILD) longitudinal study in South Africa were randomly selected to participate. Methods: Motor coordination, visual-motor integration and academic achievement were assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 , the Beery–Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration-4 , and national and mid-year assesments respectively. Spearman Rank order correlations and stepwise regression analyses were used to respectively determine significant associations and unique contributors. Results: All perceptual and coordination skills differed between children with and without DCD, although only visual perception and manual dexterity showed overall correlations with academic performance in children with DCD. Visual perception also correlated strongly with maths ( r = 0.26) and with the grade point average ( r = 0.31) in children with and without DCD ( r = 0.33, r = 0.45). The highest contribution to the total variance (23.11%) in math performance was explained by visual perception (22.04%), while visual perception contributed to 16.36% of 18.17% in the grade point average. Conclusion: Children with DCD display significantly inferior visual-perceptual and coordination skills of which visual perception and manual dexterity influence academic performance (especially maths), negatively.

Highlights

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is characterised by deficits in the acquisition and execution of motor skills that can be identified at a young age and which has a negative impact on academic achievement and everyday activities (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013)
This study examined the association between DCD, perceptual and motor coordination skills and academic achievement in 10-year-old children, The results firstly confirmed an overall relationship between visual perception and academic achievement of children, irrespective of whether they had coordination problems (DCD) (Table 4), while moderate to strong correlations were established between DCD, manual dexterity, visual perception and academic achievement (Table 5)
Inferior visual-motor integration (VMI), visual perception, motor coordination, manual dexterity, aiming-and-catching and balance were found in children with DCD which showed statistical, practical and even clinical relevance

Summary

Introduction

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is characterised by deficits in the acquisition and execution of motor skills that can be identified at a young age and which has a negative impact on academic achievement and everyday activities (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Several researchers report a link between motor problems and academic skills (Alloway & Temple 2007; Schoemaker et al 2001; Sortor & Kulp 2003; Westendorp et al 2011). Some explanations for this occurrence are given from a neuropsychological perspective. Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) portray motor coordination and perceptual difficulties which can hamper daily activity and academic task execution

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Discussion

Conclusion