Abstract
BackgroundEarly identification of children with motor difficulties, such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD), is essential. At present only a fraction of children with DCD are identified. The purpose of the study was to systematically review the literature from 1994 to 2017 on observational screening tools and to evaluate the validity, reliability and usability of the questionnaires used.MethodsThe review of the literature was conducted to synthesize the data from five electronic databases for children aged 6–12 years. The following databases were searched: Academic search Elite (EBSCO), ERIC (ProQuest), MEDLINE (Ovid), PsycINFO (ProQuest), and SPORTDiscus with Full Text (EBSCO). The studies meeting our inclusion criteria were analyzed to assess the psychometric properties and feasibility of the measures.ResultsThe literature search retrieved 1907 potentially relevant publications. The final number of studies that met the inclusion criteria of our systematic review was 45. There were 11 questionnaires for parents, teachers and children. None of the questionnaires was valid for population-based screening as the only measurement tool.ConclusionsThere are many challenges in using initial screening tools to identify children with motor difficulties. Nevertheless, many promising questionnaires are being developed that can provide information on functional skills and limitations across a variety of tasks and settings in the daily lives of children with DCD. The review provides much needed information about the current scales used in many clinical, educational and research settings. Implications for assessing psychometric properties of the developed questionnaires and further research are discussed.Trial registrationPROSPERO, CRD42018087532.
Highlights
Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) has been discussed for 20 years, at present only a fraction of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are identified [1]
DCD is commonly associated with other developmental disorders [9], such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [10, 11], learning disabilities such as dyslexia and specific language impairment (SLI) [12], and autism and associated psychosocial impairments [13, 14]
We looked for different aspects of empirical validity evidence, including concurrent, predictive, construct, known group/discriminative, convergent, cross-cultural, and face validity
Summary
Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) has been discussed for 20 years, at present only a fraction of children with DCD are identified [1]. DCD is still poorly understood by many healthcare and education professionals [2], DCD affects 5–6% of school-age children. It is characterized by a major impairment of motor coordination and typically has a significant negative impact on the performance of everyday activities or academic achievement [3]. Assessment and identification of children at risk for DCD are important in order to avoid these secondary physical, cognitive, language, and social–emotional manifestations of the disorder [4, 5]. Identification of children with motor difficulties, such as developmental coordination disorder (DCD), is essential. The purpose of the study was to systematically review the literature from 1994 to 2017 on observational screening tools and to evaluate the validity, reliability and usability of the questionnaires used
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