DCD Children Research Articles

The effect of BAPNE Body Percussion exercises on the balance and the executive functions of DCD children

This research aims to study the effect of Bodypercussion exercises on balance and executive functions of children with DCD. Thirty children with DCD between seven and nine years of age were selected from girls' elementary schools. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups: experimental and control (15 subjects in each group). For eight weeks, the experimental group participated in group BAPNE neuromotor sessions. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and mixed ANOVA test with repeated measures and Bonferroni's post hoc test. The results showed that the result of BAPNE body percussion exercises on static balance (P=0.001), dynamic balance (P=0.001), sustained attention (P=0.001) and response inhibition (P=0.001) is significant and participants in the experimental group performed better at post-test (P=0.001) and follow-up (P=0.001) than the control group.

Evaluating the Grip Strength and Pen Pressure in Handwriting Performance among Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder in India

Handwriting difficulties were predominant among children with developmental coordination disorder. Poor muscle strength and pressure exerted by pen were factors assessed by the clinicians and they play a role in determining the handwriting efficiency. There is no empirical evidence on the handwriting efficiency and the factors associated with it for Indian children with developmental coordination disorder. The study aims in evaluating the grip strength and pen pressure in handwriting performance among children with developmental coordination disorder. Ten children of age group 5-10 years with developmental coordination disorder were compared with typically developing children. Hand dynamometers were used in evaluating the palmar and tripod grip strength. Handwriting task was compared between the typically developing children and Developmental coordination disorder children and the results of the study assured that there was no significant difference documented in the hand dynamometer measures of grip strength. DCD children exhibit less pressure on writing surface as compared to typically developing peer group children. There was no correlation between grip strength and pen pressure over handwriting efficiency in children with developmental coordination disorder. Clinicians should create awareness on the importance of enhancing handwriting skill among children with developmental coordination disorder.

Prevalence of suspected Developmental Coordination Disorder and its association with preterm and low birth weight in 5–10-year old children

BackgroundDevelopmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder that results in difficulty in motor coordination observed in school-going children that interferes with classroom performance. Suspected DCD (S-DCD) children may show poor motor, as well as academic performance at school, and hence the present study aimed to find out the prevalence of S-DCD in children of age 5–10 years in central India and to find its association with preterm and/or low birth weight (LBW). MethodA total of 716 normal school-going children of age 5–10 years (both genders) were included in the study from four schools of the city by stratified sampling method. Children with any diagnosed neurological, orthopedic, rheumatologic, metabolic, cardiopulmonary, or psychological disorders were excluded. Data was collected using the parent-administered Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire-2007 (DCDQ′07) and a parent/caregiver proforma. Children were sorted into three age subgroups (5–7.11 years, 8–9.11 years and 9–9.11 years). ResultPrevalence of S-DCD in 5–7.11 years (21.5%), 8–9.11years (23.9%) and is highest in 10–10.11 years (30.6%). Preterm children showed a higher prevalence of S-DCD (preterm: 29.54%, term: 23.10%). Children with LBW also showed a higher prevalence of S-DCD (30.15%) and among normal birth weight (21.43%). In children with both preterm and LBW history, the prevalence of suspected DCD was found to be 51.72%. ConclusionPrevalence of suspected DCD was found to be 23.9% in the 5–10 years age group. It was also observed that S-DCD is strongly associated with preterm, as well as low birth weight in children of age 5–10 years.

A new protocol for assessing action observation and imitation abilities in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A feasibility and reliability study

To develop a new protocol for the assessment of action observation (AO) abilities and imitation of meaningful and non-meaningful gestures, to examine its psychometric properties in children with DCD and typically developing (TD) children. For learning manual skills, AO and imitation are considered fundamental abilities. Knowledge about these modalities in children with DCD is scarce and an assessment protocol is lacking. The protocol consists of 2 tests. The AO test consists of two assembly tasks. The imitation test includes 12 meaningful and 20 non-meaningful gestures. Items of both tests are rated on a 4-point scale. Twelve children with DCD (mean age 8y3m, SD, 1.30) and 11 TD children (mean age 8y2m, SD 1.52) were enrolled. For inter-rater reliability, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated for the total score, weighted kappa and percentage agreement for single items. Known group validity was assessed by comparison of DCD and TD group (Wilcoxon rank sum test). For construct validity, the mABC-2 test was used. The protocol was adapted and confirmed by an intra and inter-rater reliability study (new sample of 11 DCD children, mean age 7y5m, SD 1.37). Excellent ICCs were reported for intra and inter-rater reliability for the final protocol. A significant difference between DCD and TD group was found for AO abilities (p<.01), for nonmeaningful gestures (p<.001). A significant correlation was reported between the AO test and the mABC-2 test (r=56;p≤0.0001). No significant correlations were revealed for the imitation tests. The results support the psychometric properties of this protocol. When fully validated, it may contribute to map the deficits in AO abilities and imitation, to evaluate treatment effects of imitation and AO interventions.

Motor skill learning in children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder

The question whether children with DCD have motor learning deficits is difficult to answer based on the current body of knowledge. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of practice on motor skill acquisition, retention and transfer in children with and without DCD using a variety of games in a virtual environment. Performance on a criterion task (Wii ski game) and MABC-2 balance subscore was compared between children with DCD (n=33) and TD children (n=28) following 10weeks of playing active video games. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare changes in the two groups. The children with DCD demonstrated lower performance on the criterion task than the TD group (p=0.031). A time by group interaction indicated that the difference in performance on the criterion task became larger over time (p=0.039). No differences were found in retention between groups. Large improvement (Cohen d 1.11) was observed for the children with DCD on the MABC-2 balance subscore. Based on the criterion task results, typically developing children seem more proficient in learning new skills compared to children with DCD. More research is needed to confirm that children with DCD have a problem to transfer skills to other contexts.

Development of Korean Version of Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ-K)

Purpose: This study translated the developmental coordination disorder questionnaire’07 (DCDQ’07) into Korean and investigated the psychometric properties of the Korean DCDQ (DCDQ-K) using validation processes. Methods: The subjects were 300 parents with typically developing children aged 5-15 years (162 girls and 138 boys, mean age 9.24 years, SD 2.59) across the country. To develop the Korean DCDQ, a forward-backward-original author feedback-panel meeting-pilot study with parents was done. The internal consistency, test-retest reliability performed two weeks apart, content validity, discriminative validity, convergent validity, and constructive validity were examined with the pre-version of the DCDQ-K. Results: Approximately 15.33% of the subjects were probably shown DCD using DCDQ-K. Significant differences in age and province were observed in the DCDQ-K total score. The reliabilities and validities were good in the DCDQ-K. Conclusion: The DCDQ-K is a reasonable screening tool for DCD children.

Life Impact of Developmental Coordination Disorder: Qualitative Analysis of Patient and Therapist Experiences

DCD are one of the more commonly occurring forms of Developmental disorder managed by therapists and their teams worldwide. The impacts of this disorder are not restricted to limitation in activity of daily living and participation in sports and academic activities with peer groups, but may also result in long term physical co morbidities, psychological, and social consequences. There is currently no gold standard assessment tool in the identification of DCD; however specific patient-reported outcome measures DCDQ remains in practice. This analysis aimed to develop a conceptual framework of life impacts of developmental coordination disorder from the experiences of caregivers and parents who have DCD Children as well as the health professionals who treat them. A qualitative investigation was done using semi-structured interviews with people (n=12) who had handling children with DCD (Caregivers/patients) and Therapists (n=6) who treat children with DCD. Interviews with caregivers were recorder and 1 therapist has been individually allotted for transcribing each phrase and codes them. The recorded and coded phrases were finally grouped in categories. Experience of health professionals ranged from 1 year to 15 years working with people with DCD. Health professionals included a pediatrician (1), physiotherapists (2), psychiatrist (1) and an occupational therapist (1). The conceptual framework derived from interview data included five themes (Physical, Occupational, Psychological, Daily Living, and Social). Therapist responses did not reveal any additional items, but majority of responses focus on physical and occupational therapy scope. The nature of life impact following DCD affects many areas of life. The findings from this research have provided an empirically derived conceptual framework from which a gold standard outcome measure can be designed for a geographic location.

Local dynamic stability during treadmill walking can detect children with developmental coordination disorder

ObjectiveDevelopmental coordination disorder (DCD) is an innate impairment of motor coordination that affects basic locomotion and balance. This study investigated local dynamic stability of trunk accelerations during treadmill walking as an objective evaluation of gait stability and the sensitivity and specificity of this measure to discriminate children with DCD from typically developing children. MethodEight children with DCD and ten age- and gender-matched typically developing children (TD) walked four minutes on a treadmill. Trunk accelerations in vertical, medio-lateral and anterior-posterior directions were recorded with a sternum mounted accelerometer at 256Hz. Short term local dynamic stability (λs), root mean square (RMS) and relative root mean square (RMSR) were calculated from measures of orthogonal trunk accelerations. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed to discriminate between groups based on short term local dynamic stability. Resultsλs was significantly greater in children with DCD in the main movement direction (AP) (DCD: 1.69±0.17 λs; TD:1.41±0.17 λs; p=0.005), indicating reduced local dynamic stability. RMS and RMSR accelerations showed no difference between children with DCD and TD children in any direction. The ROC analysis of λs in separate directions and in two dimensions showed an excellent accuracy of discriminating between children with DCD and TD children. Anterior-posterior direction in combination with medio-lateral or vertical showed best performance with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.91. ConclusionWe have shown that children with developmental coordination disorder have general reduced local dynamic stability and that the short term Lyapunov exponent has good power of discrimination between DCD and TD.

The effect of an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention in children with developmental coordination disorder

Background and aimsChildren with DCD have lower self-perceptions and are less physically active than typically developing children. The aim of this quasi-experimental study was to investigate whether an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention affects DCD children’s motor performance, self-perceptions, and physical activity compared with a motor intervention only. Methods and proceduresThe intervention group consisted of 20 children and the care-as-usual group consisted of 11 children, all aged 7–10 years. The perceived competence component of the intervention focused primarily on providing positive, specific, and progress feedback to enhance self-perceptions. We assessed children at baseline, after 12 treatment sessions (trial end-point), and at 3-month follow-up. Outcomes and resultsMixed linear models revealed no differences between the intervention and the care-as-usual group on any of the outcome measures. Children improved their motor performance and increased their perceived athletic competence, global self-esteem, and perceived motor competence after 12 treatment sessions. This improvement was maintained at 3-month follow-up. Motor task values and physical activity remained unchanged for all children. Conclusions and implicationsA perceived competence and motor intervention is as effective as care-as-usual in children with DCD. Future research should focus on improving physical activity in children with DCD. What this paper addsThis is the first study that has investigated the effect of an integrated perceived competence and motor intervention (intervention group) on motor performance, self-perceptions, and physical activity compared with a motor intervention (care-as-usual group) in children with DCD. We made the perceived competence component explicit by providing positive, specific, and progress feedback to enhance children’s self-perceptions. Also, this is one of the first studies that has investigated the effect after both 12 treatment sessions (trial end-point) and after 3 months of no intervention (3-month follow-up). We found no differences between the intervention and the care-as-usual group, but children improved their motor performance and increased (most) of their self-perceptions after 12 treatment sessions, while physical activity remained the same. The improvement was still present at the 3-month follow-up. We also benchmarked our results about self-perceptions and physical activity to a group of typically developing children. Self-perceptions in children with DCD had improved to the level of typically developing children after 12 treatment sessions, but their physical activity levels remained significantly lower. This result was the same at the 3-month follow-up, except for perceived athletic competence, which was lower in children with DCD at the 3-month follow-up. In accordance with previous intervention studies that have investigated children with DCD, we found large intra-group variability in the change in motor performance and self-perceptions in children with DCD. We argue that we need to better understand why some children with DCD improve and others do not after a motor intervention.

발달성협응장애아동의 자세조절에 있어 지지면의 견고성과 시각정보의 영향

Purpose: Previous study (Chung & Stoffregen, 2011) has shown that the coupling of DCD children with optic tic flow differed from that of typically developing (TD) children. The study further investigated the differentia l sensitivity of TD and DCD children to imposed optic flow using the moving room paradigm. Methods: A total of twenty children, ten with DCD ( 5th percentile in M-ABC test) and ten matched controls, in the age of 10-11 years (mean age = 9.5 ± 0.6 yr) participated in this study. We evaluated the postural sway of TD and DCD childrenwhile providing and reducing support rigidity with the vision or without during the cyclic oscillation of visual stimulus. The room was oscillated with magnitude 2 cm at three different frequencies (0.1 Hz, 0.2 Hz, 0.3 Hz). Variation in the frequency of room oscillation was crossed with variation in the support surface (foam vs. no foam), for both TD and DCD children. We measured the motion of the body in the anterior-posterior axis of center of pressure(COPap), that is, along the line of sight. Results: The postural sway of DCD children was less stable than TD children without room motion. In addition, DCD children displayed greater body sway (high mean gain, high max spectrum ) during periodic oscillation of room motion. The group differences were large during supported surface. Conclusion: We concluded that DCD children may have problem in integrating multi-sensory information and use of optic flow differently from TD in controlling their posture.

Procedural learning, consolidation, and transfer of a new skill in Developmental Coordination Disorder

The aim of this study was to explore the differences in procedural learning abilities between children with DCD and typically developing children by investigating the steps that lead to skill automatization (i.e., the stages of fast learning, consolidation, and slow learning). Transfer of the skill to a new situation was also assessed. We tested 34 children aged 6–12 years with and without DCD on a perceptuomotor adaptation task, a form of procedural learning that is thought to involve the cerebellum and the basal ganglia (regions whose impairment has been associated with DCD) but also other brain areas including frontal regions. The results showed similar rates of learning, consolidation, and transfer in DCD and control children. However, the DCD children's performance remained slower than that of controls throughout the procedural task and they reached a lower asymptotic performance level; the difficulties observed at the outset did not diminish with practice.

Neural underpinnings of impaired predictive motor timing in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

A dysfunction in predictive motor timing is put forward to underlie DCD-related motor problems. Predictive timing allows for the pre-selection of motor programmes (except 'program' in computers) in order to decrease processing load and facilitate reactions. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study investigated the neural correlates of motor timing in DCD (n=17) and typically developing children (n=17). The task involved motor responses to sequences of visual stimuli with predictive or unpredictive interstimulus intervals (ISIs). DCD children responded with a smaller reaction time (RT) advantage to predictive ISIs compared to typically developing children. Typically developing children exhibited higher activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) for responses at unpredictive as opposed to predictive ISIs, whereas activations in DCD children were non-differentiable. Moreover, DCD children showed less activation than typically developing children in the right DLPFC, the left posterior cerebellum (crus I) and the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) for this contrast. Notably, activation in the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) positively correlated with RT as an indicator of processing load in both groups. These data indicate that motor performance in DCD children requires extra processing demands due to impaired predictive encoding.

Postural Adaptations To Supra-postural Tasks in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder

We investigated the effect of varying memory (cognitive) demands, and visual (perceptual) demands on postural motion. Sixty four children (32 DCD, 32 TDC, 9-to-10 years) were volunteers. Each performed separate memory and visual tasks at two levels of difficulty; easy (LD) and hard (HD) while recording their postural motion. For the memory task, both groups reduced postural sway in the HD condition. For the visual task only the TDC group reduced postural sway in the HD condition; DCD children did not. The DCD group did not reduce postural motion but, in fact, increased motion. We also found several group u task interactions on sway. Our data suggest a weakening of the action linkage between both cognitive and perceptual tasks in children diagnosed with movement difficulties. The data are discussed in the context of limitations in the embodied relationship between posture and both perceptual and cognitive activity.

A study of EEG coherence in DCD children during motor synchronization task

This paper investigates the hypothesis that the coordination difficulties of DCD children are associated with an increased coherence in the cortical motor regions, which persists with age. Forty-eight children participated in the study (24 DCD and 24 Controls). Their ages ranged from 8 to 13 years, divided into three groups (8–9, 10–11, and 12–13 years old). Children were required to perform finger flexion or extension either in synchrony or in syncopation with a rhythmic metronome, while a 32-channel EEG was recorded. Along with stability measures of motor performance, we analyzed the spectral EEG coherence between intrahemispheric (left frontal/left central; left central/left parietal) and interhemispheric (left central/right central) sites. Spectral coherence assesses functional coupling between distant areas of the brain. Two frequency bands related to sensorimotor activation were chosen: alpha (8–12 Hz) and beta (12–30 Hz). The synchrony task was chosen as a rest condition against which the two syncopation conditions at 0.5 Hz and 1.3 Hz were contrasted. For intrahemispheric comparison, 8–9-year-old DCD children showed that coherence between fronto-central regions increased for both rhythms and conditions, as compared to controls. No difference was found for interhemispheric comparisons. As frontal sites are related to motor planning, our results suggest that youngest DCD children were forced to maintain a high level of pre-programming to compensate for the difficulties caused by the perceptual-motor requirements of the task in light of their coordination disorder.

Validity of the motor observation questionnaire for teachers as a screening instrument for children at risk for developmental coordination disorder

This study investigates validity of the Motor Observation Questionnaire for Teachers (MOQ-T) in 182 children aged 5–10 years, 91 children referred for motor problems to a rehabilitation center and 91 comparison children. Performance on the MOQ-T was compared to performance on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) and the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCD-Q). Significant correlations were obtained between the MOQ-T and the DCD-Q ( r = −.63), and the MOQ-T and the M-ABC ( r = .57). The MOQ-T discriminated between children at risk for DCD and comparison children. Sensitivity of the MOQ-T was 80.5%, specificity 62% with the M-ABC as ‘gold standard’. These results support the validity of the MOQ-T as a screening instrument for identification of children at risk for DCD.

The effect of gender and ethnic differences on the success of intervention programmes for the motor proficiency and self-concept of 7-9 year old DCD children

More boys than girls are diagnosed with DCD (Maldonadoo-Duran, 2002), while boys have a higher global (Davies & Brember, 1999) and physical self-concept (Crocker et al., 2000) than girls. However, no literature exists with regard to ethical differences. Teachers identified 201 potential DCD candidates. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Henderson & Sugden, 1992) identified 58 with DCD (36 boys and 22 girls). The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (Child Form) (Fitts & Warren, 1996) and Child Anxiety Scale (Gillis, 1980) were administered to determine the children's self-concept and anxiety respectively. A four-group pretestposttest, with two follow-up tests was used. Children were randomly grouped into experimental groups (motor based intervention, self-concept enhancing intervention, integrated psycho-motor intervention and control group). A repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine interactions within the groups, independent t-tests to determine gender differences and a one-way ANOVA to determine differences between the ethnic groups. The self-concept of the girls in the psychological group improved moderately significantly (p=0.09) more than that of the boys, while the white children's motor proficiency (motor based intervention group) improved significantly more than the black children's. These differences were, however, not large enough to justify different intervention programmes for different ethnic groups and genders. Keywords: Gender; Ethnic; Race; Children; DCD. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation Vol. 29 (1) 2007: pp. 113-128

Developmental coordination disorder pertains to a deficit in perceptuo-motor synchronization independent of attentional capacities

We investigated from a dynamic pattern perspective to motor coordination whether the deficiency in motor coordination characterizing Developmental Coordination Disorder children pertains to a general disorder in synchronization leading to a lower stability of the performed coordination pattern, and the extent to which the trouble is linked to attentional capacities. Twenty-four DCD children without ADHD aged eight to thirteen and 60 control children were asked (1) to perform a Continuous Performance Test assessing sustained attention; (2) to flex one finger either in synchrony or in syncopation with a visual periodic signal whose frequency was increased stepwise, assessing synchronization abilities. For the attentional task, percentage of exact responses, number of errors and reaction time were recorded. For the synchronization task, we measured relative phase (i.e., the ratio between the stimulus and the response onset and the time separating two successive stimuli). DCD children were significantly more variable than controls in both conditions and the difficulty in synchronization was unrelated to attentional disorders (ANCOVA). These findings support the idea of a general synchronization disorder in DCD children underlying their poor motor coordination. Moreover, this synchronization disorder does not appear to be strictly dependent on the level of sustained attentional capacities.

Visual Information and the Control of Reaching in Children: A Comparison Between Children With and Without Developmental Coordination Disorder

Three experiments were performed on reach and grasp in 9- to 10-year-old children (8 controls and 8 with developmental coordination disorder [DCD]). In normal reaching, children in the DCD group were less responsive to the accuracy demands of the task in controlling the transport component of prehension and spent less time in the deceleration phase of hand transport. When vision was removed as movement began, children in the control group spent more time decelerating and reached peak aperture earlier. Children in the DCD group did not do that, although, like the control group, they did increase grip aperture in the dark. When depth cues were reduced and only the target or only the target and hand were visible, children in the control group used target information to maintain the same grip aperture in all conditions, but DCD children behaved as if the target was not visible. Throughout the studies, the control group of 9- to 10-year-olds did not produce adult-like adaptations to reduced vision, suggesting that they had not yet attained adult-like integration of sensory input. Compared with control children, children with DCD did not exhibit increased dependence on vision but showed less recognition of accuracy demands, less adaptation to the removal of vision, and less use of minimal visual information when it was available.