Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder respond similarly to age-matched controls in both speed and accuracy if goal-directed movements are made across the midline

Spatial Accuracy and Variability in Dart Throwing in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder and the Relationship with Ball Skill Items

The present study aimed to examine precision and variability in dart throwing performance and the relationships between these outcomes and bouncing, throwing and catching tasks in children with and without DCD. Children between the ages of 8 and 10 years (n = 165) were classified according to results obtained on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) and divided into three groups: 65 children with severe DCD (s-DCD), 45 with moderate DCD (m-DCD) and 55 typically developing children (TD). All children performed the dart throwing test and the ball skill items of the Performance and Fitness Test (PERF-FIT). The accuracy and variability of dart throwing tasks were significantly different between TD and s-DCD (p < 0.01), and also between m-DCD and s-DCD (p < 0.01). Participants with s-DCD were also found to perform significantly worse on all PERF-FIT ball skill items than m-DCD (p < 0.001), and m-DCD were significantly poorer than TD (p < 0.001). The dart score and coefficient of variation of the long-distance task appear to be significant predictors for the ball skills and explain between 24 to 29% of their variance. In conclusion, poor results in aiming tasks using darts in children with DCD corroborate with the explanation of deficits in predictive control since the tasks require ballistic movements.

Motor Skills Training Program Reinforces Crossing the Body’s Midline in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Midline crossing problems have been associated with children with atypical development. When compared to typical development (TD) children, they are less likely to cross the midline into contralateral space with their preferred hand. A motor skills training program is the most beneficial intervention for children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). However, there is not enough information on how this intervention will affect crossing the midline. The goal of this study was to find out midline crossing behavior after an intervention program for children with DCD. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2) was used to assess motor coordination, and Bishop’s card-reaching task measured the ability of children to cross the midline. The study included 48 right-handed children, 28 with TD and 20 with DCD (5.17 ± 0.70 years) from four preschools in the Khorezm region (Uzbekistan). Participants identified as having DCD were placed in an experimental group (EG: n = 15), receiving ten weeks of a motor skills training program, and a control group (CG: n = 5). Concerning midline crossing behavior before intervention, DCD children showed more contralateral and less midline right-hand use compared to TD children. After intervention, a significant group × position interaction was found between the EG and CG at positions 1 and 4, and between the EG and TD group at position 4. Concerning the midline reaching, fewer right-hand reaches were made by the EG group compared to the other two groups. The same could be seen at position 1 when compared to the CG group. It can be concluded that, after intervention, DCD children in the EG showed fewer right-hand reaches in the contralateral space, but they improved their right-hand reaches in the midline, showing a similar behavior to TD children.

Manual function outcome measures in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD): Systematic review

This study systematically reviewed the clinical and psychometric properties of manual function outcome measures for children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) aged 3-18 years. Three electronic databases were searched to identify manual function tools at the ICF-CY body function, activity and participation level used in children with DCD. Study selection and data extraction was conducted by two blind assessors according to the CanChild Outcome Measures Rating Form. Nineteen clinical tests (seven fine hand use tools and 12 handwriting measures), three naturalistic observations and six questionnaires were identified. The fine-motor subdomain of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 and the Functional Strength Measurement, with adequate reliability and validity properties, might be useful for manual function capacity assessment. The Systematic Detection of Writing Problems (SOS) and the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting (DASH) could be adopted for handwriting assessment, respectively from 6 and 9 years old. Naturalistic observations and questionnaires, whose psychometric properties have been investigated into limited extent, offer an assessment of the daily performances. This review shows that a combination of different tools is needed for a comprehensive assessment of manual function in children with DCD including the three levels of the ICF-CY. Further investigation of psychometric properties of those tools in children with DCD is warranted. Tests validated in other populations should be explored for their applicability for assessing manual function in children with DCD.

Children with developmental coordination disorder demonstrate a spatial mismatch when estimating coincident-timing ability with tools

Coincident timing or interception ability can be defined as the capacity to precisely time sensory input and motor output. This study compared accuracy of typically developing (TD) children and those with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) on a task involving estimation of coincident timing with their arm and various tool lengths. Forty-eight (48) participants performed two experiments where they imagined intercepting a target moving toward (Experiment 1) and target moving away (Experiment 2) from them in 5 conditions with their arm and tool lengths: arm, 10, 20, 30, and 40 cm. In Experiment 1, the DCD group overestimated interception points approximately twice as much as the TD group, and both groups overestimated consistently regardless of the tool used. Results for Experiment 2 revealed that those with DCD underestimated about three times as much as the TD group, with the exception of when no tool was used. Overall, these results indicate that children with DCD are less accurate with estimation of coincident-timing; which might in part explain their difficulties with common motor activities such as catching a ball or striking a baseball pitch.