Effectiveness of a Summer Camp Intervention for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Abstract

The intensive, group-based summer camp may offer a valuable alternative to improve the functional skills of children with DCD, while providing other notable benefits.

Implementing the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO‐OP) approach in a group format with children living with motor coordination difficulties

“…Similarities exist between this study and Mandich et al (2003) who reported successful participation built confidence to try new activities. Zwicker et al (2015) further supports that the CO-OP approach offers the child the opportunity to develop confidence and self-esteem which facilitates their willingness to participate in new and challenging activities.…”

“…Zwicker et al . () further supports that the CO‐OP approach offers the child the opportunity to develop confidence and self‐esteem which facilitates their willingness to participate in new and challenging activities.…”

“…Evaluation of these studies highlights a number of important factors which must be considered when applying the CO-OP approach in a group format. These include: having therapists that have experience with the CO-OP approach leading groups; adhering as closely as possible to the CO-OP protocol; providing a balance of group and individual supports as each child will advance towards his/her goals differently; ensuring similar developmental levels among group members to allow for use of similar strategy types; and placing children with similar goals into groups in order to facilitate skill development and socialisation (Dunford, 2011;Martini, Manidch & Green, 2014;Zwicker et al, 2015). Broader literature on this topic reinforces the importance of child-chosen goals which provides the opportunity for children to develop autonomy and contributes to the building of intrinsic motivation that is required to persist in task engagement (Case-Smith, 2015;Poulsen, Ziviani & Rodger, 2006).…”

“…Mandich, Polatajko and Rodger (2003) and Thornton et al (2015) confirmed that providing education to families as part of an intervention decreases their sense of isolation and empowers parents to help their child develop an understanding of the condition and how it affects their daily lives. The crucial role of parental involvement is highlighted within the CO-OP literature to encourage children to apply what they learn during intervention sessions to other tasks, resulting in generalisation and transfer of skills (Dunford, 2011;Zwicker et al, 2015). Learning new strategies to approach a task, understanding the use of dynamic performance analysis and verbal self-talk (a part of the key features of the CO-OP approach), can result in children having a higher level of perceived competence, therefore, resulting in increased levels of engagement and participation in life (Mandich et al, 2003).…”

Feasibility of Motor Imagery Training for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder – A Pilot Study

“…It is based on the belief that when a child guides himself through a problem-solving task by talking aloud, he/she learns to regulate behavior by learning how to identify a goal, develop a plan and evaluate the success of that plan (Sangster et al, 2005). Several studies have shown that the CO-OP intervention is effective in obtaining the goals chosen by children with DCD (Miller et al, 2001; Polatajko et al, 2001; Corcoran et al, 2005; Zwicker et al, 2015). …”