Examining the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

Abstract

Examining the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination DisorderBackground. While primarily a motor disorder, research considering the cognitive abilities in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is limited; even though these children often struggle academically.Aims. The present study aimed to characterise the IQ profile of children with and without DCD, and to identify whether children with DCD exhibit specific cognitive weaknesses.Methods and Procedures. 104 children participated in the study. Fifty-two children (mean age, 9 years) with a diagnosis of DCD were matched to 52 typically-developing children by age and gender. Cognitive ability was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV). Outcomes and Results.Children with DCD performed poorer than their peers on processing speed and working memory measures. Individual analyses revealed varied performance in the DCD group across all cognitive indices, despite displaying Full-Scale IQs in the typical range. Discriminant function analyses show processing speed and working memory performance predicted only 23% of between-group variability. Conclusions.Children with DCD present with a heterogeneous cognitive profile, lending support to individual case analyses in research and when designing educational assistance plans. The motorically-demanding nature of the WISC-IV processing speed tasks raises specific concerns about using this index of the IQ assessment in this population. Research and practical implications are raised. What this paper adds?Intellectual (cognitive) abilities are assessed in research and clinical practice. A link between cognitive and motor skill is often reported in the typically-developing literature, but little is known about the cognitive profile of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of a range of cognitive abilities, using the popular Wechsler scales. For the first time, it shows that children with DCD perform poorly on only the processing speed and working memory measures, in comparison to their peers. However, the motor demands of processing speed tasks can in part explain these results. Moreover, a heterogeneous cognitive profile was identified in the DCD group. Analysis of individual differences shows that children with DCD do not present with a distinct IQ profile. This suggests that attention should be paid to individual case analyses in order to understand the relationship between motor skill and IQ. The paper addresses the risk of identifying DCD on the basis of an IQ profile, and encourages all practitioners to adhere to the standard diagnostic procedures identified in the DSM-5.3

Intelligence measures as diagnostic tools for children with specific learning disabilities

“…For example, separately considering the GAI and FSIQ may be important for children with intellectual disability (Koriakin et al, 2013;Lanfranchi, 2013). Furthermore, children with specific language impairment, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and developmental coordination disorder often present weaknesses in working memory and in processing speed (Calhoun & Mayes, 2005;Dickerson & Susan, 2008;Gomez, Vance, & Watson, 2016;Sumner, Pratt, & Hill, 2016;Wechsler, 2003). Further research using real data and not simulated data for typically developing children could also build on this study in beneficial ways.…”

Motor and coordination difficulties in children with emotional and behavioural difficulties

“…The comparison group had a higher full-scale IQ than the other two groups, but there was no statistically significant difference between the DCD and SEMH groups. We include FSIQ information here in order to demonstrate that all groups had mean values within the average range, but that there are some group differences, which are also observed elsewhere (Frederickson, Jones, Warren, Deakes, & Allen, 2013;Sumner, Pratt & Hill, 2016). Results of between-group ANOVAs for the WISC-IV composite scores are reported in Table One.…”

Comparative study between school and motor performance in children aged 6 to 11 years according to teachers’ perceptions

“…Despite not finding statistically significant difference in the general mean of the groups, they found poorer performance in children with CDD in the processing speed and working memory tests. They also found different performance between children with CDD in all areas of intelligence evaluated, highlighting the importance of considering the cognitive performance of children with motor coordination deficit individually, in order to propose suitable intervention strategies for each case [24].…”

“…Sumner et al [24] compared cognitive performance using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) between children with Coordination Development Disorder (CDD) and children in a control group. Despite not finding statistically significant difference in the general mean of the groups, they found poorer performance in children with CDD in the processing speed and working memory tests.…”

“…Previous studies indicated a possible relation between poor school performance and motor development [15][16][17][18][19][20], . Other studies showed strong statistical significance between academic learning and motor abilities [21][22][23], and, according to Sumner, Pratt and Hill [24], the literature suggests that cognitive and motor performance are intertwined and follow a similar development path.…”