Head–torso–hand coordination in children with and without developmental coordination disorder

Abstract

AIM This study investigated the nature of coordination and control problems in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).METHOD Seven adults (two males, five females, age range 20-28y; mean 23y, SD 2y 8mo) and eight children with DCD (six males, two females, age range 7-9y; mean 8y, SD 8mo), and 10 without DCD (seven males, three females, age range 7-9y; mean 8y, SD 7mo) sat in a swivel chair and looked at or pointed to targets. Optoelectronic apparatus recorded head, torso, and hand movements, and the spatial and temporal characteristics of the movements were computed.RESULTS Head movement times were longer (p<0.05) in children with DCD than in the comparison group, even in the looking task, suggesting that these children experience problems at the lowest level of coordination (the coupling of synergistic muscle groups within a single degree of freedom). Increasing the task demands with the pointing condition affected the performance of children with DCD to a much greater extent than the other groups, most noticeably in key feedforward kinematic landmarks. Temporal coordination data indicated that all three groups attempted to produce similar movement patterns to each other, but that the children with DCD were much less successful than age-matched children in the comparison group.INTERPRETATION Children with DCD have difficulty coordinating and controlling single degree-offreedom movements; this problem makes more complex tasks disproportionately difficult for them. Quantitative analysis of kinematics provides key insights into the nature of the problems faced by children with DCD.

Strength Training for a Child With Suspected Developmental Coordination Disorder

“…1 Although DCD is commonly used to describe children with motor coordination difficulties, 2 little agreement is found regarding its cause or the effectiveness of interventions. [4][5][6][7] According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition, Text Revision), unloading of a limb; however, when examining motor skills requiring feedforward control, such as voluntary, self-unloading of a limb, they demonstrated more variability and decreased coordination. [4][5][6][7] According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition, Text Revision), unloading of a limb; however, when examining motor skills requiring feedforward control, such as voluntary, self-unloading of a limb, they demonstrated more variability and decreased coordination.…”

“…8 When planning simple movements with a single degree of freedom, children with DCD demonstrated larger variability in force production and greater end point errors, rather than a well-matched response to specific force requirements. 6 Because daily function requires complex movements, repeated practice requiring control of multiple degrees of freedom, as found in activity-level intervention, may not be effective at decreasing compensatory strategies and improving feedforward control in children with DCD. 6 Because daily function requires complex movements, repeated practice requiring control of multiple degrees of freedom, as found in activity-level intervention, may not be effective at decreasing compensatory strategies and improving feedforward control in children with DCD.…”

Unimanual and bimanual motor performance in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) provide evidence for underlying motor control deficits

“…Other researchers have used motion capture software to investigate reaching with the dominant limb, as it permits the collection of spatial and temporal metrics such as acceleration, velocity and path trajectory [17][18][19][20][21] . Converging results suggest children with DCD have slower reaction times 12,13,17,19 , longer movement and/or deceleration times [9][10][11][12]14,15,17,20,21 and display more errors when making movements 10,11,[15][16][17]19,20 . Additionally, longer and more curved path trajectories 18,20,21 as well as decreased accuracy and more variability in movement speeds 17,18,20 have been reported in children with DCD.…”

“…Most commonly, participants have been instructed to reach or point with their dominant limb to a switch or a target on a digitizing screen, while measures related to movement time [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] (i.e., reaction time, total movement time, deceleration time) and movement errors 10,11,15,16 (i.e., number of targets or touchdown errors where the final limb placement is outside the desired target location) were recorded. Other researchers have used motion capture software to investigate reaching with the dominant limb, as it permits the collection of spatial and temporal metrics such as acceleration, velocity and path trajectory [17][18][19][20][21] .…”

Selection and assessment of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

“…Elders et al. suggest that there are three possible levels at which a coordination difficulty might arise in children with DCD: 1 at the most basic level, there may be a difficulty when moving a single degree of freedom (e.g. turning the head); second, there may be difficulty when coordinating two or more degrees of freedom (e.g.…”