Abstract
Objectives
To determine the characteristics and effectiveness of motor skill interventions in
children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and to identify potential
moderators of training effects using meta-analysis.
Data Sources
A search was conducted in 6 databases (CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Library, Embase, ERIC,
PsycINFO, and PubMed) for articles published between 1995 and August 2017 using search
items which were grouped into 3 components (motor skill interventions, DCD, and age
group of interest).
Study Selection
Studies were included if they recruited children 3 to 17 years of age with DCD, reported
performance of motor-related skills as outcomes, were published in peer-reviewed journals,
and were written in English. Qualitative synthesis was conducted for all included
studies. Quantitative synthesis (meta-analysis) was only conducted for studies using
a (quasi) randomized controlled trial design.
Data Extraction
Methodology, participant characteristics, intervention components, outcomes, and statistically
significant training effects of each included study were extracted.
Data Synthesis
Sixty-six studies met the inclusion criteria with 18 of the studies eligible for meta-analysis.
Motor performance and cognitive, emotional, and other psychological factors were the
most common outcomes. Other 3 outcome categories included perceptions and/or satisfaction
regarding the children's improvement from significant others, physical fitness, and
physical activity and participation. Immediate and moderate training effects were
found for motor performance (Hedges g=.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], .31–.94; P<.001) and cognitive, emotional, and other psychological factors (Hedges g=0.65; 95% CI, 0.25–1.04; P=.001). Additionally, dose (minutes in total) and frequency of the intervention were
significant moderators of training effect on motor performance.
Conclusions
Motor skill interventions are effective in improving motor competence and performance
on cognitive, emotional, and other psychological aspects in children with DCD in the
short term. These effects are more robust in interventions using a large training
dose and a practicing schedule of high frequency.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
CI (confidence interval), DCD (developmental coordination disorder), MABC (Movement Assessment Battery for Children), RCT (randomized controlled trial)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 09, 2018
Footnotes
Disclosure: none.
Identification
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© 2018 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
