Goal-directed upper limb movements by children with and without DCD: a window into perceptuo-motor dysfunction?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) occurs in at least 6% of school-aged children. Researchers agree that motor co-ordination problems evident in DCD are, in part, the result of perceptual and cognitive processes, but the limited research available remains inconclusive. The present study investigated perceptual-motor abilities, with regard to vision, kinaesthesia and cross-modal judgement, in children with and without DCD. METHOD A cross-sectional study design was used. Nine children, aged six years (+/- six months) with DCD, and nine children without DCD, matched for age and gender, participated in the study. The children were required to point with the preferred hand to a target in three different positions under four sensory conditions, either with or without vision. Three-dimensional motion analysis was used to investigate trajectory lengths, endpoint error and movement time. The results were analysed using a generalized linear mixed model to examine the systematic effects of group, target position and task. RESULTS Compared with children without DCD, the children with DCD produced larger endpoint errors, greater movement times and longer trajectories. Children in both groups produced larger endpoint errors, greater movement times and longer trajectories in non-visually guided aiming versus visually guided aiming tasks. CONCLUSIONS Children with DCD moved more slowly, with longer movement trajectories and were less accurate than children without DCD when aiming to all target positions under all sensory conditions. The greatest error and trajectory length occurred for both groups when aiming movements were performed in the absence of vision. As children in the DCD group had difficulties with movement executed under kinaesthetic or visual control, the results indicate that the normal advantage of vision displayed by children without DCD is not apparent, and visual and kinaesthetic problems may be present in children with DCD.

[1]  C. Gielen,et al.  Visuomotor Performance of Normal and Clumsy Children, Fast Goal‐Directed Arm‐Movements with and Without Visual Feedback , 1991, Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology.

[2]  C. Hulme,et al.  Clumsy children--a review of recent research. , 1986, Child: care, health and development.

[3]  H. Whiting,et al.  Inter- and intra-sensory modality matching in children with hand-eye co-ordination problems , 1997, Experimental Brain Research.

[4]  H. Sigmundsson,et al.  ‘Putting your foot in it’! A window into clumsy behaviour , 1999, Behavioural Brain Research.

[5]  Measurement of Kinaesthetic Sensitivity , 1986, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[6]  Visual–proprioceptive mapping in children with developmental coordination disorder , 1999, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[7]  M. Denckla.  Development of Speed in Repetitive and Successive Finger‐movements in Normal Children , 1973, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[8]  R. Geuze,et al.  INCONSISTENCY AND ADAPTATION IN TIMING OF CLUMSY CHILDREN , 1987 .

[9]  C. Gielen,et al.  VISUOMOTOR PERFORMANCE OF NORMAL AND CLUMSY CHILDREN. II: ARM‐TRACKING WITH AND WITHOUT VISUAL FEEDBACK , 1991, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[10]  Perceptual Control of Manual Pointing in Children with Motor Impairments , 1992 .

[11]  C. Hulme,et al.  Visual perceptual deficits in clumsy children , 1982, Neuropsychologia.

[12]  B. McKenzie,et al.  Impairment of Visual Memory in Children Who Are Clumsy , 1994 .

[13]  M. Smyth,et al.  Planning and execution of action in children with and without developmental coordination disorder. , 1997, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[14]  C. Hulme,et al.  PERCEPTUAL JUDGEMENTS OF NORMAL AND CLUMSY CHILDREN , 1987, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[15]  B. McKenzie,et al.  Cross-Modal Transfer of Sequential Visual and Haptic Shape Information by Clumsy Children , 1993, Perception.

[16]  C. Hulme,et al.  Visual, kinaesthetic and cross-modal judgments of length by clumsy children: a comparison with young normal children. , 1984, Child: care, health and development.

[17]  J. I. Laszlo,et al.  Kinaesthesis: Its Measurement, Training and Relationship to Motor Control , 1983, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[18]  T. Smyth.  Abnormal clumsiness in children: a defect of motor programming? , 1991, Child: care, health and development.

[19]  L. Henderson,et al.  Reaction time and movement time in children with a Developmental Coordination Disorder. , 1992, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[20]  B. McKenzie,et al.  Information processing deficits associated with developmental coordination disorder: a meta-analysis of research findings. , 1998, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[21]  J. I. Laszlo,et al.  Kinaesthetic Sensitivity to Passive Movements and its Relationship to Motor Development and Motor Control , 1981, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[22]  M. Smyth,et al.  Direction of response in aiming to visual and proprioceptive targets in children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder , 1998 .

[23]  C. Hulme,et al.  Visual, Kinaesthetic and Cross‐modal Judgements of Length by Normal and Clumsy Children , 1982, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[24]  C. Hulme,et al.  Patterns of rotary pursuit performance in clumsy and normal children. , 1988, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[25]  Y Laufer,et al.  Accuracy of reproducing hand position when using active compared with passive movement. , 2001, Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy.