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Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are physically less active, preferring more sedentary behavior and are at risk of developing health problems or becoming overweight. 18 children (age 6-10years) with lower levels of motor coordination attending a primary school in a low-income community in South Africa (score on Movement Assessment Battery for Children Second edition equal to or below the 5th percentile) were selected to participate in the study and were age-matched with typically developing peers (TD). Both groups of children engaged in 20min of active Nintendo Wii Fit gaming on the balance board, twice a week for a period of five weeks. All children were tested before and after the intervention using the lower limb items of the Functional Strength Measurement, the 5×10 meter sprint test, the 5×10 meter slalom sprint test, and the Balance, Running speed and Agility subtest of the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2nd edition (BOT-2). After intervention, both groups of children improved in functional strength and anaerobic fitness. The magnitude of these changes was not related to participant's motor coordination level. However, differences in change between the TD and DCD group were apparent on the motor performance tests; children with DCD seemed to benefit more in balance skills of the BOT-2, while the TD children improved more in the Running speed and Agility component of the BOT-2. Compliance to the study protocol over 5weeks was high and the effect on physical functioning was shown on standardized measures of physical performance validated for children with and without DCD.

ObjectiveAlthough Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is often characterized as a skill acquisition deficit disorder, few studies have addressed the process of motor learning. This study examined learning of a novel motor task; the Wii Fit ski slalom game. The main objectives were to determine: 1) whether learning occurs over 100 trial runs of the game, 2) if the learning curve is different between children with and without DCD, 3) if learning is different in an easier or harder version of the task, 4) if learning transfers to other balance tasks.Method17 children with DCD (6–10 years) and a matched control group of 17 typically developing (TD) children engaged in 20 minutes of gaming, twice a week for five weeks. Each training session comprised of alternating trial runs, with five runs at an easy level and five runs at a difficult level. Wii scores, which combine speed and accuracy per run, were recorded. Standardized balance tasks were used to measure transfer.ResultsSignificant differences in initial performance were found between groups on the Wii score and balance tasks. Both groups improved their Wii score over the five weeks. Improvement in the easy and in the hard task did not differ between groups. Retention in the time between training sessions was not different between TD and DCD groups either. The DCD group improved significantly on all balance tasks.ConclusionsThe findings in this study give a fairly coherent picture of the learning process over a medium time scale (5 weeks) in children novice to active computer games; they learn, retain and there is evidence of transfer to other balance tasks. The rate of motor learning is similar for those with and without DCD. Our results raise a number of questions about motor learning that need to be addressed in future research.

ObjectiveTransfer of motor skills is the ultimate goal of motor training in rehabilitation practice. In children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), very little is known about how skills are transferred from training situations to real life contexts. In this study we examined the influence of two types of practice on transfer of motor skills acquired in a virtual reality (VR) environment.MethodOne hundred and eleven children with DCD and their typically developing (TD) peers, aged 6–10 years (M = 8.0 SD = 1.0) were randomly assigned to either variable (n = 56) or repetitive practice (n = 55). Participants in the repetitive practice played the same exergame (ski slalom) twice weekly for 20 minutes, over a period of 5 weeks, while those in the variable group played 10 different games. Motor skills such as balance tasks (hopping), running and agility tasks, ball skills and functional activities were evaluated before and after 5 weeks of training.ResultsANOVA repeated measures indicated that both DCD and TD children demonstrated transfer effects to real life skills with identical and non-identical elements at exactly the same rate, irrespective of the type of practice they were assigned to.ConclusionBased on these findings, we conclude that motor skills acquired in the VR environment, transfers to real world contexts in similar proportions for both TD and DCD children. The type of practice adopted does not seem to influence children’s ability to transfer skills acquired in an exergame to life situations but the number of identical elements does.

This is the first paper to compare the effect of practice schedules on learning in children with DCD and those with typical development. No differences in motor learning were found between repetitive and variable practice schedules. When children with and without DCD spend the same amount of time on exergames, they do not show any differences in acquisition of motor skills. Transfer of motor skills is similar in children with and without DCD regardless of differences in practice schedules.

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to determine whether joint mobility is associated with motor performance in children referred for Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD-group) in contrast to a randomly selected group of children between 3–16 years of age (Random-Group).Methods36 children with DCD and 352 typically developing children (Random-Group) participated. Hypermobility was classified based on the Beighton score (cut-off ≥5 for 3–9 years and ≥4 for 10–16 years) using goniometry. Motor performance was assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC).ResultsThe mean Beighton score in the DCD-group was 5.0 versus 2.6 in the Random group. Prevalence of hypermobility was higher in the DCD-group than in the Random Group (64% and 33% respectively; χ 2 = 16.09, p < .001). There was a significant [negative] correlation (rp = −.38, p = .02) between Beighton score and total MABC scores within the DCD group, but not in the Random Group (rp = −0.07, p = .20). More specifically, in the DCD group we found a significant negative correlation between the MABC total score and the degree of hyperextension of the knees.ConclusionThe extremely high prevalence of hypermobility when applying the recommended cut-off scores stresses the need for an international agreement on firm cut-off points and the use of standardized measurement of Beighton mobility manoeuvres. The results of this study show that a cut-off of 7 is more appropriate, resulting in a prevalence of 6% in children aged 3–16 years. Although in the general population motor performance and joint mobility are not related, this is the case in children referred for DCD. We argue that more mobility of the joints may be a disadvantage when motor coordination is poorly developed.