Motor skills interventions in children with developmental coordination disorder: A review study

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) demonstrate significant motor deficits that place them at risk for other health problems such as low physical activity (PA) and overweight/obesity. There is a need to update the effect of diverse movement-based interventions that use gross motor skills to improve psychomotor development of this population. Thus, the purpose of this review study was to investigate the characteristics of effective motor skills interventions for children with DCD, analyzing types of motor tasks, instructional strategies, and learning environment. Studies published between January 1994 and December 2015 were extracted based on inclusion criteria: (1) clear identification of DCD, (2) experimental study design with pre- and post-test, (3) age range of 5 to 12 years, (4) motor/movement-based intervention, and (5) publication in peer-reviewed journal. Of the 317 studies identified, only seven met the review criteria. Most studies showed significant improvements in various motor skills of participants with DCD such as manual dexterity, ball skills, and balance. Various types of movement-based interventions can improve motor skills in children with DCD even though the level of improvement differs from study to study. However, more rigorous intervention studies are needed to: (1) identify motor intervention best practices, (2) examine the sustainability of changes, and (3) examine the impact of the intervention on other physical, health, social, and emotional outcomes.