Motor Coordination Performance Differences Between School Children With And Without Developmental Coordination Disorder Attending Integrative Special Education In Klang Valley

ABSTRACT

@#Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have impairments in gross and fine motor skills consequently limit their participation in school activities. The aim of this study was firstly to evaluate motor coordination performance of children with DCD in manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination and balance skills, and secondly, to compare the motor coordination performance between children with DCD and age-matched children without DCD. A total of 47 children with DCD (32 boys, 15 girls) and 16 children without DCD (15 boys, 1 girl) aged between 7 to 10 years old participated in this study. They were recruited from integrative special education classes from six selected primary schools within Klang Valley. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) evaluated their motor coordination performance. Group differences on the MABC-2 subtest scores and total test score were analysed using independent t-test. Cohen’s d was calculated to obtain the effect size of clinical differences. Children with DCD showed significantly lower score in manual dexterity (p=0.001), aiming and catching (p=0.001), balance test (p=0.001) and total test score (p=0.001) compared to the children without DCD. Effect sizes on manual dexterity (d=0.52), balance (d=0.68), and total test score (d=0.73) indicated moderate clinical differences between the two groups. In conclusion, children with DCD showed deficits in both gross and fine motor skills performance based on the MABC-2 subtests and total test score, in comparison with children without DCD. School-based rehabilitation to improve gross and fine motor problems among the children is warranted.