Motor Planning and Gait Coordination Assessments for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder |
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| Authors: | Lin-Ya Hsu Tracy Jirikowic Marcia A Ciol Madisen Clark Deborah Kartin Sarah Westcott McCoy |
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| Institution: | 1. Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USAlinyahsu@uw.edu;3. Associate Professor, Division of Occupational Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA;4. Research Professor, University of Washington, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA;5. Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA;6. Professor, Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Aims: The purposes were to examine construct validity of the Motor Planning Maze Assessment (Maze) and three items from the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) that were modified for children (pediatric modified FGA, pmFGA), by comparing performance of children with DCD and age matched peers with typical development (TD); the construct validity of total scores of the Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) and the FGA. Methods: Twenty pairs of children with DCD and TD, age from 5 to 12 years, participated in this study. Children in both groups were tested on the Maze, pmFGA, DGI, and FGA. Paired t-tests and agreement tables were used to compare the motor performances between two groups. Results: The DCD group showed higher summary scores in the Maze (p < 0.001) and demonstrated significantly fewer steps (p ≤ 0.001) while doing the pmFGA items than the TD group. However, the FGA quality scores demonstrated minimal differences between the two groups on all three items. Children with DCD showed significantly lower DGI and FGA total scores (p < 0.001) than the TD group. Conclusion: The Maze, DGI, and FGA tests are easily applied in clinical settings and can differentiate motor planning and gait coordination between children with DCD and with TD. |
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| Keywords: | Clinical assessment developmental coordination disorder gait coordination motor planning |
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