Pre-school children with developmental co-ordination disorder: self-perceived competence and group motor skill intervention.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate self-perceived competence in 5- to 6-y-old children with developmental co-ordination disorder. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Scores in two scales of self-perceived competence were compared between a study group of children with developmental co-ordination disorder (n = 37) and a reference group (n = 60). In addition, effects of group motor skill intervention were evaluated by comparing scores in study group children randomly allocated to an intervention (n = 17) and a control subgroup (n = 20). The intervention subgroup received intervention once weekly for 10 wk.
CONCLUSIONS: Pre-school children with developmental co-ordination disorder are similar to peers of the same age regarding self-perception of their own competence in areas concerning school, peer relations and motor skills. The change in score in the perceived motor competence scale was significantly greater in the intervention than in the control subgroup, suggesting that the intervention increased individual awareness of motor competence.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes