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. 2021 Mar 16;11(1):5982.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85391-3.

Unimanual and bimanual motor performance in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) provide evidence for underlying motor control deficits

Melody N Grohs  1   2 , Rachel L Hawe  3   4 , Sean P Dukelow  3   4 , Deborah Dewey  5   6   7   8
Affiliations

Unimanual and bimanual motor performance in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) provide evidence for underlying motor control deficits

Melody N Grohs et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Much of our understanding of motor control deficits in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) comes from upper limb assessments focusing on the dominant limb. Here, using two robotic behavioural tasks, we investigated motor control in both the dominant and non-dominant limbs of children with DCD. Twenty-six children with diagnosed DCD (20 males; mean age 10.6 years ± 1.3 years) and 155 controls were included in this cross-sectional study. Participants completed a visually guided reaching task with their dominant and non-dominant limbs and a bimanual object hitting task. Motor performance was quantified across nine parameters. We determined the number of children with DCD who fell outside of the typical performance range of the controls on these parameters and compared the DCD and control groups using ANCOVAs, accounting for age. Children with DCD demonstrated impairments in six out of nine parameters; deficits were more commonly noted in the non-dominant limb. Interestingly, when looking at individual performance, several children with DCD performed in the range of controls. These findings indicate that children with DCD display deficits in motor control in both the dominant and non-dominant limb and highlight the importance of including detailed assessments of both limbs when investigating children with DCD. They also demonstrate the variability in motor control performance evidenced by children with DCD.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Participant shown in the Kinarm exoskeleton robot, equipped with a wheelchair base and arm troughs supporting each arm in the horizontal plane; (B) schematic of the Kinarm workspace for the visually guided reaching task. The graphic demonstrates a reaching movement of a DCD participant. The participant’s fingertip begins within the centered red illuminated target. A peripheral target will appear, in which participants will then reach to that target as quickly and accurately as possible. (C) Right- and left-hand path trajectories, for the four peripheral spatial targets, are shown for a typically developing control and a DCD participant of similar ages; note that participants arms were visually occluded and hand position feedback was provided by the virtually displayed white dot placed over the tip of the index finger.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic of the object hit task virtual workspace. Green paddles were displayed on participants fingertips. Participants then attempted to hit as many red balls away from them as possible, as the balls were dropped from the top of the screen.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Individual performance of children with DCD on the visually guided reaching task. Age curves and 95% prediction bands based on performance of all TD participants (n = 155) are shown in blue. Performance scores of each DCD participant (n = 26) are superimposed and shown in red (triangles represent DCD participants without ADHD and circles represent DCD participants with co-occurring ADHD).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Individual performance of children with DCD on the bimanual object hitting task. Age curves and 95% prediction bands based on performance of all TD participants (n = 155) are shown in blue. Performance scores of each DCD participant (n = 26) are superimposed and shown in red (triangles represent DCD participants without ADHD and circles represent DCD participants with co-occurring ADHD).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Group differences in performance on the visually guided reaching task. Box plots are shown for both the dominant and non-dominant limbs. *p < 0.05.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Group differences in performance on the bimanual object hitting task. Box plots are shown for both the dominant and non-dominant arms. *p < 0.05.
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