Hilde Krajenbrink

Motor planning in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

 

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with an estimated prevalence of about five to six percent. Children with DCD have problems with motor coordination of both gross and fine motor skills. The motor difficulties of children with DCD express themselves during all kinds of daily activities such as dressing and undressing, playing soccer, and writing with a pencil. The internal modelling deficit (IMD) hypothesis has been proposed to explain the compromised motor ability of children with DCD. According to the IMD hypothesis, children with DCD experience difficulties with predictive modelling of movements which involves both motor planning (the ability to anticipate the end of an upcoming action prior to commencing movement) and motor imagery (the internal rehearsal of an upcoming motor action without any overt motor output). In this project, we will use new instruments to further examine the motor planning and motor imagery of children with DCD and typically developing children. More specifically, we are interested in the development and learning potential of motor planning of children with DCD. Furthermore, we would like to develop a questionnaire to measure the motor imagery ability of children with DCD. The results can be used to enhance the current treatment programs for children with DCD.

For this project, we are looking for children aged 5-12 years old with (a suspicion of) DCD that would like to participate in a study. If you are interested, you can send an e-mail to: h.krajenbrink@pwo.ru.nl.