Motor training for children and adolescents with developmental coordination disorder

Developmental coordination disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that involves various types of motor symptoms, such as clumsiness in gross motor movements and difficulties with fine motor skills and balance. Among other objectives, treatments for children with DCD can focus on addressing their physical difficulties to enhance their participation in everyday activities.

Reading time approx. 13 minutes Published: June 28, 2023 Publication type:

SBU Enquiry Service

Consists of structured literature searches to highlight studies that can address questions received by the SBU Enquiry Service from Swedish healthcare or social service providers. We assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews and when needed also quality and transferability of results in health economic studies. Relevant references are compiled by an SBU staff member, in consultation with an external expert when needed.

Contact SBU

Published: June 28, 2023 Report no: ut202322 Registration no: SBU 2022/841

Question

What systematic reviews have been published regarding the effects of motor training for children and adolescents with developmental coordination disorder?

Method

A systematic literature search was performed using the following databases: Medline (Ovid), Scopus och CINAHL.

Two authors independently assessed the abstracts of all identified studies.
Risk of bias in relevant systematic reviews was assessed using an assessment tool based on AMSTAR.

Identified literature

One relevant systematic review with low to moderate risk of bias were identified [1]. The results and conclusions are presented in Table 1. In nine relevant systematic reviews, the risk of bias was considered to be high, therefore the results and conclusions are not reported [2-10].

Table 1 Systematic reviews with low/moderate risk of bias.
CI = confidence interval; MABC = the Movement Assessment Battery for Children; MD = mean difference
Included studies	Population Intervention Control	Outcome and Results
Miyahara et al, 2017 [1] Task-oriented interventions for children with developmental coordination disorder
In total 15 studies: 8 RCT and 7 quasi-RCT, n=649 6 studies in meta-analysis	Population: Children (5–12 years) with DCD. Intervention: Task-oriented interventions (e.g., neuromotor task training/NTT, cognitive orientation to daily occupational performance/CO-OP). Control intervention: Inactive (usual care, waiting list) and active control (e.g., motor skill training and contemporary treatment approach/CTA).	Task-oriented intervention vs. no intervention *Motor function* (MABC) (6 studies): Statistically significant smaller motor impairment for intervention compared to control. MD: –3.63 (95% CI, –5.88 to –1.39). Very low quality of evidence. *Participation* (questionnaires) (2 studies): Statistically non-significant difference compared to inactive controls.
Authors' conclusion: “The results of this review are necessarily limited, due to the small numbers of participants in the small numbers of included studies with low quality evidence, substantial clinical heterogeneity across the studies, and a mixture of coherence and incoherence between the outcomes and the interventions.“ … “Taken together, there is some evidence in favour of the relative effects of task-oriented intervention versus inactive control, and no evidence to inform on the relative effects of task-oriented intervention versus any other forms of intervention for children with DCD. We have very little confidence in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect.”

References

Miyahara M, Hillier SL, Pridham L, Nakagawa S. Task-oriented interventions for children with developmental co-ordination disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017;7(7):CD010914. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD010914.pub2.
Hickman R, Popescu L, Manzanares R, Morris B, Lee SP, Dufek JS. Use of active video gaming in children with neuromotor dysfunction: a systematic review. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2017;59(9):903-11. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/dmcn.13464.
Mentiplay BF, FitzGerald TL, Clark RA, Bower KJ, Denehy L, Spittle AJ. Do video game interventions improve motor outcomes in children with developmental coordination disorder? A systematic review using the ICF framework. BMC Pediatr. 2019;19(1):22. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-018-1381-7.
O’Dea Á, Robinson K, Coote S. Effectiveness of interventions to improve participation outcomes for children with developmental coordination disorder: A systematic review. Br J Occup Ther. 2019;83(4):256-73. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308022619866116.
Pless M, Carlsson M. Effects of Motor Skill Intervention on Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Meta-Analysis. Adapt Phys Activ Q. 2000;17(4):381-401. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.17.4.381.
Preston N, Magallon S, Hill LJ, Andrews E, Ahern SM, Mon-Williams M. A systematic review of high quality randomized controlled trials investigating motor skill programmes for children with developmental coordination disorder. Clin Rehabil. 2017;31(7):857-70. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0269215516661014.
Smith BA, Bompiani E. Using a treadmill intervention to promote the onset of independent walking in infants with or at risk for neuromotor delay. Phys Ther. 2013;93(11):1441-6. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20120476.
Smits-Engelsman B, Vincon S, Blank R, Quadrado VH, Polatajko H, Wilson PH. Evaluating the evidence for motor-based interventions in developmental coordination disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Res Dev Disabil. 2018;74:72-102. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2018.01.002.
Yu JJ, Burnett AF, Sit CH. Motor Skill Interventions in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2018;99(10):2076-99. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2017.12.009.
Zaragas H, Rogoti A, Sogias K, Mike E, Ntalagiani A. Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD) and Interactive Games: A Literature Review. International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences. 2022;10(6):1245-64. Available from: https://doi.org/10.13189/saj.2022.100616.

Search strategies

Medline via OvidSP 19 Jan 2023

Title Motor training for children and adolescents with developmental coordination disorder (Co-search for Early motor training for children with cerebral palsy (CP), [5])
Search terms		Items found
/ = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary;.sh = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary; exp= Term from MeSH including terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy; .ti,ab = Title or abstract; .kf = Keywords; .kw = Keywords, exact; .bt = Book title. NLM Bookshelf.; .pt = Publication type; .ja = Journal abbreviation;.af = All fields; adjn = Adjacent.; Proximity operator retrieving adjacent words, adj3 retrieves records with search terms within two terms from each other.; * or $ = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Population: Cerebral palsy or developmental coordination disorder in children
1.	exp Cerebral Palsy/	23 239
2.	cerebral pals*.ab,bt,kw,ti.	26 931
3.	exp Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain/	6835
4.	((hypoxic ischemic or neonatal or infant) adj2 encephalopathy).ab,bt,kf,ti.	5258
5.	((arterial ischemic or arterial ischaemic or neonatal or infant) adj2 stroke).ab,bt,kf,ti.	1262
6.	((intraventricular or cerebral) adj2 (hemorrhage or haemorrhage)).ab,bt,kf,ti.	18 366
7.	periventricular leukomalacia.ab,bt,kw,ti.	2328
8.	exp Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery/	10 465
9.	(middle cerebral artery) adj2 (embolus or infarct* or thrombosis).ab,bt,kf,ti.	1361
10.	Hemiplegia/	11 932
11.	Cerebellar Ataxia/	5092
12.	(hemiplegi* or hydrocephal* or ataxi*).ab.bt.kw.ti.	86 127
13.	(spastic* or displegi*).ab.bt.kw.ti.	29 070
14.	quadriplegi*.ab,bt,kw,ti.	4536
15.	Motor Disorders/	945
16.	Motor Skills Disorders/	3185
17.	(developmental coordination disorder or developmental co-ordination disorder).ab,bt,kw.ti.	1417
18.	dyspraxi*.ab,bt,kw,ti.	648
19.	((motor or neuromotor or psychomotor) adj4 (impairment* or dela* or disorder*)).ab,bt,kf,ti.	29 744
20.	or/1-19	210 877
21.	Pediatrics/	57 746
22.	exp Child/	2 120 348
23.	exp Infant/	1 237 790
24.	Adolescent/	2 199 051
25.	(child or children or infant* or newborn or neonate* or premature or preterm).ab,bt,kw,ti.	1 991 029
26.	(adolescent* or teen* or youth or young).ab,bt,kw,ti.	876 971
27.	(juvenile or pediatric*).ab,bt,kw,ti.	452 089
28.	or/21-27	4 906 286
29.	20 and 28	85 842
Intervention:
30.	Occupational Therapy/	14 622
31.	exp Physical Therapy Modalities/	175 308
32.	Physical Therapists/	2972
33.	Early Intervention, Educational/	3470
34.	Physiotherapy.ab,bt,kw,ti.	24 566
35.	occupational therapy.ab,bt,kw,ti.	13 242
36.	exercis*.ab,bt,kw,ti.	352 373
37	early intervention*.ab,bt,kw,ti.	22 639
38.	rehabilitation.ab.bt.kw.ti.	198 298
39.	((Motor or neuromotor or neurodevelopmental or cognitive or task specific or sensory or physical or movement) adj4 (training or therapy or treatment)).ab,bt,kf,ti.	109 018
40.	or/30-39	757 015
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
41.	((Systematic Review/ or Meta-Analysis/ or Cochrane Database Syst Rev.ja. or ((systematic adj4 review) or "meta analys" or metaanalys).ti,bt,ab.) not (editorial/ or letter/ or case reports/))
Combined sets:
42.	29 and 40	8470
43.	41 and 42	422
Final result
44.		422

Scopus via scopus.com 19 Jan 2023

Title: Motor training for children and adolescents with developmental coordination disorder (Co-search for Early motor training for children with cerebral palsy (CP), [5])
Search terms		Items found
TITLE-ABS-KEY = Title, abstract or keywords (including indexed keywords and author keywords); ALL = All fields W/n = Within. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other. PRE/n = Precedes by. Proximity operator, the first term in the search must precede the second by n words. LIMIT-TO (X) = Includes only results of specified type, e.g., publication type or time range; DOCTYPE = Publication type; “re” = review; “le” = letter; “ed” = editorial; “ch” = book chapter; “cp” = conference proceedings; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Population: Cerebral palsy or developmental coordination disorder in children
1.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "cerebral pals*" )	46 392
2.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( "hypoxic ischemic" OR neonatal OR infant ) W/1 encephalopathy )	11 998
3.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( "arterial ischemic" OR "arterial ischaemic" OR neonatal ) W/1 stroke )	1517
4.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( ( intraventricular OR cerebral ) W/1 ( hemorrhage OR haemorrhage ) ) OR "periventricular leukomalacia" OR hemiplegi* OR hydrocephal; OR ataxi OR spastic* OR displegi* OR quadriplegi* )	265 360
5.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "middle cerebral artery" W/1 ( embolus OR infarct* OR thrombosis ) )	10 544
6.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "developmental coordination disorder" OR "developmental co ordination disorder" )	2581
7.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( motor OR neuromotor OR psychomotor ) W/3 ( impairment* OR dela* OR disorder* ) )	47 405
8.	1 OR 2 OR […] 7	360 275
9.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( child OR children OR infant* OR newborn OR neonate* OR premature OR preterm )	4 526 721
10.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( adolescent* OR teen* OR youth OR young )	3 995 743
11.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( juvenile OR pediatric* )	891 953
12.	9 OR 10 OR 11	7 249 336
13	8 AND 12	145 155
Intervention: Motor interventions
14	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "occupational therapy" OR physiotherapy OR "early intervention" OR exercis* OR rehabilitation )	1 281 705
15.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( motor OR neuromotor OR neurodevelopmental OR cognitive OR "task specific" OR sensory OR physical OR "constraint induced" OR movement ) W/2 ( training OR therapy OR treatment ) )	246 226
16	14 OR 15	1 428 696
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
17.	TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( systematic W/2 review ) OR "meta analy" OR metaanaly ) AND (EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “le”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ed”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ch”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “cp”))
Combined sets:
18.	13 AND 16	16 549
19.	17 AND 18	731
Final result
20.		731

CINAHL via EBSCO 19 Jan 2023

Title: Motor training for children and adolescents with developmental coordination disorder (Co-search for Early motor training for children with cerebral palsy (CP), [5])
Search terms		Items found
TI = Title; AB = Abstract; SU = Keyword, exact or part (including all other fields for indexed and author keywords); MH = Exact subject heading, indexed keywords; TX = All text; pan PT = Publication type; Nn = Near. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
Population:
1.	(MH "Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain, Neonatal") OR (MH "Cerebral Hemorrhage")	8236
2.	TI ( "cerebral pals" OR "intraventricular hemorrhage" OR "intraventricular haemorrhage" OR "periventricular leukomalacia" OR hemiplegi OR hydrocephal* OR ataxi* OR spastic* OR displegi* OR quadriplegi* ) OR AB ( "cerebral pals" OR "intraventricular hemorrhage" OR "intraventricular haemorrhage" OR "periventricular leukomalacia" OR hemiplegi OR hydrocephal* OR ataxi* OR spastic* OR displegi* OR quadriplegi* ) OR SU ("cerebral pals" OR "intraventricular hemorrhage" OR "intraventricular haemorrhage" OR "periventricular leukomalacia" OR hemiplegi OR hydrocephal* OR ataxi* OR spastic* OR displegi* OR quadriplegi* )	46 702
3.	TI ( (("hypoxic ischemic" OR neonatal OR infant) N1 encephalopathy) OR (("arterial ischemic" OR "arterial ischaemic" OR neonatal OR infant) N1 stroke) OR ("middle cerebral artery" N1 (embolus OR infarct* OR thrombosis)) ) OR AB ( (("hypoxic ischemic" OR neonatal OR infant) N1 encephalopathy) OR (("arterial ischemic" OR "arterial ischaemic" OR neonatal OR infant) N1 stroke) OR ("middle cerebral artery" N1 (embolus OR infarct* OR thrombosis)) ) OR SU ( (("hypoxic ischemic" OR neonatal OR infant) N1 encephalopathy) OR (("arterial ischemic" OR "arterial ischaemic" OR neonatal OR infant) N1 stroke) OR ("middle cerebral artery" N1 (embolus OR infarct* OR thrombosis)) )	2740
4.	TI ( ( "developmental coordination disorder" OR "developmental co ordination disorder" ) ) OR AB ( ( "developmental coordination disorder" OR "developmental co ordination disorder" ) ) OR SU ( ( "developmental coordination disorder" OR "developmental co ordination disorder" ) )	1121
5.	TI ( ( ( motor OR neuromotor OR psychomotor ) N3 ( impairment* OR delay OR disorder* ) ) ) OR AB ( ( ( motor OR neuromotor OR psychomotor ) N3 ( impairment* OR delay OR disorder* ) ) ) OR SU ( ( ( motor OR neuromotor OR psychomotor ) N3 ( impairment* OR delay OR disorder* ) ) )	10 016
6.	1 OR 2 OR 3 OR 4 OR 5	64 107
7.	TI ( ( child OR children OR infant* OR newborn OR neonate* OR premature OR preterm OR adolescent* OR teen* OR youth OR young OR juvenile OR pediatric* ) ) OR AB ( ( child OR children OR infant* OR newborn OR neonate* OR premature OR preterm OR adolescent* OR teen* OR youth OR young OR juvenile OR pediatric* ) ) OR SU ( ( child OR children OR infant* OR newborn OR neonate* OR premature OR preterm OR adolescent* OR teen* OR youth OR young OR juvenile OR pediatric* ) )	1 443 817
8.	6 AND 7	29 633
Intervention:
9.	(MH "Occupational Therapy+") OR (MH "Therapeutic Exercise+")	91 593
10.	(MH "Early Childhood Intervention")	6190
11.	TI ( physiotherapy OR "occupational therapy" OR exercis* OR "early intervention" OR rehabilitation ) OR AB ( physiotherapy OR "occupational therapy" OR exercis OR "early intervention" OR rehabilitation ) OR SU ( physiotherapy OR "occupational therapy" OR exercis OR "early intervention*" OR rehabilitation )	456 471
12.	TI ( (motor OR neuromotor OR neurodevelopmental OR cognitive OR "task specific" OR sensory OR physical OR movement) N3 (training OR therapy OR treatment) ) OR AB ( (motor OR neuromotor OR neurodevelopmental OR cognitive OR "task specific" OR sensory OR physical OR movement) N3 (training OR therapy OR treatment) ) OR SU ( (motor OR neuromotor OR neurodevelopmental OR cognitive OR "task specific" OR sensory OR physical OR movement) N3 (training OR therapy OR treatment) )	114 434
13.	9 OR 10 OR 11 OR 12	533 561
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
14.	((TI((systematic N3 review) OR "meta analys" OR metaanalys) OR AB((systematic N3 review) OR "meta analys" OR metaanalys) OR SU((systematic N3 review) OR "meta analys" OR metaanalys)) OR (PT "Systematic Review" OR PT "meta analysis"))NOT (MH "Case Studies" OR PT "Commentary" OR PT "Editorial" OR PT "Letter")
Combined sets:
15.	8 AND 13 AND 14	493
Final result
16.		493

Page published June 28, 2023

To top