M.Sc. (Physiotherapy), Faculty of Haelth Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2008. / Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are a heterogeneous group
who have a marked impairment in the performance of functional motor skills. DCD
affects 5-8 % of children in the mainstream educational system, with twice as many boys
than girls being affected. DCD often co-occurs with other developmental disorders such
as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Attention Deficit (ADD), severe
learning disabilities and reading disabilities and is often associated with educational,
social and emotional problems that often persist beyond adolescence. Current research
has shown that children with DCD do not outgrow their motor problems and without
intervention they do not improve (Zoia et al, 2006; Barnhart et al, 2003; Peters and
Wright, 1999).
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an eight week group gross motor
intervention programme on 26 children with Developmental Coordination Disorder
(DCD) at Forest Town School, which is a special-needs school for children with learning
disabilities. The intervention programme consisted of gross motor activities commonly
used by the physiotherapists at the school for their DCD groups. The children attended a
thirty-minute physiotherapy session a week, in groups of up to 6, for eight weeks.
The children’s motor performance was assessed using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test for
Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) pre- intervention, post- intervention and then eight weeks
after the intervention had ceased. The children were used as their own controls. The
results of the statistical analysis revealed that the mean group gross motor and fine motor
scores significantly improved after the intervention. It was found that the gross motor
scores improved by a larger percentage than the fine motor, which may be because the
intervention consisted purely of gross motor activities. The fine motor scores also
significantly improved, implying that there was a transfer or generalisation of skills to the
fine motor tasks. The improvement in the motor performance was found to be maintained
eight weeks after the intervention was stopped. It was concluded in the study that the eight week group physiotherapy programme at
Forest Town School improved the motor skills of children with DCD and learning
difficulties. Physiotherapy in a small group may therefore be a cost effective solution for
the treatment of children with DCD in government-funded schools and hospitals that
have a limited number of physiotherapists available to treat these children.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/7376 |
| Date | 20 October 2009 |
| Creators | Brenner, Julie |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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