Currently a lack of guidelines for Criterion B of the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) hampers diagnosis of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The Performance of Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire (PADL-Q; Dewey, Larkin & Summers, 2004) is a new parent-reported instrument developed to quantify the level of interference in activities of daily living (ADL) experienced by children with DCD and was tested for its efficacy in addressing Criterion B. Thirty-two children aged between 5 and 10 years comprising two matched groups, 16 with DCD (8 boys and 8 girls) and 16 without DCD (8 boys and 8 girls) participated in the study. The aim of the research was to investigate the ability of the PADL-Q to identify differences between children with and without DCD. A further 5 children, in the same age range, who did not have DCD added data that was used to ascertain relationships between the constituent assessments. All children were tested using the MAND (McCarron, 1982) whilst their parents completed the PADL-Q. A set of Tests of Activities of Daily Living (TADL) tasks were devised for the children to perform that further validated parents ratings of children?s ADL performance. A Group x Gender MANCOVA, controlled for age, of the PADL-Q total scores demonstrated that there was a significant difference between the children with and without DCD (F(3,25) = 9.44, p < .001; Wilks' lambda = 0.47). Follow-up univariate tests showed a Group x Gender interaction and simple main effects of this interaction indicated that the PADL-Q did not discriminate between the DCD and non-DCD boys. The ability of the PADL-Q to identify DCD was explored in the concurrent validity against the MAND when using a diagnostic cut-off point. The PADL-Q demonstrated 100% specificity and positive predictive values but only 19% sensitivity and 62% negative predictive values. There was a moderately strong relationship (r = .71), between the PADL-Q total score, considered a measure of Criterion B, and the MAND, a measure of Criterion A (DSMIV- TR, 2000). A two factor (Group x Gender) ANCOVA, controlled for age, of the TADL items revealed a statistically significant effect for DCD only (F(1,19) = 34.65, p < .001). There was a moderate correlation (r = -.64) between the PADL-Q total score and the TADL tasks, indicating that parent-reports are supported by their child?s performance. The PADL-Q appears to have potential as part of the DCD diagnostic process; however, further refinement on a larger sample is necessary before it can be used as an easily-administered guide to ADL performance levels in children.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/194774 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Hill, Catherine Lindsay |
| Publisher | University of Western Australia. School of Human Movement and Exercise Science |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Catherine Lindsay Hill, http://www.itpo.uwa.edu.au/UWA-Computer-And-Software-Use-Regulations.html |
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