In this thesis, I explored the relationships between motor ability, psychopathology and cognition in children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS). Firstly, I established the prevalence of coordination difficulties in a sample of children with 22q11.2DS and investigated if coordination difficulties were related to psychopathology or cognitive ability. I found that rates of coordination difficulties were very high (~80%) in children with 22q11.2DS and that poorer coordination was related to psychopathology, IQ and attention performance. Second, I investigated sensorimotor performance in children with 22q11.2DS and its relationships with psychopathology and cognition. I found that children with 22q11.2DS had deficits in sensorimotor performance and that sensorimotor performance was related to attention, spatial planning and spatial working memory ability, but not psychopathology. Third, I investigated coordination using occupational therapy assessments in 10 children who previously screened positive for coordination difficulties, to assess how well a questionnaire measure captured coordination difficulties in this population. Eight of ten of the children assessed were assigned a diagnosis of developmental coordination disorder. In addition, I describe a pilot intervention study in two individuals with 22q11.2DS, which attempted to help improve their coordination skills. Finally, I investigated the brain structure of children with 22q11.2DS and how coordination is related to brain structure. The results showed that children with 22q11.2DS have changes in cortical surface area and volume of the parietal lobe and a larger caudate than unaffected sibling controls, but no relationship was found with coordination. Using diffusion imaging, I investigated the integrity of the cerebellar input and output tracts and found differences in the structure of the inferior cerebellar peduncle. These changes were not related to coordination scores. These results have potentially important implications for our understanding of the relationships between coordination difficulties and other commonly seen psychiatric disorders in 22q11.2DS.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:732276 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Cunningham, Adam |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://orca.cf.ac.uk/108156/ |
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