Application
PTs should incorporate motor learning, cognitive and task-oriented principles into intervention and emphasize how learned skills can be used in different environments
Intervention Strategies and Resources
- You can use the Goal-Plan-Do-Check detective sheet to involve children, as illustrated in the Max videos. Here is an example how it has been used for Max.
- Summary of evidence-based practice outlines important principle to use when providing a problem-based structure and can be applied to any activity children with DCD would like to perform. Here is a case scenario illustrating how you can use these principles during your interventions, a summary about how to apply evidence-based principles and a handout you can give to parents, teachers or coaches:
Cycling: Case scenario, Applying evidence-based principles, Handout - The child you are seeing want to learn a different activity? No problem! Transfer what you have learned in this section of the workshop, use the Template for evidence-based intervention and the Template for handout, and plan your interventions and develop your own handout!
What do best practice principles mean for clinicians in:
What do best practice principles mean for clinicians in private practice?
- Use best approaches when working one-on-one with children to ensure that new skills are learned (e.g. jumping), but also incorporate strategies to promote generalization of learning. Share strategies with children and their families, as well as with educators, community partners and sports groups if you can.
- Develop new and innovative services, education materials, and group activities to respond to the needs of children with DCD, their families, educators, and community groups.
What do best practice principles mean for clinicians in rehabilitation centres?
- Use a graded response-to-intervention model, starting first with the transfer of knowledge and resources to families, educators, and community partners / sports groups, to ensure they M.A.T.C.H. tasks to children’s abilities.
- For children requiring specific interventions, use best approaches with groups or individually to ensure children learn new skills (e.g. jumping), but also learn strategies to foster generalization of learning.
- Develop group education sessions to share information on health promotion.
What do best practice principles mean for clinicians in schools?
- Transfer knowledge about best approaches to educators to ease learning for children and ensure participation.
- Share M.A.T.C.H. strategies to help educators adapt activities, such as changing the size and the weight of the balls used in physical education.
- Implement Referral pathway/graduated response for assessment and intervention of suspected DCD. 8
Question for Reflection
What is a 'graduated response to intervention' and in what ways does this differ from traditional PT assessment/intervention?
Click here for some thoughts on this questionWhat is a 'graduated response to intervention' and in what ways does this differ from traditional PT assessment/intervention?
Traditionally, PTs assess and intervene with individual children on a one-to-one basis. For example, in school settings, PTs will often use ‘pull-out’ models of service where the child is removed from the classroom to be assessed and treated (when resources allow). The child’s teacher and family might be provided with an exercise program. However, not every child with DCD needs one-to-one, specialized interventions. Recommendations for intervention now include the use of a more general, population-based approach that includes initial modifications in the environment and where adults in the child's environment are taught strategies to help children to learn new skills. Most of the children with DCD will be able improve with these global strategies; for those who don't respond to these interventions, or for whom teaching of specific activities is required, an individual-based approach is used. This progression from initial environmental modifications to one-on-one interventions is called a "graduated response to intervention", and is felt to be more effective and efficient than traditional service delivery models for children with DCD.
