Resources

Sections:

1. Identification & Assessment
2. Goal Setting
3. Intervention
4. More Information

1. Identification & Assessment

1.1 Identification: Clinical Resources

• Characteristic features of DCD classified according to the International Classification of Functioning, Health and Disability: A table outlining the characteristic features of DCD according to the components of the International Classification of Functioning, Health and Disability.
• Recognizing and Referring Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: Role of the Physical Therapist: A flyer to assist Physical Therapists in understanding their role in recognizing and referring children with DCD.
• Listening for DCD Interview Guide - Appendix 1: Questionnaire for Parents of Children with Motor Coordination Problems: A guide for use during interviews with parents to document their concerns regarding motor coordination difficulties and their impact on the child's life.
• Assessment - Questions to Detect Red Flags for DCD: A simple flowchart to help determine whether further assessment for DCD is recommended.
• Trajectory of Trouble Checklist: A checklist for physiotherapists during conversations with children and their parents to identify and document potential consequences of daily motor difficulties, and assisting in goal setting and planning interventions (can be used in association with the Promoting Quality of Life handout).
• Promoting Quality of Life: A handout physiotherapists can use to provide general recommendations to parents about fostering quality of life and avoiding potential consequences of daily motor difficulties (can be used in association with the Trajectory of Trouble Checklist).

1.2 Standardized Assessments

See the Identification section and the Measure Meaningful Outcomes sub-section (under Planning Interventions & Goals) for more information about:

• Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Movement ABC) & MABC-2
• Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT) & BOT-2
• Assessment of Life Habits (LIFE-H)
• Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale – 2nd edition (VABS-2)

1.3 Evidence-Base for Identification and Assessment

• Missiuna, C., Gaines, R., & Soucie, H. (2006). Why every office needs a tennis ball: A new approach to assessing the clumsy child. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 175(5), 471-473.
  • This article uses a case study to explain DCD’s natural history, screening, referral and treatment. It also provides text boxes summarizing the diagnostic criteria and the differential diagnosis of DCD, and a figure summarizing typical concerns noted by parents across childhood ages.

2. Goal Setting

2.1 Goal Setting: Tools and Resources

See the Measure Meaningful Outcomes sub-section (under Planning Interventions & Goals) for more information about:

• Perceived Efficacy and Goal Setting System (PEGS)
• Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM)
• Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS)

Clinical resources:

• CASE SCENARIO - Skipping with Max: Impairment and Activity/Participation Goals using Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS). An example of how the GAS can be used to develop impairment and activity/participation goals, and how it will result in different intervention approaches.
• Goal-Plan-Do-Check detective sheet. A template to help physiotherapists involving children in the goal setting as well as in identifying their intervention plan. An example of how it has been used for Max, the child in the videos in the Evidence-Based Practice section, is also available.

3. Intervention

3.1 Resources to Use with Children

• Goal-Plan-Do-Check detective sheet. A template to help physiotherapists involving children in the goal setting as well as in identifying their intervention plan. An example of how it has been used for Max, the child in the videos in the Evidence-Based Practice section, is also available.
• Teaching Sports — Resources: These are resources you can use to support your interventions when helping children to learn new sports. The case scenario below illustrates how you can use evidence-based principles during your interventions for cycling; the Applying Evidence-based principles is a summary about how to apply motor learning, cognition and task-oriented principles when developing interventions; the handout is a series of recommendations you can give to parents, teachers or coaches.
  • Cycling: Case scenario, Applying evidence-based principles, Handout
  • Other activities: Template to design your evidence-based intervention, Template to design your handout
• DCD: what does it mean to me?: A document for adolescents that helps to explain what it means to be diagnosed with DCD, as well as other questions they may be asking.
• Annotated bibliography. A review of selected books on DCD suitable for different audiences, including children with movement problems, is available at: https://www.canchild.ca/en/resources/99-suggested-readings-for-developmental-coordination-disorder

3.2 Resources to Use with Families

• CanChild DCD Parents Workshops: CanChild developed this online workshop for parents, but educators have found it very useful too. It includes a description of what DCD is, videos, flyers, strategies and where to find additional resources.
• Does your child have DCD?: A flyer to help parents understand DCD and what they can do to help their children.
• Children with DCD: at home, school and the community: A booklet for parents and teachers to help identify and manage school-aged children who are demonstrating movement problems typical of children with DCD. This booklet is also available in many other languages as well
• Annotated bibliography. A review of selected books on DCD suitable for different audiences, including children with movement problems, is available at: https://www.canchild.ca/en/resources/99-suggested-readings-for-developmental-coordination-disorder

3.3 Resources to Use with Educators and with Schools

• CanChild Resources. CanChild has developed many resources you can share with educators and use to support your interventions in school settings.
• You can have a look at CanChild DCD school web page
• Among others, you might want to use the M.A.T.C.H. flyers, which are designed for specific children age-group:
  • Children with Motor Difficulties in Junior and Senior Kindergarten: A Resource for Educators
  • Children with Motor Difficulties in Grade 1/2: A Resource for Educators
  • Children with Motor Difficulties in Grade 3/4: A Resource for Educators
  • Children with Motor Difficulties in Grade 5/6: A Resource for Educators
  • Children with Motor Difficulties in Grade 7/8: A Resource for Educators
  • Adolescents with Motor Difficulties: A Resource for Educators
• You may also be interested in the Partnering for Change service delivery model, and some specific resources to organize Lunch & Learn activities about motor coordination with teachers:
  • Partnering for Change (P4C)
  • Lunch & Learn
    • Motor Development for Children in JK/SK
    • Motor Development for Children in grades 1-3
• Bullying Risk in Children with Disabilities: This document is a review of the literature (Campbell & Missiuna, 2011). It provides a description of the overall risk of experiencing bullying in children with DCD, SLI, and ADHD, as well as the impact this bullying may have. This document also provides additional resources to learn more about bullying and how to stop it.
• Annotated bibliography. A review of selected books on DCD suitable for different audiences, including children with movement problems, is available Here.

3.4 To Foster Skills Acquisition, Promote Physical Activity and Quality of Life

• Encouraging Participation in Physical Activities for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A CanChild flyer for parents or coaches that describes why children with DCD may not seem interested in physical activity. It also provides ideas of sports or activities that children with DCD are most likely to succeed at.
• Do You Know a Child Who is Clumsy? A Flyer for Coaches and Sports Instructors: A CanChild flyer for coaches explaining what they might see, and how they can help, children with DCD.
• Promoting Quality of Life: A handout physiotherapists can use to provide general recommendations to parents about fostering quality of life and avoiding potential consequences of daily motor difficulties (can be used in association with the Trajectory of Trouble Checklist).
• Teaching Sports — Resources: These are resources you can use to support your interventions when helping children to learn new sports. The case scenario below illustrates how you can use evidence-based principles during your interventions for cycling; the Applying Evidence-based principles is a summary about how to apply motor learning, cognition and task-oriented principles when developing interventions; the handout is a series of recommendations you can give to parents, teachers or coaches.
  • Cycling: Case scenario, Applying evidence-based principles, Handout
  • Other activities: Template to design your evidence-based intervention, Template to design your handout

3.5 To Share with Other Healthcare Providers

• Many flyers describing the roles of other health care professionals are available on CanChild website. You can share those flyers with your colleagues or the child's professionals:
  • Recognizing and referring children with developmental coordination disorder: The role of the speech-language pathologist
  • Recognizing and referring children with developmental coordination disorder: The role of the occupational therapist
  • Role of the optometrist: A new perspective on school-aged children with visual-motor difficulties
  • Recognizing and referring children with developmental coordination disorder: The role of the psychologist
  • Recognizing and referring children with developmental coordination disorder: Role of the Physician
• DCD: A flyer for Medical Practitioners: This flyer introduces physicians to DCD and outlines what they need to know to identify children with DCD. This is a flyer you can share with families to encourage them to talk with a medical practitioner about their concerns regarding their child's motor coordination difficulties.

3.6 Evidence-Base for Intervention

• 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.
• Missiuna, C., Rivard, L., & Pollock, N. (2004). They’re bright but can’t write: Developmental coordination disorder in school aged children. Teaching Exceptional Children Plus, 1(1), Article 3.

4. More Information

4.1 Summaries about DCD

• DCD: A Quick Reference in 5 C’s: A summary of DCD in 5 C’s: common, clumsy, chronic health condition, co-occurring conditions and consequences.
• Possible Causes of DCD: A document describing the difficulties that children with DCD experience, including planning motor tasks, organizing movements, performing coordinated actions, and/or adjusting when demands change conditions.
• Motor Learning Deficits: This excerpt describes the motor learning deficits that children with DCD experience and provides rationale for why these deficits may be occurring.

4.2 Websites about DCD

• CanChild's DCD Website. The website provides an introduction to DCD, educational materials and resources for parents and healthcare professionals.
• European Academy of Childhood Disability (EADC): The EACD provides access to different resources on its website, including guidelines regarding the identification and treatment of children with DCD.
• Movement Matters: This website provide information about a UK based organization that brings together key parties involved in DCD in the UK. This page specifically, provides access to the UK Guidelines for DCD. Additionally, on their website you can find more information and resources on DCD.

4.3 Book Chapters about DCD

• Rivard, L., Missiuna, C., Pollock, N., & David, K. (2011). Developmental coordination disorder. In S. Campbell, M. Orlin, & R. Palisano (Eds.), Physical therapy for children (4th ed.) (pp. 498-538). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

4.4 Articles about DCD

4.4.1 Additional Articles of Interest

• Missiuna, C., Gaines, R., Soucie, H. & McLean, J. (2006). Parental questions about developmental coordination disorder: A synopsis of current evidence. Paediatric Child Health, 11(8), 507-512.
• You can also find more articles about DCD on CanChild's web page
• The ABCs of DCD: An article in Physiotherapy Practice (Fall 2012) that describes DCD, how to recognize it and provides tips for the physiotherapists role in working with children with DCD.
• Pollock, N. (2009). Sensory integration: A review of the current state of the evidence. Occupational Therapy Now, 11(5), 6-10. Reprinted with the permission of CAOT Publications ACE.

4.4.2 Numbered References in the Module

Note: All professional rehabilitations registered in Ontario have free access to a bank of articles via Electronic Health Library. For more information visit their website.

1. Blank, R., Smits-Engelsman, B., Polatajko, H., & Wilson, P. (2012). European academy for childhood disability (EACD): Recommendations on the definition, diagnosis and intervention of developmental coordination disorder (long version). Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 54(1), 54-93.
2. Schmidt & Lee, 2005. Schmidt, R. A., & Lee, T. D. (2005). Motor control and learning: A behavioral emphasis. Human Kinetics Publishers.
3. Niemeijer, A. S., Smits-Engelsman, B. C. M., Reynders, K. and Schoemaker, M. M. (2003). Verbal actions of physiotherapists to enhance motor learning in children with DCD. Human Movement Science, 22, 567- 581.
4. Zwicker, J. L. and Harris, S. R. (2009). A reflection on motor learning theory in pediatric occupational therapy practice. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 76, 29-37.
5. Levac, D., Wishart, L., Missuina, C., and Wright, V. (2012). The application of motor learning strategies within functionally based interventions for children with neuromotor conditions. Pediatric Physical Therapy, 21, 345-355.
6. Toglia, J. P., Rodger, S. A., and Polatajko, HH. J. (2012). Anatomy of cognitive strategies: A therapist's primer for enabling occupational performance. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 79, 225-236.
7. Missiuna, C. A., Pollock, N. A., Levac, D.E., Campbell, W.N., Whalen, S. D., Bennett, S. M., Hecimovich, C. A., Gaines, B. R., Cairney, J., and Russell, D.J. (2012). Partnering for Change: An innovative school-based occupational therapy service delivery model for children with developmental coordination disorder. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 79, 41-50.
8. Salmon, G., Cleave, H., & Samuel, C. (2006). Development of multiagency referral pathways for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, developmental coordination disorder and autistic spectrum disorders: Reflections on the process and suggestions for new ways of working. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 11(1), 63-81.

Summary of resources:

The following document presents a summary of the resources presented in the module, as well as some additional resources. Please click here to download DCD resources for physiotherapists.