Judgment of action capabilities in children at risk for developmental coordination disorder

To evaluate the ability to accurately perceive the limits of action capabilities in children at risk for developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

In Study 1, 9 to 12-year-old children (mean = 10.6 years, SD = 1.09) were identified as at risk for DCD and the accuracy of their perceptual judgments was compared with the judgments of a group of typically developing children (TDC). Two judgment tasks were used: Maximum vertical reach and maximum sitting height. Study 2 tested the hypothesis that a significant correlation would be found between a specific movement task and a related judgment task. Participants were randomly selected (n = 24) 10 and 11-year-old children (mean = 10.5 years, SD = 0.51).

Magnitude of judgment error (absolute error) on all tasks was significantly (p < 0.05) greater in the DCD group than in the TDC group. Study 2 revealed a significant (p < 0.05) correlation between the movement task and the related perceptual task (r = 0.70).

Compared to a typically developing group, children at risk for DCD made less accurate judgments of the limits of their action capabilities. The accuracy of a perceptual judgment was found to correlate with a related movement skill.