Enabling children with Developmental Coordination Disorder to self-regulate through the use of Dynamic Performance...

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Dynamic Performance Analysis (DPA) is learned by children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) during Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance (CO-OP) intervention. DPA is a tool used by therapists during the CO-OP approach to identify performance breakdowns and strategies for skill acquisition. This suggests that the self-regulation difficulties experienced by these children are amenable to intervention. The purpose of this proof of principle study was to determine: if school-aged children with DCD carry out DPAs, if DPA use was positively affected by intervention, and whether CO-OP had a larger effect on DPA use. Previously recorded videos of 13 children with DCD undergoing CO-OP, contemporary treatment or task-specific training were analyzed for evidence of DPA use. It was found that children in all three groups used simple DPAs before intervention; those receiving CO-OP intervention dramatically increased the number and quality of DPAs and could spontaneously apply it to the performance of another child. These findings indicate that, despite issues of self-regulation, children with DCD do self-monitor performance. More importantly, this ability can improve with CO-OP intervention as it guides the discovery of self-identified performance solutions, thereby enabling skill acquisition, generalization and transfer.