Developmental coordination disorder and its cause: The road less travelled

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Motor Control Research
• Pediatric Neurology

Background:

• Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) affects children's motor skills.
• Traditional explanations often cite information processing (IP) deficits.
• A need exists to explore alternative causal models for DCD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically review literature on the causes of DCD in children.
• To contrast the information processing (IP) approach with the dynamical systems (DS) approach.
• To evaluate the empirical support for each theoretical model.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of research on DCD.
• Comparative analysis of IP and DS theoretical frameworks.
• Examination of empirical data supporting each approach.

Main Results:

• The information processing (IP) model's data for explaining DCD is considered weak.
• The dynamical systems (DS) model proposes that DCD arises from degraded perception-action coupling.
• Existing data provides limited support for IP-based explanations of motor deficits in DCD.

Conclusions:

• A reconsideration of the underlying causes of DCD is warranted.
• The dynamical systems (DS) perspective offers a potentially stronger framework for understanding DCD.
• Current evidence challenges the sufficiency of the IP model in explaining DCD etiology.