Motor skill learning with impaired transfer by children with developmental coordination disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Motor Control

Background:

• Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is characterized by deficits in acquiring and executing coordinated motor skills per DSM-5 criteria.
• Previous research indicates motor skill execution deficits in DCD, but learning new skills appears intact, possibly due to heterogeneity in motor impairments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare motor skill learning in 5-6-year-old children with and without DCD.
• To investigate learning using a grapho-motor task simulating letter writing, given the high prevalence of handwriting difficulties in DCD.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-two boys (16 with DCD) learned to produce a novel symbol.
• The study assessed immediate learning, consolidation, 1-week retention, and far-transfer to a no-dot condition.

Main Results:

• Children with DCD demonstrated similar learning rates but poorer overall performance compared to peers.
• Impaired transfer of the learned symbol was observed in children with DCD, contrasting with previous findings of intact skill transfer.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that while learning rates may be preserved, the ability to transfer learned motor skills is impaired in children with DCD.
• This impairment in skill transfer may contribute to the motor difficulties observed in children with DCD and informs understanding of motor learning mechanisms.