A new protocol for assessing action observation and imitation abilities in children with Developmental Coordination...

To develop a new protocol for the assessment of action observation (AO) abilities and imitation of meaningful and non-meaningful gestures, to examine its psychometric properties in children with DCD and typically developing (TD) children.

For learning manual skills, AO and imitation are considered fundamental abilities. Knowledge about these modalities in children with DCD is scarce and an assessment protocol is lacking.

The protocol consists of 2 tests. The AO test consists of two assembly tasks. The imitation test includes 12 meaningful and 20 non-meaningful gestures. Items of both tests are rated on a 4-point scale. Twelve children with DCD (mean age 8y3m, SD, 1.30) and 11 TD children (mean age 8y2m, SD 1.52) were enrolled. For inter-rater reliability, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated for the total score, weighted kappa and percentage agreement for single items. Known group validity was assessed by comparison of DCD and TD group (Wilcoxon rank sum test). For construct validity, the mABC-2 test was used. The protocol was adapted and confirmed by an intra and inter-rater reliability study (new sample of 11 DCD children, mean age 7y5m, SD 1.37).

Excellent ICCs were reported for intra and inter-rater reliability for the final protocol. A significant difference between DCD and TD group was found for AO abilities (p < .01), for nonmeaningful gestures (p < .001). A significant correlation was reported between the AO test and the mABC-2 test (r = 56;p ≤0.0001). No significant correlations were revealed for the imitation tests.

The results support the psychometric properties of this protocol. When fully validated, it may contribute to map the deficits in AO abilities and imitation, to evaluate treatment effects of imitation and AO interventions.