Do Caregivers Value a Developmental Coordination Disorder Diagnosis to Inform Their Child's Care? A Cross-Sectional...

Explore caregiver-reported value of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) diagnosis in children with multiple developmental concerns.

Participants were caregivers of 105 children aged 3-15 years (mean = 5.9, SD = 2.23) awaiting assessment at a tertiary diagnostic child development service who scored "suspect for" DCD on the Little-Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire or DCD Questionnaire (DCDQ'07). Caregivers completed the Parental Perceptions of DCD Diagnosis Survey, developed for this study.

Most caregivers (88.6%) reported a DCD diagnosis was moderately or very important. There were no clinically meaningful relationships between caregiver importance and number of developmental concerns (τ_b=0.194, p = 0.019), level of motor concern (DCDQ'07 τ_b=-0.002, p = 0.987; Little-DCDQ-CA τ_b=0.135, p = 0.278) or presence of co-existing diagnoses (r=-0.042, p = 0.671). The three most common factors contributing to caregivers' perceived value of diagnosis were: better understanding of their child, access to school services, and minimizing future impacts. The most common factors caregivers perceived as important for professionals were better understanding of their child, provision of medical or therapy services, and provision of participation support.

Caregivers of children with multiple developmental concerns valued a DCD diagnosis. For clinicians, this may inform decisions within the DCD diagnostic process of children with multiple developmental difficulties.