Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background: Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder present with motor \ndifficulties that affect their activities of daily living, academic and social function, with \nboth short- and long-term consequences. Referrals for therapy are often made by class \nteachers, which is necessary for further assessment and initiating intervention. \nObjective: To evaluate whether teachers are able to identify motor difficulties among the \nchildren in their class. \nMethods: Sixteen teachers at seven schools were approached. Several children were \nrandomly chosen from each class. Once parental consent had been obtained, children were \ntested on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children Second Edition (MABC-2). The \nresults were compared to a brief teacher questionnaire on each child’s motor ability. \nResults: Overall the teachers’ sensitivity was 0.33 and specificity was 0.75, which is below \nthe recommended level for a screening tool. Teachers had a tendency to over-score (overestimate) \na child’s ability for Manual Dexterity, but under-score (under-estimate) for \nAiming and Catching and Balance. No significant difference (p<0.05) was found relating to \nteacher education level, or a teacher’s confidence in her ability to identify children with \nmotor difficulties. Overall prevalence, at 20 percent, was found to be higher than the APA \n(2000) reported statistic of six percent. Information regarding teachers’ opinions of what \nconstituted motor difficulties was obtained, but a detailed analysis of why this was so was \nnot in the scope of this research. \nConclusion: Teachers are not adequately able to identify children with motor difficulties \nfrom their class. They were unable to distinguish between those presenting with difficulties \nand those without. An alternative system to identify children with motor difficulties should \nbe investigated. \nKey words: Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD); motor difficulties; Movement \nAssessment Battery for Children Second Edition (MABC-2); teachers.
Author: Tamara Gritzman
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2245366482