The Effectiveness of Cognitive Rehabilitation on Fundamental Motor Skills of Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Quasi-Experimental study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cognitive rehabilitation on Fundamental motor skills of children with DCD. The method of the present study was quasi-experimental, a pre- posttest design with experimental, and control groups. The statistical population of the study was 6 to 10 year old children in khonj city. For this purpose, 40 children with developmental coordination disorders were selected by cluster sampling method based on entry and exit criteria as members of the sample group and were randomly divided into experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 20) groups. Electrical stimulation was performed in 24 sessions and each session for 20 minutes with an intensity of one mA on the F3 and F4 regions on the study groups. The instruments used in this study included the DCD Questionnaire (DCDQ7), Movement Assessment Battery for Children - Second Edition (MABC-2), the Ulrich Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2) and the Raven Intelligence Test. Data analysis was performed by Levin, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and analysis of covariance at a significance level of 0.05. The results showed that Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) have a significant effect on increasing locomotor movement skills (F = 461.84, P = 0.001, Eta = 0.92), object control (F = 351.15, P = 0.001, Eta = 0.90,) and total motor skills (F = 597.21, P = 0.001, Eta = 0.94). This method can be useful and effective in improving Fundamental motor Skills, which is one of the major problems of these children.

Keywords

• children
• cognitive rehabilitation
• developmental coordination disorder
• electrical stimulation
• motor skills