Effects of a Highly Intensive Balance Therapy Camp in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder

Hasselt University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Developmental Coordination Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Highly intensive individualized balance therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT07096817

21KP09BOF

Details and patient eligibility

About

The main objective of this clinical trial is to investigate the short (immediately after intervention) and medium term (three month) effects of a highly intensive, comprehensive postural control 6-day therapy camp in school-aged children (6 to 12 years) with developmental coordination disorder at different levels of the The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework.

Enrollment: 35 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6 to 12 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• diagnosed with DCD by a pediatrician, using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria: (i) motor skill acquisition and performance is at an age-inappropriate level (Criterion A), objectified with the total MABC-2 score at or below the 16th percentile or subscale score at or below the 5th percentile; (ii) the motor skills deficit significantly and persistently interferes with the activities of everyday living (Criterion B), objectified with the DCD Questionnaire 2007 (DCD-Q) ; (iii) Onset of symptoms in early childhood (Criterion C) evaluated by anamnesis with parents; (iv) The motor skills deficits are not better accounted for by any other medical (neurological, intellectual, visual, etc.), neurodevelopmental, psychological, social condition, or cultural background (criterion D), evaluated by a neuromotor examination performed by an acknowledged pediatrician.
• children who have no formal diagnosis are evaluated by the research team using the diagnostic criteria as outlined in the inclusion criteria. In this case, Criterion D is evaluated based on anamnesis and clinical examination. If criterion A, B, C are met and other intellectual, visual or neurological conditions have not been reported, they are included as having "probable" DCD.
• Due to the interventional focus on postural control, children are only included if they score below the 50th percentile for the balance subscale of the MABC-2 and below 80% on the Kids-BESTest total score.
• Due to the high comorbidity rate in children with DCD, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and dyslexia, the comorbidities are listed through thorough anamnesis and the Strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) is used.

Exclusion criteria

• not able to follow instructions or cooperate sufficiently due to behavioral problems

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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35 participants in 1 patient group

Individualized balance therapy (with follow-up after and baseline follow-up)

Experimental group

Description:

The therapy of the children will be given in intensive camps. A total of four camps are organized between April 2023 and August 2024. Each camp consists of six days of therapy, with a total therapy time of 40 hours. The central camp theme is "Circus", due to the attractiveness for children and the link with postural control. The intervention is functional, and divided in six activity categories: jumping, sitting balance, walking and running, circus, individual goals and group activities with focus on social interaction (Table 2). Each category should: 1. partially or fully cover the multisystemic framework of Horak, with the overall program covering the entire framework , 2. be fun and focusing on collaboration rather than competition. During three months prior to the intervention (camps), the children are followed up for six months and assessed at three time points. They will keep on following their usual physiotherapy sessions.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Highly intensive individualized balance therapy