The Effects of Creative Dance Therapy on Motor and Executive Functions in Children With Dyslexia

Ankara Medipol University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Dance Therapy; Dyslexia; Executive Function; Motor Skills

Treatments: Other: Creative Dance Therapy

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05850169

ANKARAMEDİPOLUBAFRALİ002

Details and patient eligibility

About

Although some benefits of dance have been described for motor and cognitive skills, the effects on individuals with dyslexia are unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of creative dance training on the motor and executive skills of children with dyslexia.

Full description

Although some benefits of dance have been described for motor and cognitive skills, the effects on individuals with dyslexia are unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of creative dance training on the motor and executive skills of children with dyslexia.

The randomized controlled trial was conducted between August 2019 and December 2020 in the Occupational Therapy Department of Hacettepe University. The sample consisted of 51 children with dyslexia aged 8-10 years. While 26 of the participants received routine literacy training, the other 25 also received creative dance training three times a week for 4 weeks. Motor functions were assessed using the "Bruininks-Oseretsky Motor Competence 2 Test- Short Form", and executive functions were assessedusing the "Executive Function and Occupational Routines Scale".

Enrollment: 51 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 6 to 10 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• an age between 6 and 10 years
• a diagnosis of dyslexia according to DSM-V criteria
• continued formal education in elementary school
• participation in routine literacy training in a special education and rehabilitation center
• voluntary participation in the study.

Exclusion criteria

• having additional physical or psychological problem accompanying the dyslexia
• using of psychotic drugs
• participating in sports regularly.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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51 participants in 2 patient groups

intervention group

Experimental group

Description:

After completion of the initial assessments, the intervention group received 3 sessions per week of creative dance training for 4 weeks (12 sessions), with each session lasting approximately 40 minutes. The creative dance training took place in a 40-square-metre mirrored hall with a tatami mat on the floor. The training was conducted individually for each child in the IG. Different children's songs were selected for each session in harmony with the rhythm of the dance movements. In each session, 10 minutes of warm-up movements and 20 minutes of creative dance training were conducted, accompanied by songs. Meanwhile, materials such as spiky and heavy balls, ribbons, rhythm sticks and holihop were included in the application. The creative dance training was planned by diversifying the 8 movement models (breath, tactile, core-distal, head-tail, upper-lower, body side, cross lateral and vestibular) of "Brain Dance", which is a part of creative dance (Gilbert, 2002,2015).

Treatment:

Other: Creative Dance Therapy

Control group

No Intervention group