Cerebellar Differences after Rehabilitation in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder
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SUBMITTER: Gill K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9313074 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that significantly impairs a child's ability to learn motor skills and to perform everyday activities. The cause of DCD is unknown; however, evidence suggests that children with DCD have altered brain structure and function. While the cerebellum has been hypothesised to be involved in developmental coordination disorder, no studies have specifically examined cerebellar structure in this population. The purpose of our study was to examine cerebellar differences in children with DCD compared to typically-developing children. Using voxel-based morphometry, we assessed cerebellar morphology in children 8-12 years of age. Forty-six children (12 typically-developing and 34 with DCD) were investigated using high resolution T1-weighted images, which were then processed using the spatially unbiased atlas template of the cerebellum and brainstem (SUIT) toolbox for a region of interest-based examination of the cerebellum. Results revealed that children with DCD had reduced grey matter volume in several regions, namely: the brainstem, right/left crus I, right crus II, left VI, right VIIb, and right VIIIa lobules. Further, Pearson correlations revealed significant positive associations between the total motor percentile score on the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 and regions that had reduced grey matter volume in our cohort (brainstem, left crus I, right VIIb, and right VIIIa). These findings indicate that reductions in cerebellar grey matter volume are associated with poorer motor skills. Given the cerebellum's involvement in internal models of movement, results of this study may help to explain why children with DCD struggle to learn motor skills.
| S-EPMC9371609 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundChildren with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) show improved motor function after Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance (CO-OP) intervention; however, the neural basis for these improvements is unknown.MethodsIn this randomized waitlist-controlled trial, 78 children with DCD (with/without ADHD) were randomly assigned to either a treatment or waitlist group and underwent three resting-state MRI scans over six months. The treatment group received intervention between the first and second scan; the waitlist group received intervention between the second and third scan.ResultsAfter CO-OP intervention, children with DCD [13 male, 8 female; mean (SD) age: 10.0 (1.7) years] showed increased functional connectivity between the default mode network and right anterior cingulate gyrus (p < 0.01). Additional gains were noted at follow-up three months after the intervention, with greater functional connectivity between the dorsal attention network and precentral gyrus (p < 0.02). However, children with DCD + ADHD [18 male, 1 female; mean (SD) age: 10.0 (1.14) years] did not show brain changes following CO-OP.ConclusionFor children with DCD, increased functional connectivity in networks associated with self-, emotion-, and attention-regulation may underlie motor skill improvements observed after CO-OP intervention. Modifications to the CO-OP protocol may be required to induce similar brain changes in children with DCD + ADHD.ImpactThis study provides neuroscientific evidence for the Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance (CO-OP) approach as an effective rehabilitation intervention to induce brain and behavioral changes in children with DCD. While children with DCD ± ADHD showed improved motor function after CO-OP, only children with DCD showed brain changes after intervention. Children with DCD showed increased functional connectivity in networks associated with self-, emotion-, and attention-regulation after the intervention. Treatment modifications may be required to induce similar brain changes in children with DCD + ADHD. Pediatricians are encouraged to refer children with DCD with and without ADHD for CO-OP intervention to improve their motor skills.
| S-EPMC9197764 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background and Objectives: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have difficulty learning motor skills, which can affect their participation in activities of daily living and psychosocial well-being. Over 50% of children with DCD also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which further exacerbates their motor problems and impact on quality of life. A rehabilitation approach known as Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance uses problem-solving strategies to help children learn motor skills they wish to achieve. While this cognitive approach has been effective for children with DCD, few studies have examined the effectiveness of this approach for children with co-occurring ADHD. Further, the underlying mechanism and neural basis of this intervention are largely unknown. Methods: In this randomized waitlist-controlled trial, we used MRI to examine white matter microstructure after intervention in 8-12-year-old children with DCD (n = 28) and with DCD and co-occurring ADHD (n = 25). Children in both groups were randomized to either a treatment group or waitlist group at their first MRI. The treatment group began the intervention after their MRI scan and returned for a post-treatment scan at 3 months, and follow-up scan at 6 months; the waitlist group waited 3 months before their second MRI, received the intervention, and then had a post-treatment scan. Each child received intervention once weekly for 10 weeks. Diffusion tensor imaging was used to acquire white matter diffusion parameters and was analyzed using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Results and Conclusion: Children with DCD showed significant improvement in white matter microstructure in the bilateral anterior thalamic radiation, bilateral sensorimotor tract, bilateral cingulum, fornix, splenium and body of corpus callosum, right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and white matter pathways to bilateral inferior gyri, right middle frontal gyrus, frontal medial cortex, and left cuneus. We suggest that these rehabilitation-induced neural changes in children with DCD occurred in regions associated with attention, self-regulation, motor planning, and inter-hemispheric communication, which positively affected brain connectivity and motor function. In contrast, children with DCD and co-occurring ADHD did not show any brain changes following the intervention. Modifications to the treatment protocol might help address the attentional and self-regulatory needs of children with a dual diagnosis. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02597751.
| S-EPMC8209514 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDevelopmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in performing motor tasks. Research suggests social skills are also altered.ObjectiveTo investigate (1) whether the presence of DCD affects social responsiveness, (2) whether the co-occurrence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects social responsiveness in children with DCD, and (3) whether there is an association between motor performance and social responsiveness in children with DCD.MethodsBased on parental reports, children aged 5 to 15.5 years were assigned to one of three groups: DCD only (NoASD, n = 67), DCD and suspected ASD (sASD, n = 13), and DCD and confirmed ASD (cASD, n = 22). Parental answers to the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2) and the DCD-Questionnaire (DCD-Q) were compared to norm values using one sample t-tests, and between groups using ANOVA and MANOVA. Pearson correlation coefficients explored the relationship between the SRS-2 and DCD-Q in the total group and per group.ResultsCompared to norm values, difficulties in all areas of social responsiveness were reported in children with DCD, regardless of group (p<0.001). Compared to the noASD group, more unfavorable SRS-2 total T-scores and poorer DCD-Q scores were observed in sASD and cASD groups. Only in the total group, motor performance showed significant weak to moderate associations with the SRS-2 total T-score and all subscales except for 'social motivation' (r=-0.306 to -0.405; p ≤ 0.02).ConclusionSocial responsiveness difficulties are more common in children with DCD and are more severe in the ASD groups. Motor performance and social responsiveness are weak to moderately associated.Clinical trial registration numberNCT05092893 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05092893).
| S-EPMC10899025 | biostudies-literature
Project description:About 85% of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience comorbid motor impairments, making it unclear whether white matter abnormalities previously found in ASD are related to social communication deficits, the hallmark of ASD, or instead related to comorbid motor impairment. Here we aim to understand specific white matter signatures of ASD beyond those related to comorbid motor impairment by comparing youth (aged 8-18) with ASD (n = 22), developmental coordination disorder (DCD; n = 16), and typically developing youth (TD; n = 22). Diffusion weighted imaging was collected and quantitative anisotropy, radial diffusivity, mean diffusivity, and axial diffusivity were compared between the three groups and correlated with social and motor measures. Compared to DCD and TD groups, diffusivity differences were found in the ASD group in the mid-cingulum longitudinal and u-fibers, the corpus callosum forceps minor/anterior commissure, and the left middle cerebellar peduncle. Compared to the TD group, the ASD group had diffusivity differences in the right inferior frontal occipital/extreme capsule and genu of the corpus callosum. These diffusion differences correlated with emotional deficits and/or autism severity. By contrast, children with DCD showed unique abnormality in the left cortico-spinal and cortico-pontine tracts.Trial Registration All data are available on the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive: https://nda.nih.gov/edit_collection.html?id=2254 .
| S-EPMC9663575 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background:Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is described as a motor skill disorder characterized by a marked impairment in the development of motor coordination abilities that significantly interferes with performance of daily activities and/or academic achievement. Since some electrophysiological studies suggest differences between children with/without motor development problems, we prepared an experimental protocol and performed electrophysiological experiments with the aim of making a step toward a possible diagnosis of this disorder using the event-related potentials (ERP) technique. The second aim is to properly annotate the obtained raw data with relevant metadata and promote their long-term sustainability. Results:The data from 32 school children (16 with possible DCD and 16 in the control group) were collected. Each dataset contains raw electroencephalography (EEG) data in the BrainVision format and provides sufficient metadata (such as age, gender, results of the motor test, and hearing thresholds) to allow other researchers to perform analysis. For each experiment, the percentage of ERP trials damaged by blinking artifacts was estimated. Furthermore, ERP trials were averaged across different participants and conditions, and the resulting plots are included in the manuscript. This should help researchers to estimate the usability of individual datasets for analysis. Conclusions:The aim of the whole project is to find out if it is possible to make any conclusions about DCD from EEG data obtained. For the purpose of further analysis, the data were collected and annotated respecting the current outcomes of the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility Program on Standards for Data Sharing, the Task Force on Electrophysiology, and the group developing the Ontology for Experimental Neurophysiology. The data with metadata are stored in the EEG/ERP Portal.
| S-EPMC5530316 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) struggle with the acquisition of coordinated motor skills. This paper adopts a dynamical systems perspective to assess how individual coordination solutions might emerge following an intervention that trained accurate gaze control in a throw and catch task. Kinematic data were collected from six upper body sensors from twenty-one children with DCD, using a 3D motion analysis system, before and after a 4-week training intervention. Covariance matrices between kinematic measures were computed and distances between pairs of covariance matrices calculated using Riemannian geometry. Multidimensional scaling was then used to analyse differences between coordination patterns. The gaze trained group revealed significantly higher total coordination (sum of all the pairwise covariances) following training than a technique-trained control group. While the increase in total coordination also significantly predicted improvement in task performance, the distinct post-intervention coordination patterns for the gaze trained group were not consistent. Additionally, the gaze trained group revealed individual coordination patterns for successful catch attempts that were different from all the coordination patterns before training, whereas the control group did not. Taken together, the results of this interdisciplinary study illustrate how gaze training may encourage the emergence of coordination via self-organization in children with DCD.
| S-EPMC6368583 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Adaptive balance control is often compromised in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Neuromuscular training (NMT) is commonly used in clinical settings to improve neuromuscular control and hence balance performance in these children. However, its effectiveness has not been proven scientifically. This randomized controlled study aimed to explore the effectiveness of NMT for improving adaptive balance performance and the associated leg muscle activation times in children with DCD. METHODS:Eighty-eight children with DCD were randomly assigned to the NMT or control group (44 per group). The NMT group received two 40-minute NMT sessions/week for 3 months, whereas the control group received no intervention. The outcomes were measured at baseline and 3 and 6 months. The primary outcome was the sway energy score (SES) in both the toes-up and toes-down conditions as derived using the Adaptation Test (ADT). Secondary outcomes included the medial gastrocnemius, medial hamstring, tibialis anterior and rectus femoris muscle activation onset latencies during ADT, measured using surface electromyography and accelerometry. Data were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of covariance based on the intention-to-treat principle. RESULTS:At 3 months, no significant within-group or between-group differences were noted in the SESs for either group. At 6 months, the toes-down SES decreased by 6.8% compared to the baseline value in exclusively the NMT group (P?=?.004). No significant time, group or group-by-time interaction effects were observed in any leg muscle activation outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:Short-term NMT failed to improve adaptive balance performance and leg muscle activation times in children with DCD. Further studies should explore the clinical applications of longer-term task-specific interventions intended to improve the adaptive balance performance of these children.
| S-EPMC6855479 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects a child's ability to learn motor skills and participate in self-care, educational, and leisure activities. The cause of DCD is unknown, but evidence suggests that children with DCD have atypical brain structure and function. Resting-state MRI assesses functional connectivity by identifying brain regions that have parallel activation during rest. As only a few studies have examined functional connectivity in this population, our objective was to compare whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity of children with DCD and typically-developing children. Using Independent Component Analysis (ICA), we compared functional connectivity of 8-12 year old children with DCD (N = 35) and typically-developing children (N = 23) across 19 networks, controlling for age and sex. Children with DCD demonstrate altered functional connectivity between the sensorimotor network and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), precuneus, and the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) (p < 0.0001). Previous evidence suggests the PCC acts as a link between functionally distinct networks. Our results indicate that ineffective communication between the sensorimotor network and the PCC might play a role in inefficient motor learning seen in DCD. The pMTG acts as hub for action-related information and processing, and its involvement could explain some of the functional difficulties seen in DCD. This study increases our understanding of the neurological differences that characterize this common motor disorder.
| S-EPMC7320316 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) describes a condition of poor motor performance in the absence of intellectual impairment. Despite being one of the most prevalent developmental disorders, little is known about how fundamental visuomotor processes might function in this group. One prevalent idea is children with DCD interact with their environment in a less predictive fashion than typically developing children. A metric of prediction which has not been examined in this group is the degree to which the hands and eyes are coordinated when performing manual tasks. To this end, we examined hand and eye movements during an object lifting task in a group of children with DCD (n = 19) and an age-matched group of children without DCD (n = 39). We observed no differences between the groups in terms of how well they coordinated their hands and eyes when lifting objects, nor in terms of the degree by which the eye led the hand. We thus find no evidence to support the proposition that children with DCD coordinate their hands and eyes in a non-predictive fashion. In a follow-up exploratory analysis we did, however, note differences in fundamental patterns of eye movements between the groups, with children in the DCD group showing some evidence of atypical visual sampling strategies and gaze anchoring behaviours during the task.
| S-EPMC8064026 | biostudies-literature