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Observational Study
. 2025 Dec;67(12):1601-1615.
doi: 10.1111/dmcn.16370. Epub 2025 Jun 18.

Motor, physical, and behavioural performance of 3- to 5-year-old children at risk of developmental coordination disorder: A longitudinal observational study

Amy De Roubaix  1 , Griet Dewitte  1   2 , Nina Vens  1   2 , Franny Faes  2 , Jill G Zwicker  3   4 , Bernard Dan  5 , Dominique Van de Velde  1 , Herbert Roeyers  6 , Lynn Bar-On  1 , Hilde Van Waelvelde  1
Affiliations
Observational Study

Motor, physical, and behavioural performance of 3- to 5-year-old children at risk of developmental coordination disorder: A longitudinal observational study

Amy De Roubaix et al. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2025 Dec.

Abstract

Aim: To compare the motor, physical, and behavioural performance of children at risk of developmental coordination disorder (rDCD) and typically developing children at 3, 4, and 5 years of age.

Method: Following a longitudinal design, 35 mainly high-risk children identified as rDCD by a multidisciplinary team at a centre for developmental disabilities and 34 typically developing children participated. Children were assessed with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition, Dutch/Belgian version (MABC-2-NL), Beery-Buktenica Test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI-6), Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire - Belgian version (LDCDQ-BE), Motor Skill Checklist, Functional Strength Measurement, body mass index, and Child Behavior Checklist. Linear mixed-model analyses compared performance between groups (rDCD and typically developing) and subgroups (confirmed and cleared DCD at 5 years).

Results: Children with rDCD scored significantly worse on all outcomes at every time point compared with typically developing children, except for visual perception. Performance on the MABC-2-NL, Beery VMI-6 subtest motor coordination, and LDCDQ-BE was also consistently below average for those in the rDCD group. Performance across time points was stable in the rDCD group, with only a significant improvement in LDCDQ-BE. Children not diagnosed with DCD (n = 5) were mostly similar in performance to the typically developing group.

Interpretation: Performance differences are present at 3 years in high-risk children at rDCD and tend to persist between 3 and 5 years.

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References

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