About this Research Topic
Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is detected in approximately 5% of children and describes a condition in which motor coordination is below the level expected given a child’s age or opportunity for learning. Children with DCD display fine and/or gross motor difficulties which persist into adulthood and cannot be better explained by a medical or neurological condition. The difficulties that individuals with DCD experience have a significant impact on activities of daily living, scholastic achievement, inter-personal relationships, and employment.
Motor difficulties such as these have been poorly defined and are poorly understood by healthcare and education professionals, rendering treatments and care more difficult. European guidelines from 2012 and further revisions in 2019, have helped to clarify the diagnostic issues and there has been a significant growth in research in this field over the last four decades. A search for the topic ‘Developmental Coordination Disorder’ using Web of Science yielded 4153 publications with 69% of these published in the last 10 years alone. Despite this growth there still are pending questions in research regarding our understanding of the etiology, the co-occurrence with other developmental disorders, and the lived experience.
Given the need for a greater understanding of key issues within this field, and also the need for greater public awareness of Developmental Coordination Disorder, it is vital that research findings are shared among movement disorders researchers, occupational therapists, neurodevelopmental disorders experts, and developmental psychologists to integrate our current understanding of this movement disorder. It is essential to focus on future directions and how current research and future research will impact the individuals’ health, families, and communities living with DCD.
This Research Topic aims to collect original research articles and reviews describing our current understanding of DCD and exploring current research directions in this field.
We welcome researchers to submit articles focusing on Developmental Coordination Disorder, these can be empirical, theoretical or user-oriented and can focus on any aspect of DCD either including co-occurrences or describing clinical cases.
We are interested in themes including:
• Neurobiological mechanisms underlying and involved in DCD
• The consideration of motor learning either within or out of an intervention context
• The impact of DCD on activities of daily living, education or occupation
• The impact of secondary consequences and of co-occurrences
In all cases, impact can refer to impact on the individual, the family, or the community.
Motor difficulties such as these have been poorly defined and are poorly understood by healthcare and education professionals, rendering treatments and care more difficult. European guidelines from 2012 and further revisions in 2019, have helped to clarify the diagnostic issues and there has been a significant growth in research in this field over the last four decades. A search for the topic ‘Developmental Coordination Disorder’ using Web of Science yielded 4153 publications with 69% of these published in the last 10 years alone. Despite this growth there still are pending questions in research regarding our understanding of the etiology, the co-occurrence with other developmental disorders, and the lived experience.
Given the need for a greater understanding of key issues within this field, and also the need for greater public awareness of Developmental Coordination Disorder, it is vital that research findings are shared among movement disorders researchers, occupational therapists, neurodevelopmental disorders experts, and developmental psychologists to integrate our current understanding of this movement disorder. It is essential to focus on future directions and how current research and future research will impact the individuals’ health, families, and communities living with DCD.
This Research Topic aims to collect original research articles and reviews describing our current understanding of DCD and exploring current research directions in this field.
We welcome researchers to submit articles focusing on Developmental Coordination Disorder, these can be empirical, theoretical or user-oriented and can focus on any aspect of DCD either including co-occurrences or describing clinical cases.
We are interested in themes including:
• Neurobiological mechanisms underlying and involved in DCD
• The consideration of motor learning either within or out of an intervention context
• The impact of DCD on activities of daily living, education or occupation
• The impact of secondary consequences and of co-occurrences
In all cases, impact can refer to impact on the individual, the family, or the community.
Keywords: Developmental Coordination Disorder, Perspectives
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
