Development of the Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire for preschoolers and preliminary evidence of its psychometric properties in Israel.
A five-minute parent form reliably spots coordination delays in preschoolers, letting you intervene before school skills suffer.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers built a short parent form called the Little DCDQ. It asks about preschoolers' motor skills like climbing stairs or holding a spoon.
They tested it with 110 Israeli parents. Half had kids with known delays, half had typically developing 3- to young learners.
What they found
The form took five minutes to finish. Scores clearly split the two groups: delayed children scored lower.
Statistical checks showed good reliability and validity. The tool flagged coordination problems early.
How this fits with other research
Harrowell et al. (2018) followed older students with DCD and found they earned only two GCSEs on average, far below peers. Early screening like the Little DCDQ gives us a chance to act before these academic gaps grow.
Leung et al. (2013) also validated a preschool tool, but for cognitive delays in Chinese children. Both studies show that short parent questionnaires can work across cultures and domains.
Prigge et al. (2013) warn that some behavior checklists misestimate toddlers. The Little DCDQ avoided this trap by staying positive in its psychometrics, giving us confidence in its scores.
Why it matters
You can add the Little DCDQ to your intake packet. It costs nothing, takes five minutes, and gives a quick red-flag for motor delays. If the score is low, you can refer for full assessment and start motor interventions earlier, potentially sparing the child later academic struggle.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
PURPOSE: The early identification of motor coordination challenges before school age may enable close monitoring of a child's development and perhaps ameliorate some of the social, psychological and behavioral sequela that often accompany unrecognized Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the initial psychometric properties of a screening tool, the Little DCD Questionnaire (Little DCDQ), designed to identify DCD amongst preschoolers aged 3 and 4. METHODS: The suitability of the items of the DCDQ'07 for 3- and 4-year-old children was assessed. Four items were found to be suitable and new items were generated. Content validity was ensured using a Table of Specification and the items were categorized into three sub-categories (Control During Movement, Fine Motor and General Coordination). The Little DCDQ was administered to 146 children (91 boys) aged 3 and 4 (mean age=49.39±7.16 months). Ninety-one typically developing children were included (mean age=47.80±7.05 months; 46 boys) while 55 children had been referred or were being treated for some form of developmental delay (mean age=52.02±6.60 months; 45 boys). Of this sample, 28 parents completed the questionnaire twice within a 2-week interval. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability was evidenced by moderate to good intraclass correlation coefficient values between scores on the two administrations for the total and the three sub-category scores. Evidence of internal consistency was provided by adequate to high Cronbach's alpha co-efficients calculated for each item, each sub-category score and the total score for the total group, and separately for the control group and the clinically referred group. Validity evidence based on relations to other variables was provided by the finding of significant group differences (clinically referred and control) for the total and sub-category scores for both the age groups and the total group. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the preliminary psychometric evidence, it appears that the Little DCDQ meets many of the necessary standards for validity and reliability as a screening instrument, and shows promise as a useful clinical and research tool.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.12.040