Emergence and stability of interlimb coordination patterns in children with developmental coordination disorder.
A thirty-second jump-and-clap test on firm and springy surfaces spots the shaky timing seen in kids with DCD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked kids to jump and clap to a steady beat.
Some kids had developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Others were typically developing.
Each child tried the task on a hard floor and then on a bouncy mini-trampoline.
Cameras and timers tracked how well the jumps and claps stayed in sync.
What they found
Children with DCD showed messier timing. Their claps and jumps drifted apart more often.
The difference was biggest on the springy surface.
The authors say a quick jump-and-clap test can flag possible DCD.
How this fits with other research
Rosenblum et al. (2013) saw the same timing trouble with a different tool. They used the Interactive Metronome and longer handwriting pauses. Both studies show kids with DCD struggle to keep a steady rhythm.
Umesawa et al. (2023) looked at hand-foot timing too, but in autism. They also found sloppy coordination. The contradiction is only in the label: ASD versus DCD. The motor variability itself looks alike.
Rivilis et al. (2011) reviewed forty papers and found lower fitness across the board for DCD. Marcela et al. add a new piece: the timing gap shows up in just thirty seconds of jump-clap.
Why it matters
You now have a free, fast screen. Play a metronome app, ask the child to jump and clap for thirty seconds on carpet and then on a therapy ball. Count obvious misses. More than three or four may warrant a DCD referral. No mats, computers, or long forms needed.
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Join Free →Tape a metronome to 60 bpm, have the child jump and clap for thirty seconds on the floor and then on a mini-tramp, note any missed beats.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the emergence and stability of coordination patterns in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) when performing a rhythmic interlimb coordination task on rigid (floor) and elastic (mini-trampoline) surfaces. Twelve typically developing (TD) children and 12 children with DCD were required to clap while jumping under different conditions: in a chosen pattern - Free; when the feet touched the surface - Clapping-surface; when the body reached the maximum jumping height - Clapping-jump; and when the feet touched the surface and the body reached the maximum jumping height - Clapping-both. The results showed that the coordination pattern of children with DCD was more variable in the Free, Clapping-surface, and Clapping-jumping conditions and more variable on the mini-trampoline than on the floor under the Free condition when compared with the TD children. Clapping-jumping was more difficult to perform than Clapping-surface for both groups. These findings suggest that the children with DCD were less capable of rhythmically coordinating the jumping-clapping task because they used a type of exploratory strategy regarding the physical properties of the surfaces, whereas the TD children used a type of adaptive strategy displaying behavior that was more consistent across the tasks/environmental demands.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.11.002