Navigation abilities and spatial anxiety in individuals with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD/Dyspraxia).
Spatial anxiety, not just clumsy movement, drives navigation trouble in adults with DCD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Gentle et al. (2024) compared adults with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder on two things: how well they navigate new places and how anxious they feel about space tasks.
Each adult completed map-reading and route-learning tests while the team logged speed, wrong turns, and self-rated worry.
What they found
Adults with DCD made slightly more errors and took a bit longer, but the big gap was anxiety. They scored far higher on spatial anxiety scales.
The more spatial anxiety a person reported, the worse their navigation score, no matter which group they were in.
How this fits with other research
Li et al. (2019) already showed that poor motor skills in young adults feed into low social support and negative self-concept, which then raises general distress. Judith's team narrows the lens: the worry is not just social, it is specifically about getting lost.
Scior et al. (2023) found Danish teens with Developmental Language Disorder actually report higher self-compassion and life satisfaction than peers. That sounds opposite to the DCD anxiety spike, but the difference is age and domain. Teens may lean on language for self-soothing, while adults with DCD face real-world travel demands that language cannot fix.
Together the papers flag two action points: screen for anxiety type (spatial vs. social) and tailor coping tools to the setting the client finds most stressful.
Why it matters
If you work with adults who bump into furniture or get lost easily, add two quick questions to your intake: 'Do you feel nervous using maps or parking garages?' and 'Do you avoid new routes?' High scores mean you can weave spatial-exposure drills and calming tactics into motor-skills sessions. Target the worry first and the navigation errors shrink faster.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Navigation skills are essential for independent living as they allow us to explore our environment; find our way to new locations, refine pathways to familiar locations and retrace our route home. Alongside motor coordination difficulties, there is evidence that individuals with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD/Dyspraxia) experience spatial processing difficulties, which are known to negatively affect navigation abilities. However, although self-reports indicate that adults with DCD have difficulties with sense of direction and navigation, no known studies have measured navigation abilities and strategies in adults with DCD. Furthermore, given evidence that individuals with DCD report higher levels of anxiety, we will additionally investigate associations between anxiety and navigation in this group. AIMS: This study compares navigation abilities, navigation strategies and spatial anxiety in adults with and without DCD. METHODS: Participants include 226 Adults aged 18-55 years, across two groups 1) DCD (N = 138, 111 F:25 M; 2:Other) 2); Typically Developing (N = 88, 77 F: 11 M). In this cross-sectional study, participants completed a series of tasks on the online Qualtrics platform. This included the Adult Developmental Coordination Disorder Checklist, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Wayfinding Anxiety Measure, the Wayfinding Questionnaire, the Wayfinding Strategy Questionnaire, and a navigation task. RESULTS: Our analysis shows that 1) compared to those with typical development, individuals with DCD have similar navigation performance but lower navigation and orientation scores, and distance estimation scores. 2) Movement co-ordination difficulties were only a significant predictor of landmark recognition and egocentric path route knowledge, and played no role for other aspects of navigation performance. 3) For wayfinding strategy use the DCD group used orientation strategies significantly less often than those with typical development, however there was no group difference in the use of route strategies. 4) The DCD group had significantly higher spatial anxiety scores across navigation, manipulation and imagery spatial sub-domains, even after controlling for general anxiety. 5) Spatial navigation anxiety was a significant predictor of navigational skill for all three wayfinding measures (navigation & orientation, distance estimation and spatial anxiety). CONCLUSIONS: The findings establish benchmarks of navigational skills in DCD and highlight spatial anxiety and route strategies as factors that may inhibit navigation success and could help specify suitable intervention targets.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2024 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104672