Psychometric properties of the DCDDaily-Q: a new parental questionnaire on children's performance in activities of daily living.
The DCDDaily-Q is a reliable 23-item parent tool for spotting ADL problems in 5- to 8-year-olds with DCD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Murphy et al. (2014) built a 23-item parent form called the DCDDaily-Q.
Parents rate how well their 5- to 8-year-old handles daily tasks like buttoning or using a fork.
The team checked if the form gives steady scores and flags the right kids.
What they found
The questionnaire showed good internal consistency and validity.
It correctly spotted children with developmental coordination disorder.
A BCBA can trust the score to show real ADL problems, not random noise.
How this fits with other research
Adams et al. (2024) later surveyed 3- to 18-year-olds and found ADL limits in every setting.
Their wide age range extends the DCDDaily-Q focus on early-elementary kids.
Jasmin et al. (2018) asked kids and parents what help they want.
They found parents ask for training while kids say they need less help.
This qualitative detail adds depth to the DCDDaily-Q numbers.
Matthews et al. (2022) tested a Belgian preschool form and got weak sensitivity.
That contrast looks like a contradiction, but the Belgian tool targets 3- to 5-year-olds and used a looser cut-off.
The DCDDaily-Q works best at 5-8 years, so both can be right in their own age band.
Why it matters
You now have a quick parent form that maps ADL trouble in early-elementary kids with DCD.
Use it to pick goals that matter at home—like tying shoes or opening lunch boxes.
Pair the scores with the child’s own words from Jasmin et al. (2018) to balance parent and child views.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Hand the DCDDaily-Q to parents at intake and let their answers pick your first ADL target.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Difficulties in the performance of activities of daily living (ADL) are a key feature of developmental coordination disorder (DCD). The DCDDaily-Q was developed to address children's motor performance in a comprehensive range ADL. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of this parental questionnaire. Parents of 218 five to eight year-old children (DCD group: N=25; reference group: N=193) completed the research version of the new DCDDaily-Q and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC2) Checklist and Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ). Children were assessed with the MABC2 and DCDDaily. Item reduction analyses were performed and reliability (internal consistency and factor structure) and concurrent, discriminant, and incremental validity of the DCDDaily-Q were investigated. The final version of the DCDDaily-Q comprises 23 items that cover three underlying factors and shows good internal consistency (Cronbach's α>.80). Moderate correlations were found between the DCDDaily-Q and the other instruments used (p<.001 for the reference group; p>.05 for the DCD group). Discriminant validity of the DCDDaily-Q was good for DCDDaily-Q total scores (p<.001) and all 23 item scores (p<.01), indicating poorer performance in the DCD group. Sensitivity (88%) and specificity (92%) were good. The DCDDaily-Q better predicted DCD than currently used questionnaires (R(2)=.88). In conclusion, the DCDDaily-Q is a valid and reliable questionnaire to address children's ADL performance.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.03.008