Quality of life in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD): A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Kids with DCD feel small but wide quality-of-life dips; parents see even bigger ones, so ask both sides.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kumar et al. (2025) pooled every quality-of-life study on kids with developmental coordination disorder. They compared the scores to typically-developing peers.
The team looked at both child self-ratings and parent ratings. They wanted to see where the biggest gaps show up.
What they found
Kids with DCD scored lower on every quality-of-life area. The drops were small but real.
Parents reported bigger problems than the children did. Social and school items showed the largest parent-child gap.
How this fits with other research
Peng et al. (2026) and Smits-Engelsman et al. (2018) prove that exercise and motor plans can greatly improve coordination. Gayatri’s work says the daily-life hit remains even after motor gains. Use both lines of evidence: treat the motor deficit and still track QoL.
Kumar et al. (2025) extend their own 2025 ADHD paper. When ADHD travels with DCD, the QoL drop is larger. Screen for both so you do not miss the extra load.
Khairati et al. (2024) let teens speak in quotes. Their stories line up with the meta-numbers: the social and emotional pain is real. Combine numbers and narratives when you explain results to families.
Why it matters
Motor drills alone will not erase the small but broad QoL gaps these children feel. Add peer groups, self-advocacy training, and classroom tweaks. Always collect two viewpoints: the child’s and the parent’s. If the parent sees bigger social or school pain, dig deeper and adjust supports even when the child says ‘I’m fine.’
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) often report reduced quality of life (QoL). However, substantial variability in findings across studies hinders insight into the profile of QoL in DCD. To address this, we investigated QoL in children with DCD using a meta-analytic approach, examining overall QoL, and QoL across its separate domains - physical, emotional, social, and school. METHODS: Participants included 831 children with DCD (Mage = 10.10 years) and 10,283 neurotypical children (Mage = 10.04 years), i.e., controls. Separate meta-analyses were conducted for parent (N = 8) and child (N = 7) report data to compare overall QoL between those with and without DCD. Subgroup analyses compared QoL between groups across QoL domains. Concordance between parent and child-report was explored. RESULTS: Children with DCD reported significantly lower overall QoL relative to controls (SMDchild = -0.38, pchild <.001). This effect was consistent across domains, regardless of report-type. Parents reported significantly worse overall QoL for children with DCD than children themselves (95 % CIparent [-1.59, -0.95], 95 % CIchild [-0.52, -0.24]) driven by the social (95 % CIparent [-1.89, -0.52], 95 % CIchild [-0.36, -0.03]) and school domains (95 % CIparent [-2.52, -0.65], 95 % CIchild [-0.53, -0.15]). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the widespread impact of DCD on well-being, supporting recent arguments that DCD is more than just a disorder of movement. Discordance between parent and child perceptions highlight the importance of using both report-types when examining QoL in DCD. Our work highlights the need for more research directly comparing the profile of QoL observed in those with DCD to those with neurodevelopmental conditions (either in isolation of, or co-occurrence with, DCD).
Research in developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2025.104981