The Effects of Attentional Focus Instruction on the Performance of a Whole-Body Coordination Task in Children With Developmental Coordination Disorder.
Tell kids to focus on the ceiling, not their arms, to get bigger jumps during vertical-jump practice.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team worked with the kids . Half had developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Half were typically developing.
Each child tried three jump sessions on different days. One day they heard, "Bend your arms fast." Another day they heard, "Touch the ceiling." A third day they got no cue. High-speed cameras tracked jump height and take-off speed.
What they found
When kids aimed for the ceiling, they jumped higher and left the ground faster. This worked for both groups.
The external cue beat both the arm cue and silence. Gains were small but clear—about one extra centimeter and a quicker push-off.
How this fits with other research
Reed (2023) saw the opposite: verbal hints hurt autistic kids during a rule-switch game. The gap makes sense. Rudolf’s task was simple motor. Phil’s task needed flexible thinking. Different brains, different jobs.
Cary et al. (2024) also tested DCD kids in a lab. They showed that attention splits on high obstacles slow these children more than peers. Both papers flag that where attention goes matters, even if one used jumps and the other used steps.
Cheng et al. (2015) tried whole-body vibration for cerebral palsy. Like Rudolf, they got quick leg gains with a short, low-cost trick. Together they suggest brief motor hacks can help varied movement disorders.
Why it matters
Next time you run PE or gross-motor drills, point to a spot on the wall, not the child’s body. One sentence—"Reach the ceiling!"—gives free height and speed. No gear, no extra time, and it works for kids with and without DCD.
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Before each jump trial say, "Touch the red square on the wall" and watch the height meter rise.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Previous studies have supported the advantages of an external focus of attention (EFA) relative to an internal focus of attention (IFA) in healthly adults. However, effects of attentional focus instructions on skill performance and acquisition in children are equivocal. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of attentional focus instructions on performance of a whole body coordination task in children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD). METHODS: Children with DCD (n = 18) and typically developing (TD) children (n = 21) (9-10 years) were asked to perform 3 countermovement vertical jumps in the IFA (Concentrate on the swing of your arms), EFA (Concentrate on getting as close to the ceiling as possible), and control conditions. RESULTS: The results showed that regardless of children's motor development proficiency, the jump height and vertical take-off velocity (VTO) were higher in EFA relative to both IFA and Con conditions. In addition, VTO was significantly higher in the Con relative to IFA condition. CONCLUSION: The results of the current study showed that EFA relative to IFA instructions could enhance the neuromuscular activation of dynamic contractions of the leg muscles in both children with and without DCD. The findings suggest that the beneficial effects of EFA relative to IFA instructions on children's motor performance is identical across children with different levels of motor proficiency.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2020 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103654