Article

In two experiments, the ability to use multisensory information (haptic
information, provided by lightly touching a stationary surface, and vision) for
quiet standing was examined in typically developing (TD) children, adults, and in
seven-year-old children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Four
sensory conditions (no touch/no vision, with touch/no vision, no touch/with
vision, and with touch/with vision) were employed. In experiment 1, we tested
four-, six- and eight-year-old TD children and adults to provide a developmental
landscape for performance on this task. In experiment 2, we tested a group of
seven-year-old children with DCD and their age-matched TD peers. For all groups,
touch robustly attenuated standing sway suggesting that children as young as four
years old use touch information similarly to adults. Touch was less effective in
children with DCD compared to their TD peers, especially in attenuating their
sway velocity. Children with DCD, unlike their TD peers, also benefited from
using vision to reduce sway. The present results suggest that children with DCD
benefit from using vision in combination with touch information for standing
control possibly due to their less well developed internal models of body
orientation and self-motion. Internal model deficits, combined with other known
deficits such as postural muscles activation timing deficits, may exacerbate the
balance impairment in children with DCD.
CI - Copyright (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS