Article

The present study investigated the effects of varying the cognitive demands
of a memory task (a suprapostural task) while recording postural motion on two
groups of children, one diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder (DCD)
and an age-matched group of typically developing children. METHOD: Two groups,
each comprising 38 child volunteers (21 males, 17 females) aged 9 to 10 years,
participated in the study. Each child performed a digital memory task at two
levels of difficulty, low and high. Positional variability (standard deviation of
position) of the head and torso were recorded as the biomechanical responses to
the variation in task difficulty. RESULTS: Both groups significantly reduced
postural motion when engaged in the high-difficulty condition (p<0.05) compared
with the low-difficulty condition. Children with DCD exhibited significantly
higher levels of postural motion (p<0.05) than the typically developing children.
The typically developing children significantly reduced their postural motion in
the high-difficulty condition (p<0.05) compared with the low-difficulty
condition, whereas children with DCD did not. INTERPRETATION: Our results suggest
that the postural responses of children with DCD differ from those of typically
developing children while engaging in a memory task with various levels of
difficulty.
CI - (c) The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology (c) 2011 Mac Keith
Press.

Langue : ANGLAIS