Article

Aquatic therapy is an intervention for children with Developmental Coordination
Disorder (DCD) that has not been investigated formally.
This was a pilot
randomized controlled trial to investigate the feasibility and preliminary
effectiveness of an aquatic therapy program to improve motor skills of children
with DCD. Thirteen children (mean age 7 years 1 month;
10 males) with DCD were
randomly allocated to receive either six sessions of aquatic therapy (once weekly
session of 30 min for 6-8 weeks) or to a wait-list (control group). The
intervention and measures were demonstrated to be feasible, but barriers, such as
limited appointment times and accessibility, were encountered. Analysis of
covariance indicated that at posttest, mean scores on the Movement Assessment
Battery were higher for children who received aquatic therapy compared to those
on the wait-list (p = .057). Similar trends were noted on the physical competence
portion of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (p =
.058). Participation levels, as measured by a parent questionnaire, showed
improvement for both groups. Potential facilitators and barriers to implementation of an aquatic therapy for children with DCD are discussed.

Langue : ANGLAIS