Comparison of Instructor-Based and Parent-Based Interventions on Motor Development in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

The purpose of this study was to compare instructor-based and parent-based interventions on motor development in 7 to 10 years old children with developmental coordination disorder. Participants consisted of 84 girls and boys from 8 elementary school at 4, 8 and 13 Tehran educational zones; they were screened by developmental coordination disorder questionnaire, then randomly divided into three groups: instructor-based, parent-based, and control. Two experimental groups carried out skills training for 12 weeks consisting, 36 sessions, each session 45 minutes. All participants were assessed before and after interventions with Movement Assessment Battery for Children; Second Edition. The result of MANCOVA and ANCOVA tests showed that both experimental groups significantly in the total score of motor development (p≤0.05) and its components (manual dexterity, balance, aiming and catching) had higher score than the control group (p≤0.017), and of course Instructor-based group in the aiming and catching subscale had better performance than parent-based group (p≤0.05), that demonstrates positive impact of group environments. In summary, although both interventions help to improve motor development in children with developmental coordination disorder, instructor based intervention is more beneficial in some of the components of motor development.