Effect of Different Levels of Contextual Interference of Training (Blocked and Random Practice) on Sensory-Motor Functions in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)

Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD) is one of the most common disorders affecting 5-8 year-old children. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of training and different background interference (blocked and random practice) on sensory-motor functions in children with growth coordination disorder aged 6-9 years in Mashhad city. Among all children with growth coordination disorder in Mashhad, 45 were selected using screening tests (Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnare, IQ). After completing Conner neuropsychological testing questionnaire as pre-test, they were randomly divided into three groups of 15: block practice, random practice, and control groups. The three groups performed the relvant trainings for 8 weeks (3 sessions per week, each session 45 minutes). Then, post-test, i.e. Connors neuropsychological questionnaire was administered. Shapiro Wilk test was used to check the normality and t-test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were run to determine intra-group and inter-group differences, respectively. The results showed that there is a significant difference between pre-test and post-test scores in the two groups' study variables. However, no significant difference was observed between the mean scores of pre-test and post-test for control group. The findings also showed that there is a significant difference between the two groups with different training contextualinterferences. Also, the training group with more background interference was observed to have further improvement in sensory-motor functions after training (P=0/04). However, it can be concluded that training with more background interference can further improve sensory-motor functions in children with developmental coordination disorder.