Dané Coetzee

The effect of visual therapy on the ocular motor control of seven- to eight-year-old children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

The aims of this study were to determine the extent of ocular, motor control problems and the effect of visual therapy on such problems, among seven- to eight-year-old children diagnosed with DCD. Thirty-two, children with a mean age of 95.66 months (SD ± 3.54) participated in the study. The MABC was used to classify children into DCD categories (<15th, percentile) while the Sensory Input Systems Screening Test and QNST-II, were used to evaluate ocular motor control. A two-group pre-test-post-test, cross-over design was followed with a retention test two years, thereafter to determine the lasting effect of the visual therapy, intervention. The 18-week visual therapy programme was executed once a week, for 40 min during school hours, after which the two groups were, crossed over. Percentages of ocular motor control problems ranging, between 6.25% and 93.75% were found in both the groups before participating, in the visual therapy programme, with the highest percentage problems found, in visual pursuit with the left eye. Visual therapy contributed to a, significant improvement of 75-100% in visual pursuit, fixation, ocular, alignment and convergence, with significant lasting effects (p<0.001). Visual therapy is recommended for children with DCD experiencing poor, ocular motor control.

Suitability of the ‘Little DCDQ' for the identification of DCD in a selected group of 3–5-year-old South African children

Background: In order to identify Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) as soon as possible, we need validated screening instruments that can be used for the early identification of motor coordination delays. The aim of this study was to establish the suitability of the Little Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (Little DCDQ) for the identification of DCD in a selected group of 3–5-year-old South African children (N = 53). Method: Both reliability and validity of the Little DCDQ were assessed. Test items of the Little DCDQ, completed by the parents, were compared against the standardised Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2, in a group of 53 children aged 3–5 years. Results: Correlations of r = 0.3 were established between two of the test items and good internal consistency (Chronbachs Alpha, r =  > 0.8) was established. The Little DCDQ showed poor sensitivity (57.14%), but reasonable specificity (81.25%). Conclusion: These results indicate that the Little DCDQ has potential as a screening instrument to detect possible DCD, but a few adjustments need to be considered.

Influence of different visual perceptual constructs on academic achievement among learners in the NW-CHILD study

Visual perception plays an important and integrating role in the development of cognitive abilities and perceptual-motor skills. Visual perception comprises different independent constructs that may function in an integrative manner. This study aimed to determine whether (and the extent to which) various visual-perceptual constructs influence the academic achievement of 12-year-old school children. In a cross-sectional analysis, we extracted only 2016 data from 581 learners (mean age = 12.92 years, SD = 0.42) who were participants in the North-West Child Health, Integrated with Learning and Development longitudinal study (2010–2016). We used the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills, Third Edition, the North-West Provincial Assessment and mid-year school examination reports to determine visual perceptual abilities and academic achievement of this participant group. We calculated correlations between visual perceptual constructs and academic performance using Spearman rank order correlations and separately analyzed the influence of gender and socioeconomic status with independent T tests. Different visual perceptual constructs did have significant influences on specific areas of academic learning and on academic achievement generally (r = .26 to r = .41). Spatial relationships showed slightly greater correlations with academic achievement (r = .15 to r = .33) than did other basic visual perceptual constructs, possibly because spatial relationships are not completely developed at age 12. Complex and basic visual perceptual skills had medium significant retrospective correlations with grade point average (r = .40 and r = .41) and first additional language (r = .30 and r = .33). We concluded that basic and complex visual perceptual constructs remain important for academic achievement in this age-group, while gender and socioeconomic status influence both visual perceptual abilities and academic achievement.