Developmental Coordination Disorder: Relations between Deficits in Movement and Cognition

Different studies confirm that children with developmental coordination disorders (DCD) feature additionally cognitive deficits in areas of visual perception, memory and processing speed. The aim of the present study was to explore, whether or not children suffering from DCD have specific performance profiles in the WISC-IV. For this purpose, the WISC-IV results of 40 children with DCD (diagnosed using the Movement ABC-2), mean age 7,60, were compared with a control group matched according to age und gender. The children in the clinical group offered a homogenous performance profile, scoring below average in each of the four indices (verbal comprehension, perception reasoning, working memory and processing speed) and general IQ. Therefore, in clinical practice the WISC-IV is an appropriate instrument to detect cognitive deficits that can appear in conjunction with DCD.