Forward anticipation of movement in typically developing children and in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

All actions are composed of a string of movements; simply pouring water from a kettle into a cup requires the hand to grasp the kettle, lift and move the kettle, tip the kettle to pour and place the kettle back down. When joining these movements each element can be tailored to the next in the sequence: if we grasped the kettle handle too far down we would need to re-assess our grip before continuing.
This project will consider this type of 'forward anticipation' in children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Recent figures suggest that 2 per cent of children in the UK present with DCD and show difficulties with fine and gross motor skill that persist into adulthood.
This project will be the first to carry out a comprehensive review of forward anticipation in children with DCD, furthering our understanding of the potentially deficient systems in these children, and may indicate avenues for remedial programmes for DCD. Forward planning abilities will be measured in a group of typically developing children (aged 4-11) and in a group of children with DCD (aged 6-11). Both planning for end-state-comfort and planning for end-goal will be considered using sophisticated motion analysis equipment.