Can children at risk for developmental coordination disorder step-clap to the beat? Evidence from an online motion tracking study

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder involving deficits in motor coordination. Recent evidence has shown children at risk for DCD have associated auditory timing perception and auditory-motor synchronization deficits, but it remains unclear how these deficits would appear in full-body coordination tasks, particularly as DCD is often associated with gross motor impairments such as balance and gait. Current interventions for DCD focus on motor training alone, although preliminary findings suggest that motor interventions with rhythmic auditory cueing may confer additional benefit. To investigate auditory-motor synchronization during full-body coordination, we tested whether children aged 9-12 at risk for DCD could synchronize a step-clap dance step to various auditory stimuli using online data collection. Frequency analysis of the tracked head, hands, and feet showed that children at risk for DCD perform the dance step overall slower compared to typically developing children. Cross-correlations of the movements to an interpolated harmonic wave representing the auditory beats showed the group at risk for DCD were less coordinated to the auditory beat compared to typically developing children at the fast tempi, but that both groups performed similarly at slower tempi. Additionally, both groups were more coordinated and less variable at slower compared to faster tempi. These results indicating better performance in children at risk for DCD at slower auditory tempi are important for informing decisions on auditory stimuli during the design of auditory-motor interventions for DCD.