Citation

Kennedy-Behr A, Rodger S, Mickan S. Res. Dev. Disabil. 2013; 34(9): 2831-2837.

Affiliation

Division of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia. Electronic address: a.kennedybehr@uq.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ridd.2013.05.033

PMID

23796458

Abstract

This aim of this study was to investigate an unexpected finding from a larger study examining the play of preschool children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD). We found that children with DCD were more frequently involved in aggressive incidents during free-play than their peers. Children with (n=32) and without DCD (n=31) were videotaped during free-play at preschool and their play was assessed using the Play Observation Scale. A post hoc analysis was conducted using a specifically developed rating instrument to examine the aggressive incidents captured on video. Videos from 18 children with DCD and 8 typically developing children without DCD were found to contain aggressive incidents. Children with DCD were significantly more often involved as both aggressor (p=.016) and victim (p=.008) than children without DCD (p=.031). This is the first study to identify victimization and aggression as being problematic for children with DCD as young as 4 years of age and needs replication. Given the negative consequences of involvement in aggression and victimization, play-based early intervention focusing on prevention needs to be developed and implemented.

Language: en