I'm really interested in the response to this question too. Have you checked to see if a Systematic Review has been done on this? ( e.g.Cochrane Library)?

I have checked the library briefly and not systematic reviews have been carried out on DCD to date to my knowledge. I am to undertake a cochrane review training course next week which will stand me in better stead to answer this question

Please let me know what you find out! Where is the course that you are going on?

Hi Llinos.It is on in Dublin and is run by the Health Research Board of Ireland. It is a day course but a more extensive 3 day course is run in June but places are booked out unfortunately

Hi David. Sorry for the late reply.. The Movement ABC is often considered as the 'gold standard' for identification of children with motor impairments, such as DCD. The manual and quite a number of studies demonstrate validity of the total impairment score, even for 3 y old children, though validity of the sub-categories is questionable (see for example studies by Van Waelvelde). Much depends on what you want to do. E.g. for test-retest designs we don't know the 'smallest detectable difference' on item or sub-category level (i.e. fine motor, ball handling, balance). Hope this helps.

Hi Frederik, Thanks very much for the reply. Every little bit of information helps.

D

Frederick is right about "much depends on what you want to do" because test items are neutral in nature (see Kluwe, Miyahara, & Heveldt, 2012). There is a systematic review by Hillier (2007). With her and other collaborators, I have just published a protocol of Cochrane review this year, but these reviews focus on intervention outcome, not about tests. So, the question to David is what aspect of fine motor skill you are interested. Then you can search the most relevant test. Hope this helps.

Hi Motohide, Thank you very much for the response. I will have a look at the cited literature.

I am aiming to test children of various ages/genders in single visit cross sectional study design with a particular focus on fine motor skill proficiency rather than gross motor skills. I then hope to turn the study into a longitudinal design by testing the same children again after one years time to gain an insight in their motor development.

David, there is an excellent publication by the EACD (2011) . I am currently doing my OTD on the evidence behind DCD, so pretty much have most of the articles that are available. But the EACD recommendations are the most comprehensive available. You can download the doc at www.EACD.com. If you go to the appendix, there is a table of studies organized by and ranked by their level of evidence. Hope this is helpful!