Engagement in Playground Activities as a Criterion for Diagnosing Developmental Coordination Disorder

Abstract

The purpose was to develop a valid protocol for use by physical educators in assessing whether children suspected of having developmental coordination disorder (DCD) meet the American Psychiatric Association (1994) diagnostic criterion of interference in activities of daily living when interference is defined as culturally subaverage engagement in activities of daily living in physical play (ADL-PP) on the playground Participants were 136 children (75 girls, 61 boys) from Grades 1 to 4 at three elementary schools in Canada. Data were collected two ways: (a) three administrations of an ADL-PP self-report of activities done during recess and (b) observation of children's ADL-PP during two recess periods. Examination of reactivity, accuracy, content relevance, and content representativeness of the ADL-PP report form indicated protocol validity. An example illustrating the use of the ADL-PP self-report protocol to identify interference is described.