Obstacle crossing when dual-tasking in children with and without developmental coordination disorder

One of the essential motor skills in children’s lives is obstacle crossing. This ability is frequently employed in everyday scenarios, such as stepping over toys or miscellaneous objects on the floor. In a real-life context, the execution of this task is often influenced by concurrent cognitive demands, leading to potential cognitive-motor interference. Its effect could be more apparent in younger children or children with some motor difficulties. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the obstacle crossing performance and post-obstacle movement under single and dual-task conditions (motor and visual discrimination task) in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and typically developing (TD) children of various ages. A total of 110 children aged from 7 to 12 years (35 DCD, 75 TD) participated in the study. They performed obstacle crossing task under single and two dual-task conditions (simple, complex-inhibit). The results showed significant effect of group only for centre of pressure velocity in medial-lateral direction during post-obstacle stance phase with higher values (worse balance) in DCD children. In addition, children with DCD also showed later propulsion during dual-tasking compared with single locomotor task, while TD children had comparable values for both conditions. The effect of age was significant in all aspects of the task including obstacle crossing performance, landing, dynamic balance and propulsion. Older children compared to younger can be characterized by a more effective strategy for obstacle crossing with smaller braking and faster gait initiation after obstacle crossing.