Motor‐based interventions for brain structure and function in children with developmental coordination disorder: A systematic review

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a condition that affects a child's ability to learn and perform coordinated motor skills. Because of these challenges, children with DCD often participate in motor-based training programs to improve their motor abilities. Research has shown that the brains of children with DCD function differently from those of typically developing children. However, little is known about how the brains of children with DCD change following motor-based interventions. This systematic review synthesized findings from studies examining brain changes in children with DCD following motor-based interventions. Seven studies were included, all of which focused on the early and intermediate stages of motor learning. In these stages, the children learn, practice, and refine new motor skills. None of the studies investigated the final stage of learning, in which skills become increasingly automated. The studies showed that motor-based interventions can lead to changes in the brains of children with DCD, suggesting that their brains can adapt to training. However, the brain activity patterns observed after the interventions remained different from those of typically developing children. These findings may suggest that children with DCD use compensatory brain strategies to support the learning of new motor skills. The findings should be interpreted with caution as the overall quality of the available studies was limited. Furthermore, the included studies differed considerably in the interventions and brain measures used.