Background and Purpose: Children who are dyscoordinated have difficulty with successfully performing activities of daily living at school and at home. When performing activities they exhibit timing impairments, notably inaccuracy and inconsistency. Additionally, an estimated 50% of children with DCD also exhibit cooccurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The purposes of this study were to determine if children who are dyscoordinated are able to improve accuracy and consistency in a timing task and attention and to examine if, following synchronized motor timing training (STT), they are able to maintain accuracy and consistency and selective attention even after an interval without practice. Thirteen participants ages 9-12 identified by their parents as having coordination difficulties consistent with those with Developmental Coordination Disorder were recruited. Methods/design/results: Thirteen participants ages nine to twelve were identified by their parents as having coordination difficulties consistent with developmental coordination disorder were recruited. All participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: an experimental group which received STT via a computerized metronome program 2-3 times weekly for 6 weeks; or a control group which received weekly correspondence from the researcher for 6 weeks. All participants were evaluated before randomization and then again at 6 weeks and 3 months post training. The outcome measures were timing error and sustained and selective attention. Following STT, children exhibited significantly improved accuracy and consistency and had significantly fewer inattentive errors. Discussion: This paper presents the rationale, design, and protocol for examining the effect of synchronized timing training on timing and attention and provides evidence that STT enhances timing and attention in children with discoordination.
