Effective Frequency for Motor Skill Groups

As pediatric therapists, we often recommend how many sessions of therapy to provide. Do you ever stop to consider what is the most effective frequency for motor skill groups?

Here is a small but relevant study regarding the effectiveness of  two group programs on visual-motor integration, motor proficiency, gross-motor skills, and parental perception of motor difficulties in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

Study on Frequency for Motor Skill Groups

Children with DCD were divided into two frequency groups who either received 10 one hour sessions – once/week for 10 weeks (6 children with DCD ages 7-12) or 24 one hour sessions – twice/week for 12 weeks (8 children with DCD ages 7-12).

All of the children were evaluated before and after each program with the MABC-2, DCD-Q, BOT-2, Beery-VMI-6, and the TGMD-2 assessments. The motor skill groups focused on activities that required collaboration while performing skills that utilized upper-body coordination, balance, and fine-motor abilities.

Results of the Study

The results indicated the following:

1. the 24-session (60 minute sessions 2x/week for 12 weeks) intervention program revealed significant improvements in the Manual Coordination and Total Score of the BOT-2, and parents reported significantly higher scores for all categories of the DCD-Q.
2. no significant changes were observed after the 10-session once/week intervention program.

The researchers concluded that 24 one-hour sessions- twice a week for 12 weeks group intervention program can be an effective intervention method for improvement of motor skills in children with DCD.

Reference:  Caçola PM, Ibana M, Romero M, Chuang J. The Effectiveness of a Group Motor Skill Intervention Program in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: Program Frequency Matters.. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. 2016 Jan 01;14(1), Article 4.

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