DCD Imaging-Intervention Study

Motor Skills Disorders Clinical Trial

Official title:

Developmental Coordination Disorder: Integrating Brain Imaging and Rehabilitation to Improve Outcomes

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02597751
• Other study ID #: H14-00397
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: September 2014
• Est. completion date: February 2020

Study information

• Verified date: July 2020
• Source: University of British Columbia
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) affects 5-6% of the school-age population, equating to ~400,000 children, or 1-2 students in every Canadian classroom. Children with DCD find it hard to learn motor skills and perform everyday activities, such as getting dressed, tying shoelaces, using utensils, printing, riding a bicycle, or playing sports. Researchers and clinicians do not know what causes DCD or why children with DCD struggle to learn motor skills. Using MRI, this study will increase understanding of how the brain differs in children with/without DCD and determine if rehabilitation can change the brain and improve outcomes of children with the disorder.

Description:

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES

The proposed study proposed is designed to test the overall hypothesis that, compared to typically-developing children, children with DCD (+/- ADHD) will show differences in brain structure and function, and that rehabilitation will be associated with brain differences that reflect improvement of motor function. The investigators will address three specific objectives:

Objective 1: To characterize structural and functional brain differences in children with DCD and typically-developing children.

Hypothesis: Compared to typically-developing children, the investigators expect that children with DCD will show smaller cerebellar volume, differences in microstructural development in motor, sensory and cerebellar pathways, decreased strength of connectivity in resting, default mode, and motor networks. Children with DCD+ADHD will show poorer function in frontal and parietal areas compared to children with DCD (Langevin et al., 2014).

Approach: The investigators will use magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and advanced MR techniques to characterize brain structure and function; the investigators will use morphometry to measure cerebral and cerebellar volumes, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess microstructural development, functional connectivity MRI to measure connectivity in different brain networks, and fMRI to explore patterns of brain activation during a mental rotation task.

Objective 2: To determine if current best-practice rehabilitation intervention induces neuroplastic changes in brain structure/function and positive outcomes in children with DCD.

Hypotheses: Compared to children in the waitlist control group, the investigators expect that children in two treatment groups (DCD and DCD+ADHD) will show: (1) strengthened functional connectivity in resting, default mode, and motor networks; (2) increased integrity of the frontal-cerebellar pathway; (3) increased gray matter volume in the dorsolateral prefrontal, motor and cerebellar cortices; and (4) improved performance and satisfaction ratings of child-chosen functional motor goals. The investigators also expect that there will be a positive association between functional improvements and changes in brain structure/function.

Approach: The investigators will measure brain changes pre- and post-intervention between children with DCD and DCD+ADHD (treatment versus waitlist control). As part of treatment, children will identify three functional motor goals as a target for intervention. The investigators will use the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM; Law et al., 2005) to measure the child's rating of their performance and satisfaction pre- and post-intervention. To supplement the COPM, the occupational therapist will videotape the child performing each of their motor goals before and after intervention, and an independent occupational therapist will use the Performance Quality Rating Scale (PQRS) to objectively measure performance and change in performance (Miller et al., 2001). As a secondary measure, the investigators will evaluate fine and gross motor skills using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-2 (BOT-2: Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005).

Objective 3: To determine if neuroplastic and functional changes are retained at 3-month follow-up.

Hypothesis: The investigators expect children who maintained functional gains will show increased functional connectivity in brain networks, increased integrity of the frontal-cerebellar pathway, and increased gray matter volume (as in Objective #2) compared to children who did not maintain their functional gains. If most of the children maintain their functional gains, the investigators expect improvements in brain structure and function to have remained or improved from the post-intervention scan.

Approach: MR sequences and child ratings of performance and satisfaction of their functional motor goals will be repeated in both treatment and waitlist groups.

The investigators intend to recruit 30 typically-developing children, 30 children with DCD and 30 children with DCD+ADHD.

Neuroimaging analyses will include region of interest analyses (sensory, motor, and cerebellar pathways) as well as whole brain analyses using tract-based spatial statistics.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 115
• Est. completion date: February 2020
• Est. primary completion date: February 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 8 Years to 12 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• children with suspected DCD based on history and results of motor testing (MABC-2) and parent questionnaire (DCDQ) and interview

• typically developing children who score at or above 25th percentile on MABC-2

Exclusion Criteria:

• a medical condition that could explain motor problem, such as cerebral palsy, significant intellectual disability, or visual impairment

• children with ferrous metal in their body

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Motor Skills Disorders

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Cognitive Orientation to Occupational Performance (CO-OP)
CO-OP is a cognitive approach to solving functional motor problems (Polatajko et al., 2001b). Therapists teach children a global problem solving strategy (Goal-Plan-Do-Check) as a framework for developing specific strategies for overcoming motor problems; these strategies are determined after a dynamic performance analysis by the therapist to determine where the "breakdown" is in performing the task. Occupational therapists will see children once weekly for one hour over 10 weeks as per published protocol (Polatajko et al., 2001b), plus two assessment sessions. Children will select three functional motor goals to be addressed over the course of treatment, rating their performance and satisfaction of these goals pre- and post-intervention.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	University of British Columbia	Vancouver	British Columbia

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of British Columbia	Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

References & Publications (9)

Langevin LM, Macmaster FP, Crawford S, Lebel C, Dewey D. Common white matter microstructure alterations in pediatric motor and attention disorders. J Pediatr. 2014 May;164(5):1157-1164.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2014.01.018. Epub 2014 Feb 25. — View Citation

Miller LT, Polatajko HJ, Missiuna C, Mandich AD, Macnab JJ. A pilot trial of a cognitive treatment for children with developmental coordination disorder. Hum Mov Sci. 2001 Mar;20(1-2):183-210. — View Citation

Polatajko HJ, Cantin N. Developmental coordination disorder (dyspraxia): an overview of the state of the art. Semin Pediatr Neurol. 2005 Dec;12(4):250-8. Review. — View Citation

Polatajko HJ, Mandich AD, Missiuna C, Miller LT, Macnab JJ, Malloy-Miller T, Kinsella EA. Cognitive orientation to daily occupational performance (CO-OP): part III--the protocol in brief. Phys Occup Ther Pediatr. 2001;20(2-3):107-23. — View Citation

Smits-Engelsman BC, Blank R, van der Kaay AC, Mosterd-van der Meijs R, Vlugt-van den Brand E, Polatajko HJ, Wilson PH. Efficacy of interventions to improve motor performance in children with developmental coordination disorder: a combined systematic review and meta-analysis. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2013 Mar;55(3):229-37. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.12008. Epub 2012 Oct 29. Review. — View Citation

Zwicker JG, Missiuna C, Boyd LA. Neural correlates of developmental coordination disorder: a review of hypotheses. J Child Neurol. 2009 Oct;24(10):1273-81. doi: 10.1177/0883073809333537. Epub 2009 Aug 17. Review. — View Citation

Zwicker JG, Missiuna C, Harris SR, Boyd LA. Brain activation associated with motor skill practice in children with developmental coordination disorder: an fMRI study. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2011 Apr;29(2):145-52. doi: 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2010.12.002. Epub 2010 Dec 8. — View Citation

Zwicker JG, Missiuna C, Harris SR, Boyd LA. Brain activation of children with developmental coordination disorder is different than peers. Pediatrics. 2010 Sep;126(3):e678-86. doi: 10.1542/peds.2010-0059. Epub 2010 Aug 16. — View Citation

Zwicker JG, Missiuna C, Harris SR, Boyd LA. Developmental coordination disorder: a pilot diffusion tensor imaging study. Pediatr Neurol. 2012 Mar;46(3):162-7. doi: 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2011.12.007. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Canadian Occupational Performance Measure	Children will rate performance and satisfaction (10 point Likert scale) of their three motor goals	12 weeks
Primary	diffusion tensor imaging	fractional anisotropy and diffusivity (mean, axial, and radial)	12 weeks
Secondary	Bruininks Osteretsky Test of Motor Proficiency	standardized assessment of motor skills	12 weeks
Secondary	Performance Quality Rating Scale	qualitative observations of movement quality	12 weeks
Secondary	functional connectivity	spatial independent components analysis of resting state networks	12 weeks
Secondary	functional magnetic resonance imaging	patterns of brain activation during mental rotation task	12 weeks
Secondary	morphometry	white matter, cortical gray matter, deep gray matter, and total volumes for cerebrum and cerebellum	12 weeks