A Range of Service Delivery Modes for Children With... : Pediatric Physical Therapy

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• In regard to cost-effectiveness, school support officers (supported by allied health professional staff) in a school environment are the first choice for intervention delivery.

• All participants received the same intervention program, which was developed on the basis of recommendations in the literature at that time, with the use of metathemes (repetition of skills, heightened feedback about performance, and experience at success) for successful motor retraining

• DCD presents as a motor impairment that interferes with the child's abilities to participate in physical activities and general activities of daily living

• long-term consequences of DCD including adolescent anxiety and difficulties with driving, as well as affecting self-perception

• identified and offered appropriate management to enable them to improve their motor skills, and provide families with appropriate expectations

• An example of an intervention session plan would include a fine motor warm-up (eg, play-dough activity), fine motor activity (eg, an animal collage, including cutting, pasting, and scrunching paper), body awareness activity (eg, animal walks), a gross motor warm-up (eg, pulling along while prone on scooter board), and a gross motor circuit or skills practice (eg, task-specific training of fundamental motor skills).

• The sessions were 60 minutes in length and occurred once a week for 2 school terms for a total of 13 weeks.

• The motor outcome results of this study indicate that nonprofessional staff supported by physical therapists can provide as effective an intervention as physical therapists.

• Better recruitment and attendance were identified in the school setting, which can be considered an important factor in decision making for service delivery.

• All groups in this study had clinically significant improvement in motor abilities following 13 weeks of intervention, and this improvement was observed 6 months following the program.