This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Leemrijse, C. Articles by Diemel, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Leemrijse, C. Articles by Diemel, S. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The efficacy of Le Bon Départ and Sensory Integration treatment for children with developmental coordination disorder: a randomized study with six single cases

Onno G Meijer

Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Adri Vermeer

Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Herman J Adèr

Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Sandra Diemel

Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Objective: Evaluation of the efficacy of Le Bon Départ (LBD) treatment and Sensory Integration (SI) treatment on motor performance of children with developmental coordination disorder.

Design: A single subject design with multiple baseline and alternating treatments. Order of treatment and length of phase were randomized. Measurements were blinded.

Setting: Department of Occupational Therapy at the Academic Hospital Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Subjects: Five boys and one girl with developmental coordination disorder (age: 6.0–8.1 years).

Interventions: Baseline condition, Le Bon Départ treatment and Sensory Integration treatment.

Main outcome measures: The Movement ABC, Praxis Tests, a rhythm test and visual analogue scales. With the exception of the Praxis Tests, lower scores indicate better performance.

Results: During both treatments, the performance on the Movement ABC ( = 7.21) and the scores on the visual analogue scales ( = 46.64) were significantly better than in the baseline (Movement ABC_baseline: = 17.38; visual analogue scales_baseline: = 68.18). After treatment 2, performance on the Praxis Tests and scores on the visual analogue scales were significantly better than after treatment 1 (Praxis Tests: 113.54 versus 104.68; visual analogue scales: 34.74 versus 58.54). All six children performed better on the Movement ABC during treatment as compared to the baseline. Le Bon Départ led to significant improvement on all dependent variables, Sensory Integration on the visual analogue scales only. The improvements after Le Bon Départ were larger than the improvements after Sensory Integration treatment. On the rhythm test this difference was significant: LBD led to an improvement of 43.01 points, while the improvement after SI was 17.59 points (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Motor performance of children with developmental coordination disorder improved significantly on all dependent variables after the combination of treatments. Le Bon Départ led to more improvement than Sensory Integration. LBD appears to be a valuable treatment method for children with developmental coordination disorder.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. C. Smits-Engelsman, M. J Fiers, S. E Henderson, and L. Henderson Interrater Reliability of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children Physical Therapy, February 1, 2008; 88(2): 286 - 294. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. C Barnhart, M. J. Davenport, S. B Epps, and V. M Nordquist Developmental Coordination Disorder Physical Therapy, August 1, 2003; 83(8): 722 - 731. [Full Text] [PDF]