Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD) and Interactive Games: A Literature Review

Abstract

Children with deficits or delays in visual-motor coordination skills experience difficulties in acquiring academic skills, participating in school activities as well as in social relationships. Valid and early detection of visual-motor difficulties and their treatment through intensive and effective intervention programs have been shown to bring about significant improvements in the functioning of children with DCD. The purpose of this literature review was to examine the effectiveness of intervention programs that involve the use of interactive games to deal with visual-motor coordination difficulties in preschool, school and adolescent children. The method used was the search of the relevant literature in databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Plos One, Taylor & Francis, Science Direct, EKT & IKEE, etc.) with keywords in the title and the text of the abstract (video games intervention and DCD, computer games, virtual games, active games, exergames, rehabilitation and DCD, Wii intervention for DCD, etc.), in order to identify and display articles that would be relevant to the topic under consideration as much as possible. 105 bibliographic references (93 scientific articles, 9 conference proceedings and 3 diploma theses) have emerged from the initial search carried out with the aim of a systematic review of the existing literature. After removing studies involving tablet games for people over the age of 18 and for children who did not have DCD, 36 studies were finally reviewed. The results showed, in their majority, a positive effect of interactive games for the elimination of visual-motor difficulties already at preschool age. There have been studies that have shown a positive effect on the social and emotional development of children. Children seem to have a lot of fun using the interactive toys. Of course, the contribution of interactive games to the normalization of DCD has not yet been investigated in depth and more thorough research is needed in the direction of the type, the time frame, the frequency of the activity as well as the training of the special educators and therapists. Future researches on the implementation of programs with interactive games could focus on: a) the long-term effect on preschool, school children and adolescents with DCD problems, b) the combination with physical activity and sports, and c) the development of children's social and emotional skills.