title: Developmental co-ordination disorder in socially disadvantaged Brazilian children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The consequences of developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) indicate a need for identification in order to provide adequate intervention. The goals of the study were to investigate DCD prevalence across age bands, gender, race and school performance; the motor difficulties of children with DCD, at-risk and typically developing children in the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) sub-tests across age bands and gender; and the relationship between motor outcomes, age, gender and socio-economic status (SES) in socially disadvantaged Brazilian children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The MABC was administered to 1056 Brazilian children from 4 to 10 years old.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighteen per cent of the children were screened as probable DCD (≤5th percentile) and a further 15% as at risk for DCD (>5th and ≤15th percentile). Significantly more children were screened with probable DCD at age 9-10 years (AB3: P = 0.00), whereas at risk classification was equally distributed across age bands (P = 0.12). Boys showed lower prevalence than girls of probable DCD and at risk for DCD (P = 0.04). Children (9-10 years) showed higher motor impairment in the manual dexterity test results. Children with probable DCD and at risk of DCD showed, in general, poor performance in balance and manual dexterity tasks. SES was the strongest predictor of motor outcomes, accounting for 21% of the variance in the MABC percentile scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of probable and at-risk DCD cases as well as the percentage of female were higher than those found in the previous studies, and low SES enhances the risk of poor motor development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, School of Physical Education, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Valentini
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Whitall
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D035862:Vulnerable Populations
keywords: MABC; developmental co-ordination disorder; early assessment; prevalence data