Systematic Review to Inform the Developmental Coordination Disorder Clinical Practice Guideline Update: Physical Therapy Intervention.

Developmental coordination disorder affects how children plan and carry out movements, and physical therapists have long needed clarity on which interventions actually help. This review updates the 2020 clinical practice guideline by gathering newer evidence, searching eight databases for systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, and qualitative studies on physical therapy management of the condition. Across sixteen included studies, the evidence continued to support task-oriented intervention as the recommended first approach, drawing on three systematic reviews, three trials, and one qualitative study. Separately, a mix of one systematic review and seven trials, including a small meta-analysis of two studies on active video gaming, pointed toward some supplemental activities, though this evidence was rated low to very low certainty.

Three of the guideline's five original intervention recommendations were reaffirmed, but the modest number and quality of studies means confidence in some conclusions, especially around newer supplemental activities, remains limited.

If your child has developmental coordination disorder, you may have heard that physical therapists often start with something called task-oriented intervention, which focuses on practicing the actual movements or activities a child finds difficult. This review looked at the research behind that approach and others, pulling together findings from sixteen studies including trials and reviews published since 2020. The good news, in a cautious sense, is that the evidence continues to support task-oriented intervention as a reasonable starting point.

The review also looked at other supplemental activities, including active video games, but the evidence behind these was weaker and described as low to very low certainty, meaning the findings are less dependable. It's worth understanding that this research summary reaffirms earlier guidance rather than discovering dramatic new answers, and because the number of studies involved was still relatively small, firm conclusions about newer activities aren't yet possible.

This is a summary of research, not medical advice. Talk to your own healthcare provider about anything affecting your care.

This systematic review addresses a recurring clinical question for physiotherapists managing developmental coordination disorder: does accumulating evidence since 2020 still support the guideline's recommended interventions, particularly task-oriented approaches, or does newer research shift the picture toward other options such as supplemental activities? Across eight databases, the authors identified sixteen studies, comprising three systematic reviews, three randomized controlled trials, and one qualitative study supporting task-oriented intervention as the first-choice approach, consistent with the original 2020 guideline. A separate body of evidence, one systematic review and seven randomized trials including a meta-analysis pooling two studies on active video gaming, informed supplemental activities, but this was graded low to very low certainty, meaning any apparent benefit should be interpreted with caution rather than as established clinical guidance.

One qualitative study offered insight into how physiotherapists adapt motor learning strategies in practice, which illuminates clinical reasoning rather than demonstrating treatment effectiveness. Overall, three of the guideline's five intervention recommendations were reaffirmed. The abstract does not report specific effect sizes, adverse events, or detailed risk-of-bias ratings for individual studies, and the modest, heterogeneous evidence base, especially for supplemental activities, limits how confidently these findings can extend beyond the populations and interventions directly studied.