Creating Enabling Environments at Preschool for Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

The aim of this descriptive case study was to investigate the use of a two-part intervention in enabling the play skills of children with probable developmental coordination disorder in their preschool environments. Occupational performance coaching (OPC) was used with three teacher-child dyads in combination with a play-based intervention with the child. The intervention took place over 4 weeks and used the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, the Revised Knox Preschool Play Scales, and the Play Observation Scale as outcome measures. Results indicated that the teachers found OPC to be useful in raising their awareness of issues surrounding occupational performance difficulties and in generating solutions to those difficulties. Improvements were noted in the children's occupational performance and in their developmental play skills. Frequency of engagement in group play increased while frequency of onlooker and unoccupied behaviour decreased. Implications for future interventions and research are described.