Can the Finger-Nose-Finger Task Be Used to Identify School-aged Children with Probable Developmental Coordination Disorder?

This study aimed to investigate whether the Finger-Nose-Finger (FNF) task could be a potential test to identify school-aged children with probable Developmental Coordination Disorder (pDCD) from a large population. This study recruited 1365 nine to twelve years old children, 362 of whom were identified as pDCD using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC) test. An instrument was designed to conduct the FNF task. The times performed by the dominant hand (DH) and the non-dominant hand (NDH) in 30 seconds were recorded, as well as the Sum of both hands. The results showed that school-aged children with pDCD had significantly poor performance on DH, NDH, and Sum of the FNF task compared to typically developing children (all p's <.001). However, the FNF task showed low sensitivity (24.9%) and low diagnostic rate (65.7%) against the MABC test, even though there was a significant moderate correlation between both tests (r = -.300, p < .001). Taken together, even though school-aged children with pDCD perform worse on the FNF task, this task may not be sensitive enough to identify children with pDCD. Other testing items assessing other motor aspects, specifically balance, should be included and validated.