Children ’ s services
Children ’ s services
Feature
Watch me do it
A free-to-access video library aims to support motor learning in children with developmental co-ordination disorder . Here , David Wright , Sally Payne , Paul Holmes and Greg Wood tell us all about it .
O
ccupational therapists are the health professionals most likely to be involved with children with developmental co-ordination disorder ( DCD ), also known as dyspraxia
( Cleaton et al 2020 ). Yet growing demand and increasing waiting lists mean we need to think creatively about how to help children and young people with DCD take part in the occupations – activities and routines – they need , want , and like to do .
That ’ s why the new ‘ Watch me do it ’ website of free-to-access movement demonstration videos – developed collaboratively between psychologists and an occupational therapist – is such a valuable resource .
The website offers an early intervention approach to help children master the activities of daily living that matter to them . This is timely , given the surge in demand for children ’ s occupational therapy services ( RCOT 2023 ).
The website supports RCOT ’ s Workforce Strategy ( RCOT 2024 ) by prioritising meaningful occupation and enabling community access to occupational therapy expertise , whether a young person is known to occupational therapy services ( on a waiting list or receiving support ), or not .
Although primarily aimed at children with DCD / dyspraxia , the videos could benefit children with other movement co-ordination difficulties , as well as typically developing children .
DCD affects five to six per cent of children , causing movement co-ordination difficulties that make it challenging to learn activities of daily living .
Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University found that children with DCD learn movement skills more easily by watching firstperson viewpoint demonstrations and imagining the feelings of doing the movements while they watch ( Scott et al 2023 ).
After a four-week training period , children who used the videos alongside physical practice showed greater improvements in shoelace tying and object stacking than children who just learned via physical practice .
The videos were effective because the firstperson viewpoint was easier for children to copy than traditional demonstrations performed by someone sitting opposite or to the side .
Based on these research findings , ‘ Watch me do it ’ was created . Individuals with lived experience of DCD , family members and professionals responded to a social media survey to identify key skills for inclusion on the website .
Right and left-handed , first-person viewpoint video demonstrations were then developed with typically developing child models , including for
54 OTnews January 2025
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