Cardillo Ramona, Orefice Camilla, Leanza Nicolas, Mammarella Irene C
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy; Department of Women's and Children's Health, University of Padova, Italy.
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy.
Res Dev Disabil. 2025 Mar;158:104922. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2025.104922. Epub 2025 Jan 24.
Neurodevelopmental conditions often exhibit overlapping symptoms, posing challenges for differential diagnosis. Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) manifests as fundamental motor impairments, often along with co-occurring visuospatial difficulties. Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NLD) features visuospatial core challenges, with a less consistent characterization of its motor profile. Strikingly, to date no study has directly compared DCD and NLD profiles.
The present study aimed to analyze whether DCD and NLD share any characteristics by contrasting their motor and visuospatial performances, comparing them with non-diagnosed (ND) peers.
A total of 102 participants (8-16 years; DCD N = 29, NLD N = 29, ND N = 44) completed motor and visuospatial tasks. The groups' performance was compared, and the discriminatory power of the measures administered was analyzed.
Our findings support the substantial motor and visuospatial impairments in DCD and NLD, respectively. Regarding diagnostic efficacy, motor and visuospatial tasks effectively differentiated DCD or NLD from ND, with specificities related to each condition. Balance, and to a lesser extent, Spatial Processing revealed significant predictive power in distinguishing between DCD and NLD.
Our results revealed cross-disorder similarities and highlighted specific hallmarks, corroborating the need of a comprehensive motor and visuospatial assessment for distinguishing between DCD and NLD.
神经发育障碍常常表现出重叠的症状，这给鉴别诊断带来了挑战。发育性协调障碍（DCD）表现为基本运动障碍，常伴有视觉空间方面的困难。非言语学习障碍（NLD）的特征是存在视觉空间方面的核心挑战，其运动特征的表现则不太一致。令人惊讶的是，迄今为止尚无研究直接比较DCD和NLD的特征。
本研究旨在通过对比DCD和NLD的运动及视觉空间表现，并与未被诊断（ND）的同龄人进行比较，来分析它们是否有共同特征。
共有102名参与者（8至16岁；DCD组29人，NLD组29人，ND组44人）完成了运动和视觉空间任务。比较了各组的表现，并分析了所采用测量方法的鉴别力。
我们的研究结果分别支持了DCD和NLD在运动及视觉空间方面存在显著损伤。关于诊断效能，运动和视觉空间任务有效地将DCD或NLD与ND区分开来，且各有与相应病症相关的特异性。平衡能力，以及在较小程度上的空间处理能力，在区分DCD和NLD方面显示出显著的预测能力。
我们的结果揭示了不同病症之间的相似性，并突出了特定特征，证实了需要进行全面的运动和视觉空间评估以区分DCD和NLD。
