How Do I Fit through That Gap? Navigation through Apertures in Adults with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder

What is it about?

During everyday life we walk around busy environments, negotiating both stationary and moving obstacles. This is usually performed effortlessly but actually involves complex skills to visually monitor the environment and control body movements. Getting this wrong may mean colliding with an object or tripping over. This project was designed to consider how adults with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) walk through apertures. DCD is sometimes referred to as Dyspraxia in the UK and refers to a difficulty with motor coordination with no clear neurological difficulty. We found that adults with DCD can successfully navigate through apertures without colliding but they do this by rotating more and for wider apertures than their typically developing peers.

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Why is it important?

Our findings show that in a lab based setting adults with DCD are able to successfully navigate obstacles without collision. They seem to use an adaptive strategy to ensure they can do this. The next step is to think about why this doesn't always work in a real-life setting