Using concept maps in cognitive treatment for children with developmental coordination disorder

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) often seem to possess a narrow repertoire of cognitive strategies. In particular, they have difficulties in learning and internalizing the rules and strategies that other people intuitively use to approach common everyday problems. As a result, they often appear to have organizational, planning, memory and learning difficulties. The article proposes using a Concept Map (CM) as a visual strategy to facilitate interaction between a child with DCD, his/her family and therapist, as reflected in Client Centred and cognitive approaches. The CM is used as a method of assisting the child to identify, develop and utilize cognitive strategies in order to manage daily tasks effectively, as a tool in organizing his own therapy and in order to encourage participation. A demonstration of the concept mapping usefulness is brought by a case report. Further uses of concept mapping as a useful strategy within the framework of intervention remain to be studied.