Surveying Parental Experiences in Receipt of a Diagnosis of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)

Abstract

Being diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder will have a major impact on the children as well as their parents. After receiving a confirmatory diagnosis as developmental coordination disorder, the whole family is affected and majority of broken family has a history of growing up a child with DCD. But still a little information is documented on the experience of parents in having a child diagnosed with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). In the current study, 200 parents were enrolled and they have completed online survey regarding their experience of having received a diagnosis of DCD for their children in Indian context. Results of the current study demonstrated that after two and half years parents initiated the help from professionals with regard to their child’s difficulty in motor coordination. When the satisfaction rate was evaluated, the results produced a mixed pattern. Majority of the parents included in the study were dissatisfied and only 20% of parents were satisfied. Parent’s satisfaction over the diagnostic method and procedure were examined with factors like stress of the diagnostic method, the manner in which the diagnostic method applied, after the diagnostic process the support provided to the parents, time taken to complete the diagnostic process. Parents reported dissatisfaction in the post diagnostic provision and majority of the parents surprisingly didn’t undergo any follow up appointments after the provisional diagnosis. The results of the current study suggest that there is a need for greater impact of DCD if not facilitated with early identification.