Individuals with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) experience motor skill and executive function (EF) difficulties that challenge their daily activities.This systematic review aims to provi...

Purpose. To characterize and analyze the performance of adolescents with executive function deficits through the Children’s Cooking Task (CCT) as a performance-based complex ecological assessment. Methods. Participants were 41 adolescents (aged 10–14 years) with normal intellectual function and executive function deficit profiles based on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) parent reports and self-reports (BRIEF-SR) and the WebNeuro and 40 controls with typical development matched by age and gender. Participants in both groups performed the CCT, an ecological standardized complex task. Results. Significant group differences were found for all CCT outcome measures (total number of errors, task duration, and all qualitative rating variables). Significant correlations were found among children with executive function deficit profiles between the CCT performance duration and total number of errors and the BRIEF-SR subscale score. Two separate discriminant function analyses described primarily by the CCT correctly classified the study groups. Conclusion. The poor performance of adolescents with executive function deficit profiles exhibited through the standardized complex task, as well as the relationships with their executive functions, supplies better insight about their daily confrontations. Identifying how they perform may lead to development of focused interventions to improve these adolescents’ daily performance, participation, and wellbeing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to almost every aspect of parents’ and their children’s lives, posing an acute threat to the families’ quality of life (FQOL). This study had two aims: (1) to identify changes in family coping-strategy profiles among parents pre- and during the first COVID-19 lockdown and (2) to analyze interactions between the clusters of coping strategies pre-COVID with FQOL during the first lockdown. A sample of 253 parents (58.5% mothers) of children (3 to 18 yr old) completed the Family Pandemic Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales and the FQOL Scale about their family life pre- and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Four family coping-strategy clusters were found. Differences were found between those clusters pre- and during the first COVID-19 lockdown, with a high percentage of families using the positive appraisal strategy more often. Significant interactions were found between the family coping-strategy clusters pre-COVID-19 and the FQOL factors before and during the pandemic. Most families maintained their FQOL levels during the first lockdown. Close and frequent interactions between family members had relationships with positive emotions and significant effects on well-being. Results showed that positive cognitive appraisal was a protective factor against a significant decrease in FQOL during the first COVID-19 lockdown.

Background: In school, children are required to perform a range of handwriting tasks. The writing needs to be legible to the child and other readers. The aim of this study was to examine handwriting legibility across different writing tasks and to explore which components might predict overall handwriting legibility. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of data from 148 school-aged children across writing scripts obtained from the Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting: copying-best, copying-quickly and free-writing. Results: Results showed that letter formation was the major predictor of the total HLS score, and significant differences in handwriting legibility were found across the three tasks. Conclusions: The HLS is a practical tool that can benefit occupational therapists who work in schools by assessing handwriting legibility across different handwriting tasks.

Background.: Occupational therapists, especially those in education systems, are challenged to define their professional roles and identities. Purpose.: This research evaluated the Role-Perception Questionnaire for Occupational Therapists in the Education System’s (RP-OT) psychometric properties, the Professional Identity Scale (PIS) internal consistency among occupational therapists, and relationships among role perception, professional identity, and demographic characteristics. Method.: A sample of 147 occupational therapists in education systems completed the RP-OT and PIS. We conducted exploratory factor analysis and calculated Cronbach alpha to evaluate the RP-OT and PIS psychometric properties. Relationships were examined using Pearson correlation. Findings.: The RP-OT was found reliable and valid, with medium-to-strong correlations among role perception, professional identity, and demographics. Teamwork in the education system was the major predictor (82%) of professional identity. Implications.: Teamwork is part of the professional role of occupational therapists in the education system and a significant component for developing their positive professional-identity perception.

Introduction: High‐quality social interactions with peers could protect adolescents' mental health, resilience, and well‐being. Assessing their social interaction skills (SIS) is essential to enhancing them. However, few instruments provide information about SIS in in‐person and social media environments. The SIS Questionnaire (SISQ) was developed to fill this gap, spotlighting adolescents' viewpoints on SIS in both environments. This study aimed to describe the SISQ development and psychometric properties, differences in adolescents' SIS in both environments, and relationships between the adolescents' SIS and subjective well‐being.Methods: A total of 214 typically developed adolescents aged 12–18 (M = 15.3 years, SD = 1.77; 61.2% girls) completed online questionnaires (demographic, SISQ, and Five Well‐Being Index). We used exploratory factor analysis for construct validity, Cronbach's alpha for internal reliability, t‐tests for differences in SIS, Cohen's d for effect sizes, and Pearson correlations and hierarchical regression for relationships between SIS and well‐being.Results: The SISQ has content validity and a monofactorial scale construct validity with very good internal reliability. Participants rated their in‐person SIS significantly higher than on social media, t(213) = −5.24, p < 0.001, d = 0.36, and the in‐person environment as more important, t(213) = −11.57, p < 0.001, d = 0.79, than the social media environment. A significant correlation was found between both in‐person SIS (r = 0.41, p < 0.001) and social media (r = 0.34, p < 0.01) and well‐being.Conclusion: The SISQ is a valid, reliable tool for assessing adolescents' SIS, essential to promoting these skills in this unique environment.