Assessing postural control deficits with the Balance Evaluation Systems test for children, second edition in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Postural control deficits are highly prevalent in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). We developed an extended, age-specific version of the Balance Evaluation Systems test for children (Kids-BESTest-2; age 5-12) that allows for the identification of specific deficient postural control systems by assessing corresponding postural control test domains. OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical value of the Kids-BESTest-2 in identifying postural control deficits in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) by evaluating its construct and predictive validity. METHODS: We included 89 typically developing (TD) children and 66 children with DCD (age 5-12). Construct validity was established by: 1) exploring differences in Kids-BESTest-2 scores between the known groups (DCD/TD) using the Mann-Whitney U test, 2) determining internal relationships and relationships with child-specific factors with the Spearman rank correlations. Predictive validity was investigated with binary logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: TD children outperformed (p<0.001) their DCD peers on the Kids-BESTest-2. The Kids-BESTest-2 correlates moderately (ρ=0.69-0.78, p<0.001) to strongly (ρ=0.79-0.88, p<0.001) with domain scores. The Kids-BESTest-2 total score significantly correlates with the MABC-2 total score (ρ= 0.62, p<0.001), the MABC-2 balance score (ρ=0.64, p<0.001), and age (ρ=0.40, p<0.001). Age and MABC-2 total and balance scores predict a Kids-BESTest-2 total score < 80%, with a 92.0% sensitivity, 92.9% specificity. CONCLUSIONS: The Kids-BESTest-2 is a valid tool to identify and specify postural control deficits in children with DCD. Clinicians can decide to administer the Kids-BEST-test-2 by using age and MABC-2 total and balance scores to predict performance.