Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Pilot Study

Abstract

AbstractEvidence-based therapeutic options for children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are scarce. This work explored the effects of cerebellar anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) on three 48 h-apart motor sequence learning and upper limb coordination sessions in children with DCD. The results revealed that, as compared to a Sham intervention (n = 10), cerebellar atDCS (n = 10) did not meaningfully improve execution speed but tended to reduce the number of execution errors during motor sequence learning. However, cerebellar atDCS did neither meaningfully influence offline learning nor upper limb coordination, suggesting that atDCS’ effects are circumscribed to its application duration. These results suggest that cerebellar atDCS could have beneficial effects as a complementary therapeutic tool for children with DCD.