Neuromotor Task Training

Introduction to NTT

Neuromotor Task Training (NTT) is a context and task based and constraints-led approach to intervention for children with developmental movement conditions. 

NTT is based on the understanding that a child's ability to successfully achieve a desired  movement goal resides in the interaction between the child, the task and the social and physical environment (C-T-E).  

The NTT therapy process 
NTT provides the therapist with a framework for systematically analyzing the factors that limit (constrain) a child's ability to perform activities (tasks) successfully in different contexts (affecting participation). Once the constraints on task execution are understood, NTT provides a process for designing intervention tasks that are progressively loaded to increase task demands and promote learning. Read more


European Academy Childhood Disability  (EACD) DCD Guidelines

Blank R, Smits-Engelsman B, Polatajko H, Wilson P; European Academy for Childhood Disability.. European Academy for Childhood Disability (EACD): recommendations on the definition, diagnosis and intervention of developmental coordination disorder (long version). Dev Med Child Neurol. 2012 Jan;54(1):54-93. PDF

Download the EACD report here https://www.eacd.org/publications.php


Evidence for NTT 

Ferguson GD, Jelsma D, Jelsma J, Smits-Engelsman BC. The efficacy of two task-orientated interventions for children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: Neuromotor Task Training and Nintendo Wii Fit Training. Res Dev Disabil. 2013 Sep;34(9):2449-61. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.05.007. PubMed PMID: 23747936.

Niemeijer AS, Smits-Engelsman BC, Schoemaker MM. Neuromotor task training for children with developmental coordination disorder: a controlled trial. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2007 Jun;49(6):406-11. PubMed PMID: 17518923. PDF

Schoemaker MM, Niemeijer AS, Reynders K, Smits-Engelsman BC. Effectiveness of neuromotor task training for children with developmental coordination disorder: a pilot study. Neural Plast. 2003;10(1-2):155-63. PDF

Niemeijer AS, Smits-Engelsman BC, Reynders K, Schoemaker MM. Verbal actions of physiotherapists to enhance motor learning in children with DCD. Hum Mov Sci. 2003 Nov;22(4-5):567-81. PubMed PMID: 14624834.


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