Rhythm Effect on Dance Learning in Typical Development Children and Children With Motor Disorders. (DANS-APP)

Rhythm Effect on Dance Learning and Associated Functions in Typical Development Children and Children With Motor Disorders.

Cerebral Palsy (CP) or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) leads to motor troubles impacting the everyday life, social participation and academic difficulty . According to some authors, CP and DCD pertain to a same continuum of motor disorders (MD) (Pearsall-Jones et al., 2010).Those children show an alteration in Perceptivo-Motor Procedural Learning (PMPL), corresponding to the acquisition of everyday life skill (for CP: Gagliardi et al., 2011; Gofer-Levi et al., 2013; for DCD: Gheysen et al., 2011; Blais et al., 2018). Also, recommended rehabilitation for this population are based on procedural learnings (for CP: Novak et al., 2013; for DCD: Blank et al., 2019; Inserm, 2019). It's true for dancing which present high evidence to enhance motor, cognitive, psychoaffective and social functions of this children (Cherriere, Martel, et al., 2020; Cherriere, Robert, et al., 2020). Dance is a physical activity that involve procedural learning to memorise movement sequences (choreography). Rhythm can be define as a stimuli repetition at a regular interval (Grahn & Brett, 2007; Patel, 2003). Recently studies tend to shown that rhythm is essential to enhance motor control and procedural learning (Ghai et al., 2022; Lagarrigue et al., 2021). To validate this hypothesis, the investigators will evaluate typical development children and children with CP MD learning of a dance choreography with and without rhythm.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Cerebral Palsy (CP)
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: With regular rhythm; Behavioral: Without regular rhythm

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 68
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: David GASQ, MD; Phone Number: +33 0561322801; Email: david.gasq@inserm.fr
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Jessica TALLET, PhD; Email: jessica.tallet@inserm.fr

Study Locations

• France
  • Toulouse, France
    • Recruiting
    • Toulouse Hospital
    • Contact: David Gasq, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

For all the participants:

• Aged from 8 to 16 include.
• Free, informed, written, and signed consent of the holders of parental authority
• Free and informed consent of the minor
• Affiliation with or benefiting from a social security scheme.
• Ability to understand the instructions (investigator's assessment)

For the participant with Motor disorders (MD):

1. For children with CP:

   • CP diagnosis
   • Gross Motor Function Classification System level between I to IV.
   • Manual Ability Classification System level between I to IV.

2. For children with DCD:

   • A diagnosis of DCD

For the participant with typical development:

• No CP diagnosis
• No neurological trouble nor functional disfunction including developmental coordination disorder.

Exclusion Criteria:

• -Autism spectrum disorder diagnosed according to the DSM-5 (APA, 2015)
• Hearing deficiency diagnosed according to the DSM-5 (APA, 2015) or uncorrected hearing deficiency that doesn't allows the participant to hear a music with a sound level between 45 and 70 decibels.
• Visual deficiency diagnosed according to the DSM-5 (APA, 2015)
• Intellectual developmental disorder diagnosed according to the DSM-5 (APA, 2015)
• Behavioural disorders diagnosed according to the DSM-5 (APA, 2015)
• Diagnosed epilepsia
• Pregnancy (check in young pubescent and sexually active women) or breastfeeding.
• Children already include in ongoing interventional study.
• Children with both parent who benefit of legal protection (guardianship, curatorship, safeguard of justice).

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Typical developing; Typical developing children	Behavioral: With regular rhythm; All children learn one dance choreographie with regular rhythm music.The pre-recorded choreography is displayed on a large screen in front of the child. The child practices the choreography by imitating the models in order to learn the sequence movements.; Behavioral: Without regular rhythm; All children learn one dance choreographie without regular rhythm music.The pre-recorded choreography is displayed on a large screen in front of the child. The child practices the choreography by imitating the models in order to learn the sequence movements.
Experimental: Motor disorders; Children with motor disporders	Behavioral: With regular rhythm; All children learn one dance choreographie with regular rhythm music.The pre-recorded choreography is displayed on a large screen in front of the child. The child practices the choreography by imitating the models in order to learn the sequence movements.; Behavioral: Without regular rhythm; All children learn one dance choreographie without regular rhythm music.The pre-recorded choreography is displayed on a large screen in front of the child. The child practices the choreography by imitating the models in order to learn the sequence movements.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Retention score of the choreography	Number of movements in the choreography performed correctly and in order after practice is analysed by video using a standardised observation grid scored independently and blind to the condition by two trained judges.	Day 0

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
the effect of regular rhythm on Perceptivo-Motor Procedural Learning (PMPL)	The PMPL is measured by an informatised and standardised test (EVAL_App_Kids test)	Day 0
the effect of regular rhythm on sensorimotor function	the effect is measured by rhythm perception and production task	Day 0
the effect of regular rhythm on cognitive function	the effect is measured by informatised test on attention and executive function	Day 0
the effect of regular rhythm on psychoaffective function	the effect is measured by Intrinsic Motivation Inventory questionnaire (IMI)	Day 0

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Toulouse

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 2, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 7, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 15, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): November 18, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 31, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 23, 2025
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Brain Damage, Chronic; Cerebral Palsy
• Other Study ID Numbers: RC31/22/0039; ANR-21-CE28-0031 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR))

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No