Investigation of Activity Preferences of Children with Specific Learning Disorders and Their Families: Cross-sectional Study

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the activity preferences of children with specific learning disability and their caregivers as well as their performance and satisfaction in these activities. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 children with specific learning disability (34 males and 26 females) and their caregivers (12 males and 48 females) were included to the study. The demographic information of both the children and the caregivers were recorded. Data regarding the self-identified and caregiver-identified problematic activities as well as the performance and satisfaction in these activities, the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure were used. Results: The mean age of the children was 10.7 ± 2.38 and the mean age of the caregivers was 33.5 ± 3.27. The self-reported problematic activities were most frequently related to productivity (86.67%), followed by recreation (66.67%) and self-care (53.33%). The caregiver-reported problematic activities were most frequently related to self-care (90%), followed by productivity (73.33%) and recreation (60%). The mean self-reported performance and satisfaction from the reported activities were 5.49 ± 2.4 and 4.14 ± 2.5, respectively, and the caregivers scores performance and satisfaction from their reported activities as 3.55 ± 1.5 and 3.08 ± 1.1, respectively. Conclusion: It is valuable to work toward a consensus between the children and the caregivers when determining the problematic activities of children with specific learning disability in order to establish a truly person-centered approach and cause meaningful and valuable improvements in activity performance and satisfaction.