University of Groningen
Dynamic control of balance in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder
Jelsma, Lemke Dorothee
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2017
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Jelsma, L. D. (2017). Dynamic control of balance in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder.
University of Groningen.
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Acknowledgement
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Writing a thesis is impossible without the support, exchange of knowledge and care of professionals, friends and family. This reminds me of the Southern African ‘Ubuntu’ (“I am because we are”) philosophy. As Nelson Mandela explained in 2010: “the profound sense that we are human only through the humanity of others; that if we are to accomplish anything in this world it will in equal measure be due to the work and achievements of others”. Therefore I would like to thank those who inspired, taught, helped and supported me on my road to becoming a researcher. First of all, what would this thesis be without all the fantastic children, such as Emiel, who inspired me with their puzzling balance problems, to start this PhD project? Your honest and direct way of reacting as children still inspires me in my work as a pediatric physical therapist. A very special thank to the parents, but also to the teachers and principals of the various schools in the Netherlands and South Africa for your support and hospitality. One school I would like to mention is the Kimkiel where it all started.
During my personal growth I felt blessed by the lessons and expertise of my (co) promoters. Prof dr. BCM Engelsman, dear Bouwien, without your unfailing trust and unconditional support this thesis would not have been written. You encouraged me to take this step towards research and I thank you for that. It made me realize over and over again that I will never stop learning and remaining curious and that the best answers are still waiting to be found. Besides being a very wise and clear minded promoter, you became a very dear friend. I do hope we will walk many paths together exploring new research projects in the future and will continue to share planes, hotels and igloos and combine work with writing articles, discussing family issues and enjoying new environments.
Dr RH Geuze, dear Reint, how fortunate it was that Bouwien linked us and asked for your daily support during my external PhD. It has been a privilege to debate with you, learn from you, and try to transform practical outcomes into theories that make sense. It has been such an enriching experience to get to share some of your enormous knowledge of motor learning, postural balance combined with mathematics. Thank you for teaching me how to write without straying off into distracting side paths. I look forward to continuing our research on motor learning and intervention for children with DCD.
Prof dr O. Tucha, dear Oliver, I thank you for your support and interest in my work. Your appreciation gave me strength and self-esteem. You organized my external PhD without ever bringing up concerns or problems. It was a great opportunity to learn, follow courses and develop. The invitations to take part in the department trips and dinners made me feel at home within the department. I really appreciate your recommendation to appoint me as an academic teacher at the University of Groningen. I will now be able to combine research and teaching with my clinical work as a paediatric physical therapist.
On my road I came across many professionals, students and dear friends who were in one way or the other linked to my PhD project.
Prof. dr. Jenny Jelsma, dear Jenny, who would have thought 26 years ago when we first met at Harare Central Hospital in Zimbabwe that you would be witnessing, as professor and my sister in law, my PhD defense? Our debates and exchange of ideas has really contributed to the results. Thank you for your support.
Wendy Aertssen, dear Wen, throughout the process of obtaining our doctoral degrees, we moved from sharing ideas to being firm friends. Few words were needed between us but we always knew how to support each other on our journey. I really appreciate the time we spent together training students, executing research projects and motivating teachers and children to continue in the projects. Besides the hard work, we shared fun, positive thinking and adventurous conferences in exotic places and found the courage to continue with the hard work.
Dr. GD Ferguson, dear Gillian, we met in Amsterdam during the World Confederation of Physical Therapy Conference, then in Groningen where you followed a course in General Movements and thereafter in South Africa during our DCD workshop. Besides a strong working relationship, we also became friends. No doubt, we will continue our friendship, and I do hope we will continue to collaborate in new projects.
Emmanuel Bonney, my PhD companion from Ghana. Our collaboration developed into an interesting exchange of ideas and writing together. Borders and continents don’t matter when you share the same passion. I hope to share more research projects with you in the near future.
All my colleagues at the Department of Developmental and Clinical Neuropsychology of the University of Groningen became special to me. Although I was an external doctoral student and not a member of the department, you all guided me patiently and supportively. Thank you Yvonne Groen, Janneke Koerts, Lara Tucha, Anselm Fuermaier, Ellen de Jong, Jolanda Polling-Oosterloo and Josje de Roo. I appreciate the help of my fellow PhD students including Fleur van der Feen, Iris van der Lijn, Tess Beking, Geraldina Gaastra, Saleh Mohamed and Dorien Bangma. Every Thursday morning Henry van der Kamp kindly arranged parking for me, which meant a great deal to me. Without the professional support of Hans Gankema, Pieter Zandbergen and Mark Span, the project would have been seriously delayed. All three of you made time to help me when technical issues came up and were hard to solve. Thank you for your knowledge and valuable contribution.
Remo Mombarg, at the beginning of the research project, we shared a special affection for children with DCD as well as an interest in the use of Wii Fit interventions. We started a constructive collaboration, which evolved into the start of my PhD project. Thank you for your inspiring support. Many students of the School of Sports and Physical therapy of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences, departments of Human Movement Science / Pedagogy and Psychology of the RUG and master students of paediatric physical therapy, Avans+ University of Applied Sciences, participated in the research projects. I enjoyed working with you, and appreciated your enthusiasm and efforts to collect the data for the studies. It enriched my thinking.
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Acknowledgement
This project would not have been possible without the support of Marc Steur and his team of the Media Markt that unconditionally donated the Nintendo Wii Fit systems. Once you heard that the project also extended to South Africa, again you helped generously. Thank you!
Dear Mariette and Jantine, we are a great team as co-owners of our private practice for pediatric physical therapy. I enjoy working together in ensuring the quality of our treatments and discovering new developments. In addition to our good working relationship, we are close friends, thank you for all your support. Both of you never complained but patiently tolerated my efforts to combine my work with research. I cannot say enough how much I appreciate your warm interest in my study. The contribution of Anita, Ingrid and Anja to our private practice and indirect support to my process of writing my thesis is highly appreciated.
I have asked two persons to be my paranymph in the ceremony, Mariette and Annette. Mariette, since we started working together we became friends. We helped each other during maternity leave, watched the growing up of our children together, learned together, and started teaching together. Annette, my eldest sister, you are the one I can always turn to, thank you for your loving care and support.
During the years of my study I felt very privileged by the continuing support of my family and friends. Hielke, my youngest brother, although you live so far away on the other side of the world, this never created a distance between us and we have stayed close. Thank you for your loving care and interest and our shared love of our family. We do have a wonderful extended family, including Wim, Janine, Leon, Annique, Lotte, Gerwin, Jenny, Joe, Andy, Bram, Marissa, Brigid, Chris, and not to forget little Anna Sophie, Willem, Joe Arjen, Ben and Willow.
With great respect I thank my parents for their support and their unflagging interest in my study, ideas and development. Since my youth, you both stimulated and encouraged me to believe in myself. We always had great discussions and healthy debates. Although you had some worries about the stress and amount of different tasks I had taken on, I knew you respected me for my work. Dad warned me that my PhD process took too long since he was becoming a “very old man” and as always, he was right. I like to believe that in moments like this, he is still present looking over my shoulder and being just as proud as Mum.
Dear friends like Margriet and Marcel, Annemiek and Tjeert, Henk and Suus, Huib and Mariette, Bert and Loes, have supported me all the way through. They heard all my stories and theories and encouraged and challenged me to keep on going. Thank you for your support. And Tjeert and Marcel, your inspiring thoughts are still present in my heart.
My dearest Ernst, Eline, Mayke and Mark, thank you for being patient with a mum who every now and then forgets to make tea or prepare dinner in time. I really appreciate your patience in being my pilots to learn active video gaming, to pose on photos, posters and be the try out in videos. I loved the moments sitting around our kitchen table, all busy with work, developing ideas or finishing deadlines behind our laptops and books. Sharing this with you, and with Frank and Sara
made our Sundays that usually should have been ‘lazy’, memorable. It also made me feel I was not the only poor soul in the world who had to work during weekends. The fact that Eline and Ernst used the opportunity to start their own study projects as part of the bigger one in South Africa, proved that you both became infected with the research virus.
And last, but not least my dear Peter, thank you for your unconditional love and support. I really treasure the fact that for all those years you never ever complained about my lack of attention. You had to share me with my laptop, even during holidays. Your understanding of me, being so ambitious but happy, is beyond words. You were always ready to help me, printed my posters, took over household tasks and brought back humor when life became too serious. The whole process made our love and debates even deeper.
