Developmental Coordination Disorder
| Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD) also know as developmental dyspraxia, are characterized as being "clumsy" or "awkward". Other Names Clumsy Child Syndrome Perseptuo-motor Dysfunction Minimal Brain Dysfunction Motor-learning Difficulty Sensory-integrative Dysfunction Spatial Problems Visuo-motor Difficulties or more specifically Dysparaxia or Dyslexia. Children with developmental coordination disorder have difficulties with motor coordination as compared to other children of the same age. These children have difficulties in mastering gross motor coordination tasks such as crawling, walking, jumping, standing on one foot, catching a ball and fine coordination task such as tying shoelaces. Some children also demonstrate expressive speech problems. The essential feature of Developmental Coordination Disorder is a marked impairment in the development of motor coordination. Performance in daily activities that require motor coordination is substantially below that expected given the person's chronological age and measured intelligence. This may be manifested by marked delays in achieving motor milestones (e.g., walking, crawling, sitting), dropping things, "clumsiness," poor performance in sports, or poor handwriting. Children with developmental coordination disorder have difficulties with motor coordination compared to other children the same age. Some common symptoms include: Delays in sitting up, crawling, and walking Problems with handwriting Problems with gross motor coordination (jumping, hopping, standing on one foot) Problems with fine motor coordination (tying shoelaces, tapping one finger to another) Clumsiness |
| Learn more about DCD on (for instance) the following websites: www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus www.psychnet-uk.com www.canchild.ca |