Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a lifelong condition that makes it hard to learn motor skills and coordination. It’s not a learning disorder, but it can impact learning. Kids with DCD struggle with physical tasks and activities they need to do both in and out of school.
Learning how to support your child with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a journey. Along the way, you’ll learn about symptoms, treatment options and what schools and professionals can do to help. But there’s so much else to know about DCD, which you may have heard referred to as dyspraxia .
This overview gives you the basics, so you can start helping your child. It also leads to more in-depth information on DCD.
Snapshot: What DCD is
DCD is a condition that makes it hard to learn coordination and motor skills (including motor planning). At least 5 percent of kids have it. DCD is more common in boys than in girls. Kids don’t outgrow it, but they can improve their motor skills.
DCD isn’t a specific learning disability like dyslexia or dyscalculia. It’s considered a neurodevelopmental disorder, like ADHD. But it can make it hard for kids to do schoolwork and keep up with classroom lessons. It can also make it difficult for them to participate in gym class. DCD often co-occurs with other conditions, and the symptoms may overlap.
Kids with DCD struggle with many of the tasks needed for learning in school. These include writing, copying from the board and organizing their things.
2-Minute Tutorial: Self-care routines for kids with motor skills issues.
DCD can create challenges outside of school, too. Motor planning problems can make it hard to figure out the steps of self-care routines, like brushing teeth and getting dressed. Kids may have trouble preparing a bowl of cereal with milk for themselves. Trouble with balance may make it hard for them to sit still and eat properly.
DCD is an impairment in movement skills, including:
- Fine motor skills
- Gross motor skills
- Motor planning
- Coordination
Weakness in these skills can impact other motor abilities that people use every day. These include:
- Maintaining balance
- Being able to quickly change their movement in new situations
- Moving their body in the right way
- Learning new movements
- Predicting the outcome of their movements
- Finding and using solutions to motor task problems
Kids with DCD may have trouble using feedback from earlier experiences to adjust their movements. For instance, if they position their fork the wrong way, they don’t automatically learn from that and do it right the next time.
They may also have trouble sequencing . So, planning the movements needed to do a task in the right order can be difficult. Trouble with balance can make kids with DCD appear clumsy. They often bump into other people by accident and drop things they’re holding.
Dive deeper
- Try these fine motor skills activities for younger kids .
- Explore ideas for improving gross motor skills in younger kids .
- Discover fun ways to help older kids improve motor skills .
DCD signs and symptoms
Kids develop movement skills at different rates. So, when they’re young, it may be hard to know if their difficulties will pass on their own. But even in preschool (or before), there can be signs that a child has weaknesses and needs intervention to improve.
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Below are some signs of DCD at specific ages.
Preschool
- Has trouble holding and using utensils
- Has trouble throwing a ball
- Plays too roughly or often bumps into other kids by accident
- Has difficulty sitting upright or still
Grades K–2
- Has trouble holding and using a crayon, a pencil, or scissors
- Doesn’t form or space letters correctly
- Struggles with going up and down stairs
- Frequently bumps into people by accident
- Has trouble with self-care, like brushing teeth
Grades 3–7
- Takes a long time to write
- Has trouble cutting foods
- Has difficulty with basic routines like getting dressed
- Struggles to line up columns when doing math problems
Tweens and teens
- Avoids or struggles with typing and texting
- Struggles with visual-spatial aspects of math, like working with shapes in geometry
- Struggles with opening the latch on a locker
- Has difficulty learning to drive
Look at an in-depth list of signs of DCD at all ages . If you’re concerned your child might have DCD, reach out to your child’s doctor. You can use this checklist to walk through signs you’re seeing
Link: https://www.understood.org/articles/en/understanding-developmental-coordination-disorder-dcd