DEVELOPMENTAL COORDINATION DISORDER

1. Children with DCD also may have other separate conditions, such as

• attention deficit
• hyperactivity disorder
• speech/language impairments.
• They also may have self-esteem, behavior, and social and/or emotional problems.  
  1. Children with DCD also may have other separate    conditions, such as
  • attention deficit
  • hyperactivity disorder
  • speech/language impairments.
  • They also may have self-esteem, behavior, and social and/or emotional problems. 
  • They want to throw a ball, ride a bike, or play a sport, but their body can’t remember how to do those activities.
  • Children with DCD may feel clumsy or awkward, and they may develop low self-esteem.
  • They also may not want to take part in some activities with other children, including physical education classes in school.
  • Children with DCD may have difficulty when they try to:
  • Run, skip, jump, hop on one foot, do jumping jacks, or perform other physical activities.
  • Use hand-held objects such as crayons or scissors.
  • Throw or catch a ball accurately.
  • Follow directions for movements that involve more than one step. (When they make a mistake or can’t do the next step, they will start all over again rather than with the most recent action taken.)
  • Know where their bodies are in space.

Your child's program may include treatments to:

• Improve strength.
• teach you and your child exercises to increase muscle strength.
• They will identify games and fun tasks that improve strength, reduce obesity, and improve heart health.
• Improve balance.
• physical therapist may teach your child exercises to help improve their balance, such as standing on one foot.
• Improve body awareness.
• physical therapist might have your child play in obstacle courses to help them learn how to plan movements while having fun.
• Improve skills through task-oriented and task-specific learning.

Exercises to improve motor coordination

• These activities are meant to target different muscle groups or coordination deficits.
• Some target multiple muscle groups.
• They can be adjusted according to your child’s age and general strength.
• These activities can help develop many skills, including motor planning, gross and fine motor skills, coordination, mental focus, counting, and rhythm. 
  1. Shoulder muscles:
  • Wheelbarrow racing
  • Pull-ups
  • Push-ups
  2. Core muscles/trunk:
  • Sit-ups
  • Bridging
  • Hand-eye coordination & visual tracking:
  • Throwing/catching a ball
  • Tennis, table tennis, baseball, and football
  3. Bilateral (right-left) coordination:
  • Cycling
  • Swimming
  • Throwing/catching a ball
  • Climbing a jungle gym or step ladder
  4. Hand skills:
  • Rock, Paper, Scissors
  • Rolling play dough
  • Playing piano
  • Balance:
  • Tandem walk
  • Standing on one leg, with eyes open and closed
  • Walking backward
  • Hop on one leg
  • Activities that target multiple muscle groups or coordination issues:
  • Dribbling a basketball
  • Jumping rope
  • Kicking a soccer ball
  • Hand-clapping games (patty cake, Miss Mary Mack, Slide)

Developmental coordination disorder is a motor skill disorder that causes problems with movement and coordination. It is not related to intelligence, autism, or physical disorders such as cerebral palsy.

DCD affects areas of the brain that learn or remember movements, so each motor task may seem new, no matter how many times it is repeated. Movements do not become automatic or feel normal or typical to the child. Children with DCD might struggle to imitate movements or learn new motor skills. They also have a hard time keeping up with the speed of movements compared with other children their age.