What signs would a therapist see in child with development coordination disorder? Are there other school-related problems the child may have?
Answer
There are a few signs a therapist would see. These are found along the lines of how developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is diagnosed. Essentially DCD is a disorder in the diagnostic and statistical manual that is used by psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health professionals and physicians. Typically a therapist will see the same types of issues as when diagnosing the disorder. The performance in a child's daily activities that requires motor coordination will be significantly below the expected given child's age. This could be manifested by not achieving specific motor milestones, walking, crawing, sitting, or maybe the child drops things often or is clumsy. The child may be a poor performer in sports or have poor handwriting. They will more likely have interference with their academic achievements and other activities in daily living.
There are other difficulties that have been noted in the research. This tends to be that the children are often more lonely and have feelings of low self-worth than children who do not have these motor coordination problems. One study showed that children who participated in team sports had alleviation of these feelings of loneliness. This intervention aimed to improve team skills and their motor coordination ability. This improved their feelings of low self-worth which typically translated into their academic skills as well.
Alicia Fedewa, PhD, NCSP
Alicia Fedewa received her PhD from Michigan State University and completed her post-doctoral training in School Psychology at Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District outside of Houston, Texas. Her research interests include the relationship between curricular physical activity and children's academic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes.
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