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Marked impairment in the acquisition and execution of coordinated motor skills, substantially below what is expected for chronological age, that significantly interferes with daily activities and is not explained by a general medical or neurological condition.
Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder are noticeably clumsy and slow or inaccurate in performing motor skills -- such as catching objects, using scissors, riding a bicycle, or handwriting -- compared to peers of the same age, despite having had the opportunity to learn these skills. This significantly affects academic performance, self-care, and play, and is not explained by a diagnosed medical or neurological condition affecting movement, such as cerebral palsy.
Motor milestones (walking, using utensils, buttoning clothes) are typically achieved later than peers, and difficulty persists into the school years, affecting handwriting and sports participation.
Academic performance (particularly handwriting), participation in sports and physical play, and self-care tasks (dressing, using utensils) are commonly affected.
Frequently co-occurs with ADHD and communication or learning difficulties; social difficulties can arise from exclusion during physical play or sports.
Opportunities to practice and be exposed to specific motor skills (such as certain sports or tools) vary by cultural and socioeconomic context, and should be considered before attributing motor difficulty solely to the child.
A common misconception is that clumsiness in childhood is simply a phase that will be outgrown; while some improvement can occur with intervention, the coordination difficulty in this disorder is persistent and requires targeted support, not simply time.
Reconsider this diagnosis if a specific neurological or medical condition affecting movement is identified, or if motor impairment is fully accounted for by a broader intellectual disability.
A 7-year-old girl has persistent difficulty with handwriting, frequently drops or fumbles objects, and struggles significantly more than her peers with catching a ball or riding a bicycle, despite ample practice opportunities and no diagnosed neurological condition.
Know
Know that a diagnosed neurological or medical cause of the motor impairment must be ruled out before this diagnosis is made.
Notice
Notice motor coordination substantially below age expectations causing real functional impairment in daily activities, not simply mild or occasional clumsiness.
Distinguish
Distinguish from Intellectual Disability by whether motor difficulty exceeds what the person's broader intellectual and adaptive profile would predict.
Recognize
Motor coordination substantially below age expectations, causing significant functional impairment, with onset in the early developmental period and no explanatory medical or neurological condition.
Distinguish
Distinguish from Intellectual Disability by whether motor difficulty exceeds what the person's broader intellectual and adaptive profile would predict.
A diagnosed neurological or medical condition affecting movement, such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy (these have an identifiable medical cause explaining the motor impairment, distinct from this developmental diagnosis), Intellectual Disability (if motor difficulties are entirely accounted for by a broader intellectual disability, this diagnosis is not given separately, though the two can co-occur if motor skills are notably below what the intellectual disability alone would predict), normal variation in motor development among children of the same age.
These two conditions frequently co-occur, and motor clumsiness in a child with ADHD is sometimes assumed to be purely attentional without considering an independent coordination deficit.
Because motor clumsiness co-occurs frequently with ASD, a child with purely motor difficulties is sometimes referred for ASD evaluation when DCD alone is a more precise and sufficient explanation.
A 'clumsy' child with an intellectual disability may have their motor difficulty misattributed entirely to the intellectual disability, or conversely a child with isolated motor difficulty may be mistakenly suspected of broader cognitive delay.
Reason
Apply
Distinguish Developmental Coordination Disorder's isolated motor deficit from the broad, multi-domain deficits of Intellectual Disability.
Retrieve
2 question(s) reference this disorder. Practice Developmental Coordination Disorder →
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