Early Indicators

Key Concepts

• Motor milestones (crawling, walking) may not be delayed
• The development of motor skills and learned movements or tasks will be delayed
• Children with DCD often vary in their presentation
• DCD impacts physical, social, and emotional health

Motor milestones or motor skills: What is the difference?

While some children with DCD are mildly delayed in the normal development of motor milestones (rolling over, sitting unsupported, walking), most are not. Children with DCD first show significant motor delay when they are required to learn movements that involve coordination or skill. These activities vary from one culture to the next but all are skills that are learned from caregivers or other children. 

Early indicators of difficulty can be seen as the child tries to manage a spoon, manipulate a toy, pedal a tricycle or scribble with a crayon.  Self-care skills are always delayed.  Children will have difficulty with simple tasks, such as:

• putting on and taking off clothing
• tying shoelaces
• managing zippers, buttons and snaps
• feeding themselves independently

What does DCD look like?

DCD may be suspected if the child:

• moves awkwardly
• seems clumsy or poorly coordinated
• frequently trips, or drops things
• prints or writes poorly, and with much effort
• has trouble with daily activities such as
• handling utensils
• catching a ball
• cutting with scissors
• tying shoelaces
• avoids participation in physical or motor-based activities
• has difficulty learning and transferring new motor skills

Are children with DCD all the same?

Children with DCD make up what is called a 'heterogeneous' group, which means that they are not all alike. Children might differ in the degree of their difficulties (mild or severe), and in how much the disorder affects daily tasks (affecting nearly every activity to affecting only specific activities). They may have challenges in gross motor and postural functions or only in fine motor skills requiring eye-hand coordination. The degree of difficulty may also appear to vary depending on the environmental and task demands placed on the child in the early years. Finally, children with DCD also differ in the degree to which they display co-occurring conditions, including non-verbal learning disabilities, speech/articulation difficulties, and attention deficit disorder.

Why is it important to identify children with DCD when they are young?

DCD can have a negative affect on many aspects of a child's life. Children with movement difficulties that are significant enough to impact upon their functional daily living skills often exhibit a number of related behavioural difficulties. They may demonstrate negative or destructive behaviour or be overly dependent and passive. Research shows that children with DCD tend to withdraw from participation in physical and social activities, and this can be due to their poor motor performance or associated social and emotional difficulties. Children with DCD have been noted to lose physical fitness over time, and appear to be at risk for many of the factors associated with a sedentary lifestyle, including cardiovascular disease and obesity. Identifying DCD at an early age and developing appropriate management strategies can help to improve the physical, social, and emotional outcomes for children with DCD.  

For additional information, see Children with DCD: At Home and in the Classroom