Motor difficulties, like attention difficulties have a pervasive effect on children’s lives, affecting them at school, home and in their leisure activities.

Children with DCD may have problems with their gross motor skills (movement or co-ordination of their arms and legs, posture and balance) or their fine motor skills (hand skills and manual dexterity) or both.

Gross motor difficulties include

• Difficulties riding a bike, catching or throwing a ball
• Difficulties with hopping and skipping
• Frequent trips and falls
• Awkward running
• Bumping into people/things, knocking things over

Fine motor difficulties include

• Poor pencil control leading to difficulties with drawing/writing
• Cutting with scissors
• Doing up buttons and zips or using a knife and fork together
• Tying shoelaces

Children with DCD may also have difficulties interacting with others, poor attention and organisation skills, poor time management skills and sensory processing difficulties.  They are often frustrated and frequently develop low self esteem.