Developmental Coordination Disorder. DCD. I'd never heard of it prior to 4 months ago. The definition of DCD reads as follows: "a chronic neurological disorder
beginning in childhood that can affect planning of movements and
co-ordination as a result of brain messages not being accurately
transmitted to the body". And about 4 months ago, an Occupational Therapist suggested that I look into a diagnosis of DCD for my oldest daughter. So let me rewind a bit.
DD6 was an early talker, and never stopped. She was reading by age two, and never stopped. She tests far above grade level in her reading skills. She has phenomenal language skills and is friendly, polite and energetic. So what if she was a messy eater, fell down walking across the room, can't sit in her seat at the dinner table, or swim, or ride a bike, or catch a ball? She'd catch up right? Right?
Back in the Fall, her (wonderful) teacher approached me and asked if we'd ever been added to the waitlist for an occupational therapy referral. It seems that there had been several tears that day, (very out of character for DD6), during Art Class. When I sat down later and thought about it - I realized - she couldn't zip a zipper, snap a snap, she couldn't do up buttons and had always struggled with colouring. Later that day I called for a private OT assessment for fine motor skills.
We started with a fine motor assessment, and discovered, that although her fine motor skills fell within the "normal" range - there was a huge difference between them and her intellectual ability. And the more she worked with her Occupational Therapist, the more obvious her gross motor difficulties, spatial difficulties and sensory processing issues became.
When I've tried to explain to others what DCD is I often receive feedback that "she'll grow out of it", or she's "just clumsy". Sometimes they worry that their own child is delayed in certain areas. And then they wonder why even bother diagnosing it? Well children with DCD experience high levels of anxiety, frustration and attention difficulties. This often results in behavioural issues at school, and at home. And if you don't have caregivers, teachers or instructors who are aware of the potential issues and barriers a child with Developmental Coordination Disorder can encounter, there could be ongoing behavioural and social issues as well.
We recently received a summary of her progress in OT, and it sums up our experience with Developmental Coordination Disorder
:
- consistent difficulties with smoothly coordinating fine & gross motor skills.
- motor skills lack smooth transitions
- motor skills often negatively affected by a minor change in the environment or task
- often falls, trips, and bumps into objects and/or people, perhaps as a result of decreased coordination, body awareness, and spatial awareness
- difficulties with appropriately planning movements
- does not approach a new movement task in a logical manner, which often results in an unsuccessful attempt at the movement task
- easily distracted by auditory and visual information within large, open spaces
- difficulty with self-regulation during and after physical activity
- cannot easily transition away from movement activities, and attention to task decreases
- minimal body awareness, unaware of how body is moving in space
- needs verbal, visual, tactile, and external pressure on joints (to elicit increased proprioception) in order to improve the quality of gross and fine motor skills
Early Diagnosis has been fantastic for us. It means we can now look at accommodations (such as using a keyboard at school) and ongoing Occupational Therapy. We're able to use a cognitive approach to her motor skills (Cognitive Orientation to Daily Performance) to break down new motor skills step by step. And rather than have a child who is afraid to tackle new motor activities, I get to keep my enthusiastic whirlwind of a little girl who jumps in with both feet! Next time though - she'll have a plan.
Want to learn more about Developmental Coordination Disorder? Visit McMaster University's CanChild - Centre for Childhood Disability Research.
Developmental Coordination Disorder
