Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), is a motor-based disorder that affects approximately 5% of primary school aged children. It is also known as dyspraxia or motor-based dysgraphia.

Children with DCD have difficulties learning and performing motor skills and their coordination is below expectations for their age. These difficulties may be displayed as slowness or inaccuracy in the performance of fine and/or gross motor skills which compromises performance in activities of daily living and often interferes with academic achievement. 

DCD may be suspected if a child is unusually clumsy and/or is showing difficulties in learning and/or performing gross or fine motor skills. Children with DCD often experience difficulties with speed and/or legibility of handwriting that may affect their abilit to express themselves in writing. DCD may therefore co-exist with a specific learning disorder with impairment in written expression, but is differentiated from it by the emphasis on the motor component of the written output rather than the content. The difficulties associated with DCD are generally addressed by an occupational therapist.
 

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