Developmental Processing Disorder (DCD)

The boy jumping in the picture is very active and has jumped very high off the ground so he probably has strong muscles and good co-ordination. But a child or adult with Developmental Co-ordination Disorder would find this sort of action demanding as DCD is a common disorder affecting gross and fine motor skills. Children may have low muscle tone and poor balance control so find it hard to run or learn to ride a bike and be prone to falling over and become anxious about joining in with their peers in sporting activities. They will probably find acquiring handwriting skills slow and possibly even painful. This is a medical diagnosis and children or adults are usually directed by their GP to be assessed by an Occupational Therapist or a Physiotherapist. This condition may co-exist with a specific learning disability such as Dyslexia, but not always. It is important to pinpoint, for example, if a child is writing very slowly due to difficulty physically writing or because they are Dyslexic which is impeding their processing of their thoughts into words, or both issues. Fortunately people may now overcome handwriting difficulties using assistive technology.