All children develop motor and coordination skills at different rates. As they grow, some children / young people will have difficulties with fine (small) and gross (large) movements.

This is called Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (or DCD) or Dyspraxia. This can affect their ability to complete many day to day tasks and they will often appear clumsy.

General signs

There are many signs of DCD; here are some general signs that could indicate your child / young person has a DCD impairment:

• Poor balancing
• Difficulty playing ball games
• Struggles with pencil control
• Difficulty picking things up
• Difficulty using scissors.

Next steps

If you are concerned that your child / young person may have DCD and that it is impacting their learning, talk to your child / young person's school / college. Speak to the class teacher or Additional Learning Needs Coordinator (ALNCo) and they will be able to work with you and work out what happens next. If your child is under 5 years old, you need to speak to your Health Visitor.