Kyle is a sweet, active 9-year-old. His response to the world going on around him is laid back and easy going. He was late to speak, but his parents and pediatrician attributed this to being the youngest of four children, not needing to communicate because his siblings could "talk for him."

Unlike his extremely coordinated and athletic siblings, Kyle seemed a bit clumsy and he wasn't as interested in participating in sporting activities. Although Kyle wanted to skate and play hockey, when given the opportunity to be on the ice, he was paralyzed with fear and would not attempt to skate.

He enjoyed preschool but his teacher had reservations about his abilities to paint, draw and write. His preschool teacher reported that he avoided these activities. Kyle did not choose a writing hand until he was over 7 years old. He never has learned to tie his shoes and he chooses the Velcro lace shoes to make up for this inability.

While Kyle is active and enjoys playing with his friends, he looks a bit out-of-sync with his friends when running and playing. He isn't interested in learning to ride his bike, despite his parents' encouragement. He doesn't enjoy school. Writing is difficult. His teachers comment on his report card the need for Kyle to improve his organization and attention skills. Kyle's parents note that his coordination is a bit weak but feel he will out grow this. However, they worry that their good mannered son's poor grades are reflective of his increasing dislike for school.

Kyle, like many other children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD), exhibit motor problems that interfere with success in school, at home and in the community. DCD is an impairment, immaturity or disorganization of movement. Gross or fine motor skills or both can be affected, making a child's performance look awkward and can affect a child's learning. Like many neurological disabilities, DCD looks different from child to child and can vary from day to day depending on other variables like the fatigue, emotionally distress or hunger.

A delay in the development of motor skills or a difficulty in coordinating movements results in a child being unable to perform everyday tasks that are often taken for granted, such as tying shoelaces, putting on a shirt, buttoning pants or even writing. These motor coordination problems are not caused by physical or mental impairments, but are the result of the poor planning of movements, the poor execution of movements, or both. In addition, these motor problems also make logical, sequential thinking more difficult.

New research out of the University of Bristol found that children with DCD have an increased risk of comorbid learning disorders in attention, reading, math and short-term memory. It is a common myth that children with DCD will "out grow it." Intervention is needed for these children. Parents can have a large role in their child's positive outcomes. Parents with a DCD child should encourage their child to participate in sports that are of interest to him/her, introduce new sports or activities individually, going over the rules in a step-by-step fashion, allow experiences in practical activities that help their child improve his/her ability to plan and organize (e.g. setting the table, making lunch, organizing a book shelf), and finally, recognize and reinforce their child's strengths.

Therapists educated and trained in DCD can also help a child develop motor skills and cope with the demands and activities of everyday life. Wired2Learn uses a researched-based program called Interactive Metronome (IM) that helps children overcome coordination limitations and also helps improve attention and memory. Research has demonstrated that DCD is related to deficits in central nervous system processing and that improving a child's ability to process information is beneficial. Children with DCD respond positively to the use of a metronome to increase processing. In the brain, we know that timing is crucial. Most human behavior, including motor processing, involves a brain clock system to coordinate microsecond-based signals in the brain. IM is an enjoyable intervention that helps the brain "fine tune" its processing to improve performance.

For more information on what you can do as a parent at home to help a child with DCD or for more information on IM or other learning disabilities, please call Wired2Learn at 699-6232.