What Are the Effects of Under Developed Motor Skills?

Underdeveloped motor skills often define the condition known as developmental coordination disorder. According to MedlinePlus, 6 percent of children suffer from some form of the disorder.

Symptoms

• According to the National Institutes of Health, the main symptom of developmental coordination disorder is clumsiness and poor coordination.

Description

• For children with this disorder, normal movements such as walking, buttoning a button or tying a shoelace are difficult to perform. Children may collide with others or be unable to hold objects.

Physical Problems

• Delays in sitting up, crawling, walking, sucking and swallowing during the first year of life may occur. In addition, children may experience obesity, frequent injuries, and have difficulty jumping, hopping, standing on one foot, or tapping one finger to another.

Academic Problems

• Children with problems forming letters by hand, using scissors, writing or drawing pictures may give up academic or artistic desires even though they have normal intelligence.

Mental Problems

• Children with developmental coordination disorder may have low self-esteem as a result of teasing by others and the perception that they are different. They may also have difficulty learning.

Treatment

• Specialized treatment with an occupational therapist and special education settings can help a child gain self-esteem and increase self-image at home and at school.