Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is defined in the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as a significant impairment in the development of motor coordination, which interferes with academic achievement or daily activities. The truth is that DCD is a diagnosis by symptoms and not by etiology. So, very different causal factors could be involved in DCD. That’s why a functional diagnosis made in pediatric physiotherapy is essential to manage these children and support their families.
Children with DCD present different sensory-motor problems: impairments in manual function, poor balance control, difficulties going down stairs, posture disorders, etc. What is surprising is that they also present learning disorders, specifically in mathematical learning. Pieters et al. (2012) observe that a substantial proportion of children with DCD have problems with mathematics (number fact retrieval and procedural calculation). Children both with mild as well as those with severe motor disabilities have problems in the domain of mathematics. Gomez and Huron (2020) find that children with DCD were less accurate and slower in enumeration tasks showing impairments both in counting and subitizing.
For many decades, physical and cognitive development were not seen as related, and for many health professionals they are still not linked, but studies like these show another reality. Pediatric physiotherapists should be involved in the assessment of children with learning difficulties, even before problems appear, to detect motor and sensory disorders. PIMT training enables to the physiotherapist to the ability of doing a complete development assessment in children. PIMT also offers stimulations programs to improve child performance and functioning. This fact plays an important role in guiding families and communication with educational teams.
See in this video how the motor and the visual go hand in hand in the development of the child.
Pieters S, Desoete A, Van Waelvelde H, Vanderswalmen R, Roeyers H. Mathematical problems in children with developmental coordination disorder.Res Dev Disabil. 2012 Jul-Aug;33(4):1128-35. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2012.02.007. Epub 2012 Mar 7.PMID: 22502838
Gomez A, Huron C Subitizing and counting impairments in children with developmental coordination disorder.Res Dev Disabil. 2020 Sep;104:103717. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103717. Epub 2020 Jun 23.
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