What Causes Developmental Coordination Disorder?

An occupational therapist in Canada, Kumuena Tekasala most recently practiced at the Riverview Health Centre. Concurrently, he served as an occupational therapist at River East Transcona School Division. With more than three years of experience in the field of rehabilitation, Kumuena Tekasala maintains a professional interest in such things asdevelopmental coordination disorder (DCD).

Normally, infants and toddlers develop the ability to sit up, walk, and talk at specific stages. When they don’t reach these milestones when expected, they may have developmental problems, such as DCD. This condition results in a lack of coordination manifested by a child’s inability to get his or her body to move according to mental intentions. As a result, the child is often clumsy and struggles with performing tasks that involve the muscles.

Scientists aren’t sure what causes DCD. However, some studies have found a possible link between many of the common challenges of DCD and the cerebellum. As children grow, the cerebellum is responsible for monitoring movements and developing automatic movement control. Both of these things are affected by DCD.

DCD has also been linked to several additional difficulties in children, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), specific language impairment (SLI), and behavioral disorders. Many of these conditions co-occur with DCD, thus suggesting that DCD may be linked to biological causes like low birth weight or fetal malnutrition. However, a clear link between the conditions has not been found, so researchers can only hypothesize at this point.

Types of Sensory Processing Disorder

Kumuena Tekasala most recently served as an occupational therapist at River East Transcona School Division in Winnipeg, Canada. In this capacity, Kumuena Tekasala supported students with special needs and disabilities and provided clinical observation and treatment for a variety of issues, including those related to sensory processing.

Sensory processing disorder (SPD), or sensory integration dysfunction, refers to sensory preferences that significantly interfere with a child’s normal functioning. There are three basic subtypes of SPD, briefly described below:

Sensory-Based Motor Disorder (SBMD)
Difficulties with motor coordination and balance characterize SBMD. Individuals with this subtype of SPD struggle with keeping their body stable when moving or maintaining good posture when sitting or standing. Within this subtype, there are two further subtypes: postural disorder and dyspraxia. The latter results in children appearing clumsy or being unable to organize motor actions, while the former results in decreased balance and low muscle tone.

Sensory Modulation Disorder (SMD)
There are three categories of SMD: under-responsive, over-responsive, and craving. All three types relate to how kids regulate sensory stimuli. With over-responsive SMD, patients have a low threshold for sensory stimuli and easily become irritated or overwhelmed. SMD under-responsive type results in kids having a high sensory stimuli threshold, such that they do not respond to stimuli in their environment like the average person. Finally, SMD sensory cravers seek constant stimulation by crashing or moving.

Sensory Discrimination Disorder (SDD)
People with SDD have trouble accurately understanding the sensory stimuli they feel, taste, smell, see, or hear. As a result, many individuals with SDD do not detect similarities and differences among stimuli and often interpret stimuli qualities incorrectly, which can make them seem awkward and inattentive to those around them.