Evaluation of Clumsiness in Children -- American Family Physician

www.aafp.org/afp AMERICAN FAMILY PHYSICIAN 1435 fiable medical or neurologic condition but had difficulties in coordination that interfered with academic performance and/or socialization. In recent years, the term “clumsy child syndrome” has been somewhat replaced by the term “developmental coordination disorder” (DCD), essentially a recapitulation of Gubbay’s diagnostic criteria, that is formalized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3d ed. (DSM-III) and revised in the fourth edition (DSM-IV). Although various other terms are used to describe children with minor motor difficulties, we have confined terminology in this article to “clumsy child syndrome” and DCD, using them interchangeably. Learning disabilities, emotional problems, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder are more common in children with DCD. Children with concomitant DCD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are particularly at risk for such problems.