ABSTRACT
The increasing interest in developmental coordination disorder (DCD) raises many issues for the clinician receiving referrals for the assessment and treatment of children with motor problems. Not all of the children referred to occupational and physical therapy have DCD; the functional problems they encounter may be related to a number of other components outside of the motor system, such as attention, memory and behaviour. The identification of DCD requires a comprehensive assessment that includes a valid and reliable evaluation of the child's motor skills, as measured by standardized tests. In addition, the assessment needs to include observations of how the child interacts with his/her environment and the quality of the child's movement. Missiuna and Pollock1 demonstrated the importance of clinical observations and teacher report in the identification of children with motor problems, and recommended that therapists evaluate the consistency of data obtained from standardized tests, clinical observations, and historical and anecdotal information.
