​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

remove Image

Motor coordination in children

Help your child learn to use their brain and muscles to coordinate movement.
ON THIS PAGE:

Overview

As children grow and develop new skills, their brain and muscles work together to coordinate movements. Children learn how to coordinate more complex movements as they get older. Coordinating movements is a skill that improves with time and practice. Children need coordination skills to:

  • move their body (gross motor skills)
  • use their hands (fine motor skills)
  • use their mouth to talk or eat (oral motor skills)

To coordinate movement, your child’s brain needs to remember the steps of the movement and make sure the steps are done in the right order. Messages from the muscles and joints to the brain give information about your child’s body position and movement. With practice, the feedback helps your child time the movements and move smoothly and easily.

Your child might struggle with motor or movement coordination, even if their muscles are strong. Children who have problems with motor coordination have trouble turning the feedback from their body into changes that make movements more smooth. Your child may seem clumsy or uncoordinated, even if they've done the task before. They may have difficulty correcting the movement, even with practice. They may also have trouble remembering the steps of a movement or activity and doing the steps in the right order.

Children who have problems with motor coordination have trouble turning the feedback from their body into changes that make movements more smooth.

Using motor coordination in everyday life

Your child begins by learning basic movement skills. As they get older, they develop and build on these movement skills to do more complex activities. These activities involve more body parts, include steps that must be done in the right order, or involve an object, like a ball. Your child will build on the skill of walking to be able to run. Then build to more complex activities, like running while kicking a ball toward a target.

You may notice your child struggle with activities that use motor coordination as they get older. This doesn’t mean these challenges with motor coordination are new. They just become more noticeable as your child starts to do more complex activities and we expect them to do the activities more quickly. Many parents don’t notice problems with motor coordination until their child is in school.

Your child uses motor coordination in in many ways in their daily life. Daily living skills, like brushing teeth and tying shoelaces, are activities your child does every day. These activities involve combining different movements and involve objects like a toothbrush or shoelaces. The steps need to be done in the right order to be successful. Your child needs to use motor coordination to do these activities.

Active play combines many simple skills and often involves many steps. Active play often includes an object like a bat or ball. This means that when your child is playing sports or games with friends, they use complex motor skills and motor coordination to move smoothly. Many school activities use complex gross motor and fine motor skills. Your child will combine multiple steps that need to be remembered. At school, some of these activities need to be done more quickly. Your child needs to talk to and be understood by their teachers and friends. All of these activities use motor coordination.

Motor coordination struggles

Your child needs opportunities, time, and practice to learn and master a skill. Children learn in different ways and your child may need more practice and time than others. For example, some children learn by mastering each step of an activity before learning the next step. Even in the same family, you might notice differences in how your children learn, what they like to do, and how quickly they learn a skill.

Even with lots of time and practice, your child may struggle with coordinating their movements. This can make them feel frustrated. Perhaps they look and feel awkward doing a motor activity. They may notice that they don’t move as well as other children around them or have trouble learning new movement activities. They may start avoiding movement activities and group activities because they are teased or can’t keep up.

If your child is struggling with motor coordination, you might notice they:

  • struggle with daily activities like brushing their teeth or dressing
  • appear uncoordinated, clumsy, trip, or drop things
  • are slow to learn new skills
  • are messy when eating
  • have difficulty figuring out the steps needed to do a task and the correct order to do them in
  • struggle with printing and craft activities
  • avoid physical activity and games, or group sports and activities
  • have difficulty catching, throwing, or kicking a ball
  • take a long time to do a simple activity

If your child has a medical diagnosis like cerebral palsy or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder for example, they may have problems with motor coordination. There are also some conditions that can make motor coordination difficult but may not be apparent when your child is younger, like developmental coordination disorder (DCD) Some children have problems with motor coordination without having any other conditions or diagnosis.

Where to get help

For more information about one-to-one help with motor coordination struggles, contact:

  • Rehabilitation advice line 1-833-379-0563
  • A physiotherapist, occupational therapist, or speech-language pathologist at your local pediatric community rehabilitation services
  • Your doctor, public health nurse, or other healthcare provider
Current as of: September 23, 2024
Author: Pediatric Rehabilitation Services, Alberta Health Services
Rehabilitation Advice Line

Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

1-833-379-0563

Toll-free

Our work takes place on historical and contemporary Indigenous lands, including the territories of Treaty 6, Treaty 7 & Treaty 8 and the homeland of the Métis Nation of Alberta and 8 Métis Settlements. We also acknowledge the many Indigenous communities that have been forged in urban centres across Alberta.