Current Opinions in Psychiatry published a review of motor coordination and emotional-behavioral problems in children. The author begin by discussing measurement issues with regards to developmental coordination disorder (DCD) i.e. lack of specific definition of exactly how much a child needs to be delayed to get a diagnosis of DCD and lack of consistant terminology to describe motor delays.
Almost half of all children with ADHD have DCD, this leads the authors and others to question whether they are separate diagnoses or sub categories of ADHD. It is discussed how these disorders feed off of each other - motor skill delay may result in decreased attention span.
Studies are discussed that have established a connection between DCD and internalizing disorders such as anxiety and depression.
The researchers recommend additional research of motor coordination problems and mental health issues. You can view the entire article here.
Reference: Cairney, John; Veldhuizen, Scott; Szatmari, Peter. Motor coordination and emotional-behavioral problems in children. Current Opinion in Psychiatry:
July 2010 - Volume 23 - Issue 4 - p 324–329 doi: 10.1097/YCO.0b013e32833aa0aa
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