Clumsy children: a prognostic study

Twenty-four clumsy children of whom 13 had matched controls were reappraised eight years after their original assessment. The findings indicate that developmental clumsiness generally has a favourable prognosis. Mild and moderate degrees of clumsiness improved to normality, but severe degrees of clumsiness had a less favourable outcome only in regard to motor proficiencies. Clumsiness seemed not to have bearing, either on social class or on the subsequent pursuit of sporting activities. Although there was a lower level of academic achievement in the clumsy children, who also chose careers which were less manually exacting, these observations did not reach statistical significance. Maturational lag might be the aetiology in mild developmental clumsiness, whereas structural lesions involving the cerebral cortex may be present in more severely afflicted children. These findings should be considered when counseling clumsy children, both academically and vocationally.