Concomitants of clumsiness in young schoolchildren

Teachers in four schools for normal children aged between five and eight years took part in a two-year investigation of developmental clumsiness. After a year's preliminary discussion they identified 20 children from a total of 400 who met the following criteria: (1) had poor motor co-ordination for their age and (b) whose poor motor co-ordination was affecting their schoolwork. The teachers' assessments were compared with those of a paediatric neurologist and a psychologist, and were shown to be very accurate. The group of children identified as 'clumsy' scored significantly poorly in relation to a control group on several measures of motor performance, and had a higher incidence of other educational and social problems. The heterogeneity of the group emphasised the difficulty of identifying a specific syndrome of 'clumsiness' in children.