Signs of coordination impairments:
- Frequent trips/falls
- Appearing clumsy
- Bumping into things
- Knocking things over
- Accident prone
- slow/inaccurate motor skills
- Difficulty using both hands together
Coordination activities
- Jumping
- Jumping forward on two feet
- Hopping on one foot
- Jumping jacks
- Hopping side to side over a line
- Hop scotch
- Jump rope
- Scissor jumps
- Ball skills
- Catching
- Throwing
- Kicking
- Dressing
- Buttoning/unbuttoning
- Zipping/unzipping
- Shoe tying
- Fine motor skills
- Handwriting/coloring
- Using scissors
- Using both hands during play
- Reaching across midline
- Bringing finger to nose
- Playground activities
- Climbing up and down a climbing structure at the playground
- Pumping legs on the swing
- Recreational sports
- Riding a bike
- Running with coordinated pattern
- Other coordination activities:
- Bringing opposite knee to elbow while standing or while laying on back
- Imitating/mirroring movements
- Galloping
- Skipping
- Windmills
- Bird dog
- Dead bug
- Overall body awareness and ability to avoid obstacles
Pediatric physical therapy and occupational therapy can help address coordination impairments and underlying causes. If your child has difficulty with these coordination skills, they may benefit from a PT and/or OT evaluation to assess their overall development.
