Understanding Motor Disabilities
by
Douglas Haddad 
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Does your child have difficulty moving his arms or legs? Have you noticed that no matter how much your child practices handwriting, it still looks sloppy and illegible? These signs may indicate that your child has a motor (or physical) disability.
There are two types of motor disabilities. An individual may have difficulty coordinating large muscles, such as the muscles of the arms and legs, and have what is called a gross motor disability. On the other hand, a person may struggle using smaller muscle groups, such as those in their hands, and have a fine motor disability.
Dysfunction in motor functioning may be the result of a number of different conditions including:
- Traumatic brain injury.
- Developmental delay.
- Neurological conditions (e.g. cerebral palsy).
- Complications during pregnancy.
- Other neurologic and musculoskeletal system-related diseases/disorders (e.g. spina bifida, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, arthrogryposis).
Gross Motor Disabilities
There are many types of gross motor dysfunction. Children with gross motor disabilities may have poor hand-eye coordination, be clumsy, bump into things, trip or fall down, or have difficulty allocating muscles to specific tasks and/or coordinating them during activities. These individuals may have difficulty with physical activities such as running, jumping, climbing, dancing, or riding a bicycle.
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