How to make adjustments for developmental coordination disorder
Motor skills, writing and PE adjustments for students with DCD (sometimes called dyspraxia), with practical NCCD documentation tips.
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A student with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), sometimes called dyspraxia, may need adjustments that reduce fine-motor load, give more time for written and practical tasks, and provide safer, clearer ways to join in classroom learning and physical activity. For NCCD, the key question is not the label alone. It is the student's functional needs, the reasonable adjustments the school provides, and the evidence that those adjustments have been in place, reviewed, and discussed with the family.
New to the NCCD? Start with What is the NCCD?
What this guide covers
This guide explains how DCD can affect writing, classroom tasks, transitions, and PE. It provides adjustment ideas for fine motor work, gross motor work, and assessment access. It also shows what strong NCCD evidence can look like for a student with DCD.
What Developmental Coordination Disorder can look like at school
Developmental Coordination Disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects motor coordination. At school, this often shows up in handwriting, cutting, drawing, organising materials, using tools, moving safely in busy spaces, and learning new physical skills.
A student with DCD might understand the task but still struggle to show that understanding quickly on paper or in practical work. They may take longer to pack up, avoid PE, tire faster during writing, or become frustrated when tasks rely heavily on motor speed and accuracy.
That matters for NCCD because the collection is based on functional impact and reasonable adjustments, not diagnosis alone. If the student needs adjustments to participate on the same basis as peers, the school should document those supports, consultation, and review.
How to choose the right adjustments for DCD
Start with the task, not the label. Ask which part is hard: planning the movement, controlling the pencil, copying from the board, managing equipment, changing spaces, or joining a game.
Keep the learning goal, but change the access point where needed. A student might still complete the same concept work while using a keyboard, a scribe, adapted equipment, or an alternative response format.
Check whether the adjustment improves independence. A good adjustment makes participation more possible without adding unnecessary load or drawing attention to the student.
Review the adjustment over time. NCCD evidence is stronger when you can show what was tried, what worked, and what changed.
Schools can also refer to the Australian Curriculum student diversity guidance for advice on adjusting curriculum access for students with disability.
Classroom adjustments that often help students with DCD
The following adjustments are matched to common school areas where DCD creates barriers. Use the adjustment that fits the student's specific functional need.
| School area | Useful adjustments | Evidence ideas |
|---|---|---|
| Handwriting and recorded work | Reduce copying from the board. Provide printed notes or digital copies. Use a keyboard or tablet for longer written tasks. Offer pencil grips, a slant board, wider ruled paper, or shorter bursts of handwriting with breaks. | Annotated work sample showing reduced copying demand; lesson plan noting keyboard use; teacher note on fatigue or legibility; family email confirming handwriting load at home. |
| Fine motor classroom tasks | Pre-cut materials where cutting is not the learning goal. Use larger manipulatives, glue sticks instead of liquid glue, and tools that are easier to grip. Allow extra setup and pack-up time. | Photo of adapted materials; teacher observation note; modified class task saved in the student file. |
| Maths and practical resources | Use larger counters, place-value blocks, number cards, or digital manipulatives. Avoid making finger speed part of the success criteria when the aim is mathematical understanding. | Adjusted task sheet; note explaining why digital or larger manipulatives were used; progress record showing concept growth. |
| PE, sport, and movement | Teach the movement in smaller parts. Demonstrate more than once. Use lighter, softer, or larger equipment. Adjust distances, pace, team roles, or scoring expectations so the student can participate safely and meaningfully. | Modified PE plan; teacher or PE specialist note; risk or participation note showing the student joined with adjusted equipment or rules. |
| Transitions and organisation | Allow early movement between spaces where needed. Keep materials in consistent locations. Use visual routines for unpacking, packing up, and equipment steps. Pair verbal instructions with modelling. | Classroom routine checklist; observation note on transition support; consultation note with family or therapist. |
| Assessment access | Provide extra time where motor speed is a barrier. Allow oral responses, practical demonstration, or digital submission where this still measures the intended learning. Reduce the motor load if the assessment is meant to measure content knowledge, not handwriting stamina. | Assessment adjustment record; marked task completed with alternative response mode; planning note linking the adjustment to the intended outcome. |
Handwriting or typing?
Two access questions come up often for DCD. The first is when to move a student from handwriting to typing or another output mode. The second, covered in the next section, is how a student joins PE, science practicals, art and other hands-on subjects safely and on the same basis as peers.
Where the difficulty is with written expression itself rather than the motor task, it may be dysgraphia, which the specific learning disorder guide covers.
| Signal | Handwriting with support may still work | Worth trialling typing or another output |
|---|---|---|
| Task length | Short responses, labelling, single sentences | Extended responses, multi-paragraph writing, timed tasks |
| Fatigue pattern | Legibility holds for the first few lines | Output or legibility drops noticeably after a short burst |
| What is being assessed | Handwriting or letter formation is the actual learning goal | Content knowledge or ideas are the goal, not the handwriting itself |
| What you observe | Student manages the physical task without visible strain | Student tires quickly, avoids writing tasks, or reports discomfort |
Access in PE and practical subjects
In PE, science, art and technology, the aim is for the student to join the same activity as the class, safely.
- Adjust the equipment (larger, lighter, softer, easier to grip) rather than the expectation to join in.
- Break new movements into smaller taught steps and demonstrate more than once before an independent attempt.
- Adjust distance, pace, team role, or scoring criteria so the student can take part in the same activity as the class.
- In science or art, pre-set or pre-cut materials where the fine-motor step is not the learning goal itself, and let a partner or adult manage one physical step while the student directs it.
Both routes protect the same thing: the student's access to the learning goal, not only the mode they use to reach it.
What strong NCCD evidence can look like for DCD
For NCCD, the school needs evidence that the student has disability-related needs, that reasonable adjustments have been provided for at least 10 weeks in the 12 months before Census Day, that there has been consultation, and that the adjustments have been monitored and reviewed.
For DCD, strong evidence usually links the motor difficulty to the adjustment. A note that says "used keyboard today" is weaker than a note that says "used keyboard for persuasive writing because handwriting speed and fatigue limited task completion".
The strongest files usually combine short teacher notes, adjusted work samples, consultation records, and planning documents. You do not need to create paperwork for its own sake. You do need a clear record of what the school changed and why.
Sample evidence entries for DCD
These examples show how to write NCCD evidence that links the motor barrier to the adjustment provided.
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| Used laptop for writing. | During independent writing, student used a laptop instead of handwriting because fine-motor fatigue was reducing output after one paragraph. She completed the same planning task as peers and submitted a full response. |
| Modified PE activity. | In PE, the class practised catching and throwing. Student used a larger softer ball and shorter throwing distance. Task steps were modelled twice and repeated in smaller parts. She remained in the activity for the full session and joined pair work safely. |
| Spoke with parent about homework. | Consulted with parent by phone about homework load and handwriting fatigue. Agreed to reduce copying tasks and accept typed responses for longer home tasks. Will review after two weeks. |
Typing instead of handwriting for extended responses is a regular adjustment, so it suits a recurring support: set it once in Superadjust as a weekly or fortnightly routine, and confirm each session when it happens.
Why this matters
When adults focus on effort or neatness alone, DCD is easy to misread. A student can look slow, reluctant, or careless when the actual barrier is motor planning, coordination, or fatigue building across the day.
The right adjustment protects access to the task without lowering what the student is being asked to learn. The right evidence shows that logic on paper: what was adjusted, how the student was supported to join in, and how the school knew the support was needed in the first place.
Common mistake
Handwriting neatness is not the whole picture, and treating it as the whole problem is the common mistake here. For many students with DCD the bigger barrier is access: speed, fatigue, tool use, movement planning, or safe participation. Adjust whichever of those is actually blocking the task in front of the student.
What to do next
Pick one student task this week and pin down the part that is motor-heavy. Choose a single adjustment that changes the access point without changing the learning goal, then log the adjustment, the consultation, and what happened while the detail is still fresh.
Questions
Read next
- Adjusting by conditionHow to make adjustments for dyslexiaReading, spelling and writing adjustments that help students with dyslexia access the curriculum, and how to record them as strong NCCD evidence.
- Adjusting by conditionHow to make adjustments for specific learning disorderClassroom adjustments for specific learning disorder, including dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia, with NCCD evidence examples and a guide to each profile.
- NCCD basicsThe four pillars of NCCD: the four areas of evidence, explainedThe four pillars of NCCD are the Guidelines' four areas of evidence: need, consultation, adjustments, and monitoring and review. What each asks for, the evidence that usually shows it, and one example per pillar.
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