What are sensory motor deficits?

Also known as: sensory and motor deficits, developmental disorders, sensory and motor disorders.

Sensory and motor development is the process whereby a child gains use and coordination of his/her muscles of the trunk, arms, legs and hands (motor development), and begins to experience (through sensory input) the environment through sight, sounds, smell, taste and hearing.

Motor development follows a general pattern that most babies, infants and children will follow. When motor function, movement and coordination ability fall outside of a wide range for normal, motor delay/deficits describes the abnormality.

Sensory deficit is a general medical terms that encompasses a wide arrange of symptoms which can include
difficulties with one of the main senses like touch or taste, or difficulties with multiple senses.

Many developmental or learning disorders, include challenges with motor function like:

• Delayed sitting, crawling and walking
• Catching a ball
• Dancing
• Playing sports
• Difficulty with fine motor skills like writing clearly, and with either hyper responsiveness, or unresponsiveness to external stimuli
• Difficulty with understanding, tolerating and participating in a normal life environment

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Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM