This question is probably a long shot but there are others here with kids with coordination issues so I thought I'd give it a try.

DS was assessed by a private PT using the BOT assessment and I watched the assessment. I noticed that for skills involving balance, for instance standing on one foot, he seemed fine with his eyes open but when asked to close his eyes he seemed to fall apart, couldn't balance for more than a couple seconds. So his balance score fell to the level of a 5 year old (he is 9). Anyone know what that means, if there is a difference between eyes open and eyes shut? Or someone doing that poorly with their eyes shut? I didn't have a chance to ask.

I thought everyone did worse with their eyes shut unless they could internally focus.

If you look up the Romberg test, you will find that it is generally used to indicate a deficit in proprioception (body in space) or vestibular (balance) function. He would appear to be compensating with his visual skills.

Yes, most of us do worse with eyes shut, but generally not that much worse.

Thanks for all the info. When DS was 6 he was diagnosed w/ Developmental Coordination Disorder. On the BOT in the past (a few years ago) he has had problems with bilateral coordination. Now, he is at an 8 year old level for coordination (possibly because he works on certain skills like jumping jacks in DAPE at school), so not that far behind, but at a 5 year old level for muscle strength, running speed, and balance. He possibly has a chiari I malformation, the measurements were borderline when he had a MRI a few years ago. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something important. He isn't having Chiari headaches. He had a TBI at age 5 1/2 (his skull was fractured by his right ear). He seems unusually weak, cannot do a push up at all, and cannot hang from a bar for more than 3 seconds. I guess he's at a 5 year old level for strength, at best, like the test showed. He should have been working on some of this in DAPE though, so how much worse would he be without that?

The PT assessment was w/ Children's Hospital and they probably see a lot of head injury cases. I'm not sure if it plays a role now that it's been 3 years. They are going to do PT 1X per week and work on a variety of things. I'll ask the PT what they plan to do about the balance issue and if they typically see kids like him who don't have a head injury, or if it might be related. The head injury was bad enough that he had two cracks in his skull, one was depressed in so air got into his brain. A nerve in his brain was paralyzed (6th cranial nerve) but luckily it healed. The space where he had a blow to his head was literally right on his right ear, and blood was running out of his ear which I don't think is uncommon with basal skull fractures. The location of the blow makes me wonder if there might be a vestibular issue. Not sure if right vs. left makes a difference at all. The neurosurgeon seemed hyperfocused on the Chiari because DS was reporting headaches, and wanted to do another MRI. Since DS stopped reporting headaches after a few months we stopped seeing him.

I have thought about gymnastics class but I don't think he could handle the class that 9 year old boys normally go in and I don't think he'd agree to a class with 5 year olds. I haven't looked into classes for kids w/ special needs, maybe that's an option, but since he is so bright you have to wonder what that would do to his self esteem. The same is true of other sports. He's just too far behind and hates sports. For now we'll go w/ PT and see what comes of it.