Motor planning — or praxis — is the brain’s ability to conceive, organise, and carry out an unfamiliar physical task. It’s the invisible skill behind actions like learning to ride a bike, tying shoelaces, navigating a climbing frame for the first time, or following a dance sequence.

When motor planning works well, children pick up new physical skills relatively easily. They watch, they try, they adjust. When motor planning is impaired, every new physical challenge feels like an uphill battle.

As a paediatric occupational therapist in Malta, motor planning difficulties are one of the areas I assess most frequently — and one where early intervention makes a significant difference.

The Three Stages of Motor Planning

It helps to understand that motor planning happens in three stages, and a child can have difficulty at any of them:

Ideation

This is the ability to conceive an idea for how to interact with an object or environment. A child with ideation difficulties may struggle to think of what to do with new equipment. They may seem passive or unimaginative in play — not because they lack creativity, but because the first step of motor planning isn’t working effectively.

Planning

This is the ability to organise the sequence of movements needed to carry out the task. A child who has difficulty here knows what they want to do but can’t organise the steps to get there. They may give up quickly or become frustrated.

Execution

This is the ability to carry out the planned movement accurately and fluidly. Difficulties here often look like clumsiness, awkwardness, or significant effort in tasks that peers manage easily.

Signs of Motor Planning Difficulties

Children with motor planning difficulties may:

• Appear clumsy — frequently bumping into things, tripping, dropping objects
• Struggle to learn new physical skills, even with repeated practice
• Have difficulty following movement sequences in PE or dance
• Avoid physical challenges or new play equipment
• Take much longer than peers to master self-care tasks: dressing, fastening buttons, tying laces
• Have difficulty organising their body in space — sitting awkwardly, getting their arms and legs confused
• Show frustration, avoidance, or low confidence in physical tasks
• Have handwriting difficulties despite having adequate fine motor strength

How Motor Planning Affects Everyday Life

Motor planning underpins almost every physical activity a child does during the day. Consider what’s required to get dressed in the morning: understanding the sequence, knowing which limbs go where, adjusting when something doesn’t work. For a child with poor praxis, this can take significantly longer than expected and result in daily battles.

At school, PE, sport, handwriting, art, and science experiments all demand motor planning. Social life can also be affected — children who can’t keep up physically may avoid playground games, affecting friendships and self-esteem.

What Causes Motor Planning Difficulties?

Motor planning depends heavily on good sensory processing — particularly proprioception (the sense of where the body is in space) and tactile processing. Children with sensory integration difficulties often have impaired praxis as a result.

Motor planning difficulties also commonly co-occur with dyspraxia (Developmental Coordination Disorder), autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder.

How Occupational Therapy Helps

Ayres Sensory Integration therapy — the approach I specialise in — directly addresses motor planning by providing rich sensory experiences that help the brain organise information more effectively. This isn’t about drilling specific skills: it’s about treating the underlying processing difficulties that affect all skill learning.

Activities That Target Motor Planning

• Obstacle courses: Require the child to plan how to navigate novel physical challenges. Changed regularly to keep providing new planning demands.
• Novel equipment: Swings, bolsters, scooter boards, and climbing apparatus provide rich proprioceptive and vestibular input while demanding motor planning.
• Imitation games: Following movement sequences in play targets the planning and execution stages of praxis.
• Construction activities: Building with complex materials demands spatial planning and sequential organisation.
• Craft and art projects: Multi-step activities develop planning, sequencing, and execution with hands.

What Parents Can Do at Home

• Provide plenty of varied physical play — climbing, crawling, rolling, jumping
• Introduce new activities regularly — even if your child resists initially, novelty is therapeutic
• Break new physical tasks into small steps and practise each step separately
• Use verbal cues and visual demonstrations to scaffold new learning
• Celebrate effort over achievement — the trying is the therapy

Children with motor planning difficulties are not lazy or uncoordinated by choice. They are working significantly harder than their peers to do things that seem simple. With the right support — at home and in therapy — they make real progress.

If you’re concerned about your child’s development, contact us at +356 99872936 or visit wonderkids.mt to book an assessment.

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