Bilateral coordination is the ability to use both sides of your body together in a coordinated way to complete a functional task. Creating awareness of both sides of the body through therapy is important to strengthen bilateral coordination. For example, bilateral coordination is needed for dressing to use two hands to button. For academics, bimanual coordination is required for writing and cutting as the non-dominant hand is uses as a stabilizer/ rotator for cutting, writing and coloring tasks.  Bilateral coordination can be linked to difficulties with motor planning, as a child has difficulty initiating and planning how to use two sides of their body together. It can also be linked to the vestibular system as well, as children can be hypo-responsive to vestibular input, which impacts a child’s ability to use both sides of their body together.

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Some signs of poor bilateral coordination include:

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• Difficulty with navigating around the playground apparatus

  • Child does not alternate hands when going across monkey bars

  • Child does not alternate hands when climbing a ladder on the playground

• Difficulty with using two hands to open containers as one hand stabilizes the container and the other opens it

• Difficulty with rotating and holding the paper with the non-dominant hand when cutting

• Difficulty with stabilizing the paper with the non-dominant hand when writing

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