Maintaining balance requires visual, somatosensory and vestibular inputs as well as their integration. Failure to integrate information from these three systems may lead to increased sway. When concentrating on the role of vision, body sway is attenuated by 50% when the eyes are open compared to when they are closed (Wann et al., 1998). A study done by Wann et al. (1998) observed postural sway in children with DCD, where their head movement was recorded while standing with their eyes opened and closed. Children with DCD exhibited more postural sway compared to TD children when their eyes were closed (Greuze, 2003). DCD children may be less capable of relying on proprioceptive and vestibular information when visual cues are reduced (Deconinck et al., 2006). Another important factor to consider is that DCD children demonstrated significantly higher peak to peak sway when the room was moved. This result suggests that children with DCD depend on visual cues to a greater extent than TD children (Wann et al., 1998).

DCD children were seen to have an increased postural sway when standing on a foam surface, where the somatosensory condition is unreliable (Cherng et al., 2007). DCD children were unable to re-weigh their sensory information effectively. Thus, an increased sway is not due to a compromised utilization of individual sensory systems but rather, a deficit in re-weighing sensory information as well as in sensory organization (Cherng et al., 2007)