Dyspraxia


Dyspraxia comes from the Greek words “dys” meaning impaired or abnormal and “praxis”, meaning action or deed. Usually people with dyspraxia are affected by an impairment or immaturity of the movement, often appearing clumsy. Whole body movements and small hand movements are difficult to learn.

Children may have poor balance and co-ordination and may be awkward in many actions such as running, skipping, hopping, holding a pencil, doing jigsaws and so forth. Their speech may also be immature and their language late to develop.

Dyspraxia is often described as a hidden problem, because children with the condition appear physically no different to those who don’t have it. Dyspraxia can affect any or all areas of development – intellectual, emotional, physical, language, social and sensory – and may impair a person’s normal process of learning.

Up to 10 per cent of the population may show symptoms of dyspraxia, with around 2 per cent being severely affected. Males are four times more likely to be affected than females. Dyspraxia sometimes runs in families.

Dyspraxia affects different people in different ways and at different stages of development. How an individual is affected is inconsistent, too. For example, one day they may be able to perform a specific task, the next day they can’t. Injuries to the brain may result in dyspraxia. It may be that cells didn’t develop properly during development in the womb, or there may have been a shortage of oxygen during birth. It may follow brain damage caused by illness, stroke or an accident later in life. Often, however, there is no obvious cause.

Assessments for dyspraxia typically require a developmental history, detailing ages at which significant developmental milestones such as crawling and walking occurred. Whole body movement screening includes activities designed to indicate dyspraxia including balancing, physical sequencing, touch sensitivity and variations on walking activities.

Testing to determine current motor skills can establish the starting point for providing help during child development intervention programs. Comparing children to normal rates of development may help to establish areas of significant difficulty.

Children with dyspraxia may:
  • find running, jumping and hopping difficult
  • have an awkward gait
  • find going up and down steps difficult
  • have difficulty in dressing
  • have immature language
  • have poor handwriting
  • have difficulty in doing jigsaw puzzles
  • have difficulty in tying shoelaces
  • be poorly organised
  • have a short attention span
  • find following instructions difficult
  • have difficulty using bats, balls etc
  • be clumsy to the point of knocking things over and bumping into people accidentally
  • have difficulty combining movements into a controlled sequence.
  • have difficulty remembering the next movement in a sequence.
  • be ambidextrous
  • have poor timing and rhythm
  • have poor awareness of body position
  • have poor social skills
Moderate to extreme difficulty doing physical tasks is experienced by dyspraxic, and fatigue is common because so much extra energy is used while trying to carry out physical movements correctly.

It’s not possible to cure dyspraxia but those affected can learn ways around their difficulties so they can achieve their full potential. Help can be provided by many different specialists such as occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists and specialist teachers according to the specific needs of the individual.

Specialists can suggest exercises to help children learn how to perform problematic daily tasks and activities. Help to develop reading and writing skills should also be given.

Dyspraxics may have other difficulties that are not due to dyspraxia itself but are often found to co-exist with it. They may have characteristics of dyslexia or dyscalculia, however they are unlikely to have problems in all of these areas. The pattern of difficulty varies widely from person to person and it is important to understand that a major weakness for one dyspraxic can be a strength or gift for another.

For example, while some dyspraxics have difficulty with reading and spelling due to an overlap with dyslexia or numeracy problems due to an overlap with dyscalculia, others may have brilliant reading and spelling or mathematical abilities. Similarly, some have autistic traits such as lacking appreciation of irony or social cues, while others thrive on an ironic sense of humour as a bonding tool and a means of coping.


The following pages look in detail at particular aspects of Special Educational Needs:

Important for all Special Educational Needs

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