Dyspraxia

What is dyspraxia?

Dyspraxia is a term that refers to a specific disorder in the area of motor skill development. People with dyspraxia have difficulty planning and completing intended fine motor tasks. It is estimated that as many as 6% of all children show some signs of dyspraxia, and in the general population, about 70% of those affected by dyspraxia are male.

Dyspraxia can affect different areas of functioning, varying from simple motor tasks such as waving goodbye to more complex tasks like brushing teeth.

What are the effects of dyspraxia?

Dyspraxia is a lifelong disorder that affects a person's development in the area of motor development. Though many challenges can persist throughout a person's life, the types of difficulties experienced can change.

Young Children

Babies with dyspraxia may avoid crawling and rolling over, and may resist tasks involving motor skills. As they get older these children are prone to:

• Difficulty with eye movements - they may move the whole head instead of just the eyes
• Difficulty using eating utensils and holding a cup while drinking
• Difficulty walking, hopping, skipping, throwing and catching a ball, riding a bike
• Delay in using spoken language and speech that is difficult to understand
• Bumping into objects
• Late establishment of laterality (right- or left-handedness)
• Difficulty doing fine-motor activities such as tying shoelaces or buttoning clothing
• Difficulty with handwriting
• Sensitivity to touch - may find clothing uncomfortable; and may find hair-brushing and cutting, teeth-brushing and nail-cutting unpleasant
• Poor sense of direction

School Aged Children

Dyspraxia can make it difficult for children to develop social skills, and they may have trouble getting along with peers. Though they are intelligent, these children may seem immature and some may develop phobias and obsessive behavior.

All young people must deal with their rapidly changing bodies. However many young people with dyspraxia may also have the added stress of dealing with coordination problems, as well as speech and academic difficulties.

• Coordination difficulties can be particularly problematic in physical education classes and other sports activities.
• Speech difficulties can interfere with casual conversation, which can result in social awkwardness and an unwillingness to risk engaging in conversation.
• Writing difficulties such as poor letter formation, pencil grip and slow writing can make school work frustrating.

Teenagers & Adults

The challenges presented to adults with dyspraxia can be seen in all aspects of everyday life. Difficulties can have an impact on:

• Driving
• Completing household chores
• Cooking
• Personal grooming and self-help activities
• Manual dexterity needed for writing and typing
• Speech control - volume, pitch and articulation
• Perception inconsistencies - over- or under-sensitivity to light, touch, space, taste, smell.

It is important to note that a person displaying the kind of difficulties outlined above does not necessarily have dyspraxia. If a person continues to display these types of difficulty over time, testing for dyspraxia by trained professionals should be considered.