How to Recognise Dyspraxia

The child with Dyspraxia may have a combination of several problems in varying degrees. These include:

• Poor balance
• Poor fine and gross motor co-ordination
• Poor posture
• Difficulty with throwing and catching a ball
• Poor awareness of body position in space
• Poor sense of direction
• Difficulty in hopping, skipping or riding a bike
• Sensitive to touch
• Confused about which hand to use
• Intolerance of having hair or teeth brushed, nails and hair cut
• Slow to learn to dress or feed themselves
• Find some clothes uncomfortable
• Difficulty with reading, writing
• Speech problems - slow to learn to speak and speech may be incoherent.
• Phobias or obsessive behavior and impatient

Children with dyspraxia can be of average or above average intelligence but are often behaviorally immature. They try hard to fit in to socially accepted behavior when at school but often throw tantrums when at home. They may find it difficult to understand logic and reason.

Not all children with dyspraxia have all these problems. Many parents will say that their children have some of these problems, but if your child has dyspraxia, either diagnosed or not, you may have observed a cluster of these difficulties.

there is no cure for Dyspraxia but the earlier a child is treated the greater the chance of improvement. occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and extra help at school can all help a child with Dyspraxia to cope or overcome many difficulties. However a lot of the skills that we take for granted will never become automatic to such children and they will have to be taught these skills.

Dyspraxia is also known by other names including:

• Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD)
• Clumsy Child Syndrome
• Motor Learning Problems
• Sensory Processing Disorder