
Difficulties associated with having dyspraxia | How these difficulties can present themselves | How to support these students |
---|---|---|
Short-term working memory |
Students can appear to be not listening or paying attention Slow taking down from the board as they may only remember a couple of words at a time Trouble following a list of instructions |
Accept typed work. Thoughts can be typed quickly before they are forgotten and placed in the right order later Allow photos of the board Reduce amount of information given in one go. Summarise information |
Speed of processing oral information Speed of processing what is being asked in a written question before planning an answer |
Students can appear to be not listening or not picking up on what has been said They may skip over parts of a written question and not answer all that is being asked of them. |
Give small amounts of information as a time and let the student work with each piece before giving more information. Encourage the student to bullet point the parts of a rambling question or use colour coordination to highlight the different segments |
Problems sequencing A difficulty carrying out the planned steps to perform a motor task |
The student might struggle to learn new physical tasks like cutting with a scissors or find PE class difficult The student can take longer to product work in practical subjects like home economics |
Break down tasks into smaller steps Repeat steps Use first / then sentences to show the order of steps. |
Problems in studying other languages. Some students with dyspraxia find studying Irish and extra languages difficult for all of the above reasons. The criteria for exemption from the study of Irish are literacy based (a student needs to score below the 10th percentile in at least one literacy score). This does not take account of the difficulties many students with Dyspraxia have. Newly released Circular 0054/2022 : recognises that some students experience a high level of multiple and persistent needs in addition to those that relate to literacy. |
A student may be struggling in language subjects. A student may find it more difficult to remember new vocabulary. |
Some of the above strategies may help. Recognise that if a student finds it difficult to produce written work in their spoken language, planning in another language may be difficult for them Be realistic in the amount of new vocabulary that the student can learn at a stime It would help the student who types to find a program which spellchecks the language in question. Or turn off spell check as red underlined words are very distracting. |
Handwriting difficulties, legibility and speed of producing written work |
Poor handwriting compared to peers Smaller pieces of work in a set time Oral work superior to written work in terms of quantity |
Encourage development of good computer skills from an early age Accept typed homework eg essays, and take note of the difference in quality and quantity of work produced Allow student to take photos of whiteboard material If a student hasn't learned to type, they will need more time to produce written work. Students need more time to write maths answers as this subject cannot be typed. This is also the case with the subject Japanese in senior cycle. |
Organising their thoughts on paper |
Muddles presentation of written work Written work doesn't represent the student's ability and knowledge Oral work superior to written work in terms of quantity |
Accept typed homework features like cut and paste help with organising work Allow sufficient time for a student to complete their work. |
Concentration | Student is easily distracted and finds it difficult to remain focused. |
Focus on knowledge over quantity of written work. Do they understand the topic. Allow breaks |