Whoops! - Understanding Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia refers to children who have movement difficulties and means the poor performance of movement. The word is taken from the Greek dys - bad and ‘praxis’ - the learned ability to plan, organize and carry out sequences of coordinated movements in order to achieve an objective. In ...Dyspraxia refers to children who have movement difficulties and means the poor performance of movement. The word is taken from the Greek dys - bad and ‘praxis’ - the learned ability to plan, organize and carry out sequences of coordinated movements in order to achieve an objective. In plain English it is simply ‘the ability to get our bodies to do what we want when we want’.
Dyspraxia is generally recognized as an impairment or immaturity of the organization of movement. It affects the child’s ability to plan and/or carry out actions to varying degrees.
While there are those who have problems in both areas some children will only have problems in one area i.e. planning movements or the co-coordination of those movements.
Some children also have Apraxia (i.e. verbal dyspraxia). This term encompasses a wide range of speech problems, which can make the child’s speech unintelligible even to family members. Included in this are problems when:
· Coordinating the movements of the mouth and tongue,which are needed to produce clear speech.
· Producing individual sounds or sequencing sounds together in words.
· Copying words - although can speak spontaneously
· Putting the words in the right order
· Producing the right word at the right time

Dyspraxia is often also associated with problems of perception, language and thought - although each child is affected differently. Thus while the majority are generally of ‘normal intelligence’ for their age they may have difficulty both in the processing of information and in communicating what they know or understand.
The effect of these problems varies from child to child and also depends on age and character. Confusingly the problems are often inconsistent: affecting the child very badly one day but seeming much milder on the next.
It is often associated with other problems including dyslexia, Attention problems and/or hyperactivity as well as Asperger’s syndrome
Figures vary but it is now thought that approximately 10 per cent of the population has some symptoms of dyspraxia with 2 per cent being severely affected. Statistically, it is thought that there is likely to be one child with dyspraxia in every class of 30 children.
Whether through better diagnosis or a genuine increase more children than ever are being identified with dyspraxia.
Like several other similar conditions it affects far more boys than girls (approximately 80 per cent being male). Dyspraxia sometimes runs in families.
For the majority of those with the condition, there is no known cause. Current thinking suggests that it is often a physiological problem (rather than an educational one) that may be due to an immature brain development rather than brain damage or other neurological abnormality.
This immaturity means that the brain cannot process information correctly so that messages are not transmitted correctly. Thus the child will have difficulties in planning and carrying out physical movements in the correct sequence.
When untreated such problems reduce the child’s ability to reach her/his full potential as his skills in many areas may not correlate to his age or his intellectual ability. This can result in the child learning to dislike and/or avoid activities at which he feels a failure such as writing, PE and games. While you need to make allowances for this do not underestimate his intelligence or make your expectations too low. Remember that ‘He would if he could, but sometimes he simply can't’.