WHAT IS DYSPRAXIA?

The term dyspraxia comes from the word praxis which means "doing". Simply put, it could be called a Disorder Of Doing, but is much more complex. It is an immaturity in the way the brain processes information.

Some children despite adequate teaching, a stimulating environment and with a generally normal intellect have difficulty with movement and specific aspects of learning.
Dyspraxia is a difficulty with thinking out, planning and carrying out sensory / motor tasks. 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 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 behaviour and impatient.

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 know by other names including:

• developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD)
• clumsy child syndrome
• the hidden handicap
• motor learning problems
• minimal brain dysfunction
• sensory integrative problems