It is Dyspraxia Week (Also known as developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), so here at Extraordinary Links we thought we would have a look at this condition, and point parents and carers towards useful resources.
What is Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia is a developmental coordination disorder, which sounds incredibly clinical. According to The Dyspraxia Foundation people with Dyspraxia have difficulty with hand-eye coordination, special awareness (how they perceive their body is in space), fine and gross motor skills, processing information and some people may have issues with sensory perception. There may also be issues with executive function; organisation, memory, time keeping and processing information. This condition can affect up to 5% of primary school children, with up to 2% severely affected.
What causes Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia is due to a disruption in the way messages are passed between the brain and Body, although the cause of this disruption is not clear, it is not caused by brain damage, illness or injury.
Signs of Dyspraxia
The following is not an exhaustive list but may help you if you are questioning if your child (or yourself) is showing difficulties associated with Dyspraxia
-
- Awkward Movements
- Issues learning movements required to carry out new practical tasks.
- Needing to concentrate more than peers for some movements
- Poor spatial awareness – causing trips, bumps and bruises.
- Issues transferring motor skills to new situations oand activities.
- Poor Executrive Function (planning tasks)
- Issues with keeping up in conversations (Verbal Dyspraxia may cause issues with speech development)
- You have difficulty coordinating large and small body movements (the main feature of dyspraxia)
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is something that can help a person to receive the right support and must have a medical professional (such as a Paediatrician) involved, due to condition which can be co-occurring (like ADHD).
The Dyspraxia Foundation has a great guide for those looking at the process of diagnosis, and other really useful information to help your child.
This blog by Rosie is also really useful and has a great video about Dyspraxia
Support and Links