Dyspraxia is an impairment in the way the brain processes information.
It is a brain-based condition which makes it hard to plan and coordinate physical movement. Dyspraxia is associated with difficulties in gross and fine motor skills, perception, memory, attention and social skills. Even though many people haven’t heard of dyspraxia, it is fairly common.
Children with dyspraxia tend to find balance and correct posture difficult. They may seem ‘clumsy or ‘out of sync’ with their environment.
Symptoms
- Avoids playing with construction toys and puzzles
- Often bumps into things
- Trouble learning to jump and/or skip
- Difficulty with buttons, zippers etc
- Finds playing and interacting with others challenging
- Difficulty writing quickly and has poor letter formation
- Trouble with pencil grip
- Slow and messy handwriting
- Struggles with hand-eye coordination
- Trouble following instructions and remembering them
- Trouble riding a bike or throwing a ball
Support
Children can succeed through a specialised program to fill in the gaps and address the underlying weaknesses.
Dysgraphia
Dysgraphia and dyspraxia are very similar, but with key differences.
Dysgraphia impacts written language and is usually due to a language-based weakness.
It is common for children to have other learning issues in addition to dysgraphia, such as dyslexia and dyspraxia.
Symptoms
- Difficulty organising thoughts and putting them down on paper
- Slow and laboured writing
- Odd spacing
- Poor spelling and grammar
- Lack of sentence and paragraph structure
Support
Children can succeed through a specialised program to fill in the gaps and address the underlying weaknesses.