Gross and fine motor skills are hard to learn, difficult to retain and generalise, hesitant and awkward in performance. Articulation may be immature or even unintelligible in early years. Language may be impaired or late to develop. There is a poor understanding of the messages that the senses convey and difficulty in relating those messages to actions. Dyspraxic children of normal intelligence may have great difficulty in planning and organising thoughts. Those with moderate learning difficulties may have these problems to a greater extent.

For most children there is no known cause, although it is thought to be an immaturity of neurone development in the brain rather than brain damage. Dyspraxic children have no clinical neurological abnormality to explain their condition.

How would I recognise a Dyspraxic Child?

The Pre-School Child

• History of lateness reaching milestones e.g. rolling over, sitting, walking and speaking

• May not yet be able to run, hop or jump

• Appears not to be able to learn anything instinctively but must be taught skills

• Poor at dressing

• Slow and hesitant in most actions

• Poor pencil grip

• Cannot do jigsaws or shape sorting games

• Art work is very immature

• Unable to catch or kick a ball

• Commonly anxious and distractable

• Finds it difficult to keep friends or judge how to behave in company

The School Age Child

• All the problems of the pre-school child may still be present with little or no improvement

• PE is avoided

• The child does badly in class but significantly better on a one-to-one basis

• Attention span is poor and the child reacts to all stimuli without discrimination

• May have trouble with maths and reading

• Great difficulty may be experienced in copying from the blackboard

• Writing is laborious and immature

• Unable to remember and/or follow instruction

• Generally poorly organised

The prognosis is usually hopeful. Although dyspraxia is not curable, the child may improve in some areas with growing maturity and with access to the appropriate palliative treatment

Books 

There are a number of publications produced on the subject of dyspraxia, but one that is available through the local Thurso library is by Madeleine Portwood, and is entitled "Developmental Dyspraxia". It comes highly recommended by a special needs teacher.  If it's out on loan, ask the library staff to put it on their request list for you.  Costing around £18 to buy, it's worth waiting to borrow locally.