What is Dyspraxia?

Developmental Dyspraxia is an impairment of the organisation of movement. It is usually accompanied by problems with perception, thought and memory. (Dyspraxia Foundation)

The word Dyspraxia comes from the Greek word praxis which means doing or acting. It includes what to do and how to do it.

It used to be known as clumsy child syndrome and minimal brain damage. Often now, it is called developmental Co-ordination Disorder.

Dyspraxia rarely occurs on its own; it is often accompanied by other SpLDs such as AD(H)D and Dyslexia.

The main characteristics of Dyspraxia are the difficulties with gross and fine motor skills, perception, memory, attention, maths and social skills. These characteristics vary not only from person to person, but also by degree:

Gross motor problems including- difficulties with sport (especially team games) dancing and balance

Fine motor problems including difficulties with hand- writing, key-boarding, driving, craft and practical work.

Perception problems including ? over and under sensitivity to noise and touch, and difficulties with judging time, space, shapes and distance.

Maths/number problems including number difficulties especially with geometry. Often making what appears to be ?careless? mistakes.

Memory and attention problems. Most dyspraxics will have short term memory problems, and as a result will be disorganised.

Organisation problems. They will mislay things and find it difficult to keep all their materials in order.

Social problems many dyspraxics, because of their perception and memory problems, will find it hard to interact.

• They may find listening hard, especially in large groups.


• They tend to take things literally and find it hard to pick up non verbal messages.


• They will often interrupt.
• Oral problems Dyspraxics often find it difficult to pronounce words, especially new long words.

Sequencing and essay/report writing people with Dyspraxia.

• Find it hard to structure their essays or reports.


• They?ll also find it difficult to prioritise, and tend to go off at a tangent.


• Proof-reading for them can be very hard.
• Many will have secondary emotional problems, because they will have been treated badly.


• They tend to have low self-esteem and often suffer from depression and anxiety, as well as phobias and obsessions.

Positive Aspects of Dyspraxia Being creative especially at writing Being able to think in a strategic and different way Being determined and resilient Motivated Able to problem solve