Dyspraxia, a form of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a common disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults.

How would I recognise a child with Dyspraxia?

The pre-school child

• Is late in reaching milestones e.g. rolling over, sitting, standing, walking, and speaking
• May not be able to run, hop, jump, or catch or kick a ball although their peers can do so
• Has difficulty in keeping friends or judging how to behave in company
• Has little understanding of concepts such as ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘in front of’ etc
• Has difficulty in walking up and down stairs
• Poor at dressing
• Slow and hesitant in most actions
• Appears not to be able to learn anything instinctively but must be taught skills
• Falls over frequently
• Poor pencil grip
• Cannot do jigsaws or shape sorting games
• Artwork is very immature
• Often anxious and easily distracted

The school age child

• Probably has all the difficulties experienced by the pre-school child with dyspraxia, with little or no improvement
• Avoids PE and games
• Does badly in class but significantly better on a one-to -one basis
• Reacts to all stimuli without discrimination and attention span is poor
• May have trouble with maths and writing structured stories
• Experiences great difficulty in copying from the blackboard
• Writes laboriously and immaturely
• Unable to remember and /or follow instructions
• Is generally poorly organised

The telephone helpline 01462 454 986  offers advice and understanding for parents that have children with the condition.

There is also a Facebook page