Dyspraxia
-- quite often, objects literally slip through a dyspraxic's fingers. This disorder causes an individual to be clumsy to the point of knocking things over and bumping into people accidentally. Tripping over one's own feet is also not uncommon, as is a poor sense of balance in general. Dyspraxics often have difficulty in determining left from right, and this may cause problems that persist through life. Cross-laterality, ambidextrousness, and a shift in the preferred hand are also common in people with dyspraxia.
Some people with this condition have poor spatial awareness in that it may be difficult to determine the speed and position of a particular object, such as potentially a baseball. Dyspraxics may also have trouble determining the distance between them and other objects.
Dyspraxic people may have
Sensory Integration Dysfunction, a condition that creates abnormal oversensitivity or undersensitivity to physical stimuli, such as touch, light, and sound . This may manifest itself as an inability to tolerate certain textures such as sandpaper or certain fabrics, or even being touched by another individual (in the case of touch oversensitivity) or may require the consistent use of sunglasses outdoors since sunlight may be intense enough to cause discomfort to a a dyspraxic (in the case of light oversensitivity). An aversion to loud music and naturaly loud environments (such as clubs and bars) is typical behavior of a dyspraxic individual who suffers from auditory oversensitivity, while only being comfortable in unusually warm or cold environemnts is typical of a dyspraxic with temperature oversensitivity. This typically occurs if the dyspraxia relates to an autistic or asperger's (high-functioning autism) or PDD (autistic-spectrum disorder) . Otherwise, these symptoms tend not to be present in the individual who has dyspraxia.
Dyspraxic people sometimes have difficulty moderating the amount of sensory information that their body is constantly sending them, so as a result these people are prone to panic attacks. Having other autistic traits (which is common with dyspraxia and related conditions) may also contribute to sensory-induced panic attacks.
Dypsraxics (along with people who have similar conditions on the Autistic spectrum) may have difficulty sleeping since there is an inability to force the brain to stop thinking and "shut down". A dyspraxic is nearly always thinking about several unrelated things at once, (the inverse is also possible, with only one dominant thought occupying the dyspraxic's entire attention span at any given time) so this may cause easy distractability and daydreaming. It is quite easy for someone with dyspraxia to concentrate entirely on a particular thought instead of on the situation at hand. For this reason, dyspraxia may be misdiagnosed as
ADHD since on the surface both conditions have similar symptoms in some areas. Many people with dyspraxia have short-term memory issues and may forget instructions they received only seconds before, tend to forget important deadlines, and are constantly misplacing items.
Also, people with dyspraxia can have trouble determining if people or situations are friendly or hostile due to related autistic conditions that may be present, and have generally poor social skills in general as a result. Conversation with sarcastic intent is often interpreted by a dyspraxic in a strictly literal sense. People with dyspraxia are not purely autistic in the sense that they normally desire to interact with others but merely lack the ability to do so to some extent. Due to this inability to understand other people, most dyspraxics find themselves alone because it may be more comfortable for them. This inability to be around and relate to other people may cause severe fustration in a dyspraxic that may manifest as unusual emotional immaturity in childhood. People with dyspraxia have moderate to extreme difficulty doing physical tasks, and fatigue is common because so much extra energy is expended while trying to execute physical movements correctly. Some (but not all) dyspraxics suffer from
hypotonia, which in this case is chronically low muscle tone caused by dyspraxia. People with this condition have very low muscle strength and endurance (even in comparison with other dyspraxics) and even the simplest physical activities may quickly cause soreness and fatigue, depending on the severity of the hypotonia. Hypotonia may worsen a dyspraxic's already poor balance to the point where it is necessary to constantly lean on sturdy objects for support.
Within the
United Kingdom there are several agencies that are able to support children with dyspraxia. They may provide reports on the child's progress, including:
* A developmental history with motor milestones
* Patterns of social interaction, communication and behaviour,
* Educational history and analysis of learning styles
* Views of the child, including their response to the current learning environment.
* The child's level of overall special educational needs
* resources, equipment and facilities required to support the child.
The following people may be involved in supporting a dyspraxic child:
Paediatric occupational therapist
The paediatric
occupational therapist provides information, advice and guidance on supporting dyspraxic children. They provide equipment for improving children's access to activities and may implement programmes to support perceptual difficulties and develop fine motor co-ordination.
Speech and language therapist
The
speech therapist supports children whose dyspraxia has manifested in speech, and may provide a speech intervention program to be delivered in school.
Educational psychologist
The educational psychologist assesses children in relation to developmental profiles.
Health visitor
The health visitor may assist in a diagnosis of dyspraxia for pre-school age children.
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Dyspraxia in Adults A modern discussion based forum for adults who have dyspraxia
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DANDA The Developmental Adult Neuro-Diversity Association, for adults with dyspraxia and related Aspergic conditions.
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Dyspraxia Chat Yahoo chat and support group for people with dyspraxia.
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Dyspraxia foundation*
Madeleine Portwood*[
1] Matthew Alden-Farrow is a teenager who suffers from dyspraxia and has set up his own website
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2] Forum for dyspraxic teenagers
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3] Coventry and Warwickshire Dyspraxia Society Website
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Dyspraxic USA Non Profit*
Nuffield Speech and Language Unit*
Infant Motor Dyspraxia as a Predictor of Speech in Childhood Autism (PDF)
