Children with dyspraxia are more than just clumsy. They may have difficulty with tasks requiring involvement of their whole body (such as catching, running, riding a bike), their hands (writing, tying shoelaces) or both. It takes much more effort to learn skills, to retain them, and to transfer them to other contexts.
Dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder) can cause a wide range of issues with coordination and motor skills. While most people with dyspraxia show signs of the condition by the time they start school, some people have mild forms of the condition that are more difficult to detect.
If you have dyspraxia, you may also have other conditions, such as: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) dyslexia. autism spectrum disorder.
What Causes Clumsiness? Lifestyle and health factors can contribute to increased clumsiness, too. Stress and sleep deprivation can impact your cognitive abilities and make it harder to focus, react, and process information.
To diagnose it requires a medical history, observations and Standardised Tests – including movement, hand-eye coordination, and sensory perception to confirm a diagnosis. This is carried out by a specially trained Occupational Therapist such as our therapists at Dyspraxia UK.
However, this does not mean that they are the same. Fundamentally, autism is a disorder that affects socialization and communication, while dyspraxia affects motor skills and physical coordination. While coinciding symptoms aren't uncommon, the two are considered distinct disorders.
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not only display hyperactive motor behaviour, but half of them are also clumsy when executing motor skills.
Losing your balance while walking, or feeling imbalanced, can result from: Vestibular problems. Abnormalities in your inner ear can cause a sensation of a floating or heavy head and unsteadiness in the dark. Nerve damage to your legs (peripheral neuropathy).
A clumsy person moves or handles things in a careless, awkward way, often so that things are knocked over or broken.
Instead, most healthcare professionals use the term developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) to describe the condition.
Tend to get stressed, depressed and anxious easily. May have difficulty sleeping. Prone to low self-esteem, emotional outbursts, phobias, fears, obsessions, compulsions and addictive behaviour.
Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a common disorder affecting fine and/or gross motor coordination in children and adults.
The 'typical' child with dyspraxia struggles with handwriting, avoids sport, is disorganised and a bit messy, and can seem naughty or difficult because these difficulties can make it harder for them to do the things they want, need, or are expected to do.
Dyspraxia can cause people to experience stress and frustration when they struggle with day-to-day tasks that require coordination, such as getting dressed, cleaning, cooking and driving. Dyspraxic adults may also walk with a different gait, bump into things frequently and/or have trouble participating in sports.
Daniel Radcliffe (Actor)
Best known for his titular role in the Harry Potter films, Daniel revealed that he had a mild form of dyspraxia in 2008 in an interview for his Broadway debut in Equus. He was unsuccessful at school and 'he sometimes still has trouble tying his shoelaces.
Ataxia is a degenerative disorder affecting the brain, brainstem or spinal cord. This can result in clumsiness, inaccuracy, instability, imbalance, tremor or a lack of coordination while performing voluntary movements. Movements are not smooth and may appear disjointed or jerky.
The term “ADHD walk” refers to an abnormal gait or increased postural sway when walking that is indicative of issues with coordination or balance - two things that are more common in those with ADHD.
While ADHD is a learning difficulty that often affects attention, behavior or both, dyspraxia has to do with fine motor skills, language and planning abilities and is not always classed as a learning difficulty.
There is a significant overlap between ADHD and both DCD and dyslexia. Studies looking at DCD in people with ADHD have reported that as many as 89% of people with ADHD also have DCD. When looking at populations with DCD, around 50% of people with DCD also have ADHD.
Dyspraxia is one of the neurodivergent conditions which generally affects movement and coordination, and remains one of the lesser understood neurodivergent conditions. It is also commonly referred to as DCD Development Coordination Disorder.
They do not usually have the accompanying learning disabilities associated with autism, but they may have specific learning difficulties. These may include dyslexia and dyspraxia or other conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epilepsy.
This suggests that dyspraxia is associated with reduced social skill and empathy, but only in those without a diagnosis of ASC. Cassidy and colleagues suggest that the lack of association between dyspraxia and social skills in the group with autism could be due to under-diagnosis of dyspraxia in this population.