Dyspraxia

What is Dyspraxia?

Dyspraxia is a a developmental disorder of the brain in childhood causing difficulty in activities requiring coordination and movement.  Approximately 10% of the population have Dyspraxia.

Dyspraxia can affect different kinds of movement. Professionals you speak to might break it down into these categories:

• Ideomotor Dyspraxia: Makes it hard to complete single-step motor tasks such as combing hair and waving goodbye.

• Ideational Dyspraxia: Makes it more difficult to perform a sequence of movements, like brushing teeth or making a bed.

• Oromotor Dyspraxia, also called verbal apraxia or apraxia of speech: Makes it difficult to coordinate muscle movements needed to pronounce words. Kids with dyspraxia may have speech that is slurred and difficult to understand because they’re unable to enunciate.

• Constructional Dyspraxia: Makes it harder to understand spatial relationships. Students with this type of Dyspraxia may have difficulty copying geometric drawings or using building blocks

What causes Dyspraxia?

Researchers don’t know yet what causes Dyspraxia. Many believe that genetics could play a role. Some scientists suspect dyspraxia may be caused by a problem with the nerve cells that send signals from the brain to muscles.

Researchers also believe that children who were born prematurely, had low birth weights or were exposed to alcohol in the womb may be more likely to have Dyspraxia.