Children with dyspraxia may have difficulties with reading and spelling. Limited concentration and poor listening skills, and literal use of language may have an effect on reading and spelling ability. A child may read well, but not understand some of the concepts in the language. The child may also be reluctant to read aloud because of articulation difficulties or because they lack self-confidence.
Exercises may be beneficial for children with reading and spelling difficulties. Take Time by Mary Nash-Wortham and Jean Hunt provides a series of exercises for parents, teachers and therapists to do with children.
Computers can also help with reading and spelling: Wordshark 2 is a widely used program, available from the Dyspraxia Foundation.
Research has shown that children with developmental verbal dyspraxia whose speech difficulties persist beyond the age of 5 & 6 years are at risk of having literacy difficulties. The risk is increased if there is a family history of speech, language or specific learning difficulties.
Symptoms are evident from an early age. Babies are usually irritable from birth and may exhibit significant feeding problems.
They are slow to achieve expected developmental milestones. For example, by the age of eight months they still may not sit independently.
Many children with dyspraxia fail to go through the crawling stages, preferring to ‘bottom shuffle’ and then walk. They usually avoid tasks which require good manual dexterity.
Pre-school children – 3 to 5 year olds
If dyspraxia is not identified, problems can persist and affect the childís life at school. Increasing frustration and lowering of self-esteem can result.
Children with dyspraxia may demonstrate some of these types of behaviour:
- Very high levels of motor activity, including feet swinging and tapping when seated, hand-clapping or twisting. Unable to stay still
- High levels of excitability, with a loud/shrill voice
- May be easily distressed and prone to temper tantrums
- May constantly bump into objects and fall over
- Hands flap when running
- Difficulty with pedalling a tricycle or similar toy
- Lack of any sense of danger (jumping from heights etc)
- Continued messy eating. May prefer to eat with their fingers, frequently spill drinks
- Avoidance of constructional toys, such as jigsaws or building blocks
- Poor fine motor skills. Difficulty in holding a pencil or using scissors. Drawings may appear immature
- Lack of imaginative play. May show little interest in ëdressing upí or in playing appropriately in a home corner or wendy house
- Limited creative play
- Isolation within the peer group. Rejected by peers, children may prefer adult company
- Laterality (left- or right-handedness) still not established
- Persistent language difficulties
- Sensitive to sensory stimulation, including high levels of noise, tactile defensiveness, wearing new clothes
- Limited response to verbal instruction. May be slow to respond and have problems with comprehension
- Limited concentration. Tasks are often left unfinished
Problems may include:
- Difficulties in adapting to a structured school routine
- Difficulties in Physical Education lessons
- Slow at dressing. Unable to tie shoe laces
- Barely legible handwriting
- Immature drawing and copying skills
- Limited concentration and poor listening skills
- Literal use of language
- Inability to remember more than two or three instructions at once
- Slow completion of class work
- Continued high levels of motor activity
- Hand flapping or clapping when excited
- Tendency to become easily distressed and emotional
- Problems with co-ordinating a knife and fork
- Inability to form relationships with other children
- Sleeping difficulties, including wakefulness at night and nightmares
- Reporting of physical symptoms, such as migraine, headaches, feeling sick
The child with developmental verbal dyspraxia has an impaired speech processing system, which affects their ability to make sound ñ letter links and to carry out phonological awareness tasks (e.g. segmenting, blending, rhyming etc) essential for literacy acquisition. Spelling is usually more affected than reading.
- My school say my child is too young to be assessed.
- As soon as difficulties become apparent support should be put in place by the school. You do not need a diagnostic assessment in order to receive support from the school.
- Look at the School Information Report and the school SEN Policy as they will tell you the school's intervention and assessment processes.
- The BDA offers diagnostic assessments: http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/services/assessments
- The Local Authority should have a list of specialist schools. Specialist independent schools supporting dyslexic/dyspraxic/autistic pupils can be found on: www.crested.org.uk.