Dyspraxia & Apraxia Support Group

I was diagnosed along with son four years ago. I cannot ride a bike swim or drive a car.

Dear Esskie please try a website I made to explain dyspraxia www.discuss-dyspraxia.co.uk as I started it to help people. I hope it helps you

The Dyspraxia Foundation (http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/) also has some good info.

Esskie, Pretend you are a baby and your Mum dangles a toy over your cot and you reach out for it.Inside your brain you have what they call nueral pathways. The messages to grab the toy go around 1-5 pathways. They go to your arms,hands,feet and legs, your whole body wiggles and you struggle to grasp it. After 6 months you can grasp the toy and messages go from 1-2 (brain to hand)Unfortunately a dyspraxic child keeps the extra nueral pathways and as they get older they look clumsey as messages are still going around the body (your tounge sticks out when doing things).A little boy I look after bites his tonuge every week and we have ice pops on hand permanently.
The same if you have to follow instructions,concentrate or process information. When someone (say a teacher) is on the 5th sentence you are still on the 1st as information goes along unnessessary pathways.Through watching children over many years I noticed that as their bodies weren't balanced they also struggled with the tracking. It is important to learn as a baby to fixate and track an object, but as the bady is moving so much they dont learn this. Ask your parents to have your eyes tested by a proper light therapist or optometrist. Also as messages go to every part of the body you have a weakness with your fine motors. I wrote a book about this and it is on my website if this helps. I have worked with the Dyspraxia Foundation and they are excellant as Lizzie said but I would like to think we can give a more personel touch at Daily strength.

Hazel, there are different forms of developmental dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a developmental disorder that is thought to be related to a disorder of sensory integration and is a neurological disorder. In other words, it affects motor function or movement. It can affect gross motor, which includes walking and big movements of the body. It can also affect fine motor, which includes all the small motions like writing, threading a needle, or using scissors, etc. People with this disorder are often very clumsy. It effects the forming of the idea for whatever you want to do, planning how to do the task, and carrying out the task. Most adults with dyspraxia have found ways to compensate and get around their problems, but still have problems.

There are three kinds of developmental dyspraxia. They include: oral, verbal, and motor. People with oral dyspraxia have difficulty with movements of the mouth. People with verbal dyspraxia have difficulty with prounouncing sounds or words correctly. People with motor dyspraxia have difficulty with moving as planned in their mind.

Symptoms of dyspraxia include: clumsiness, poor balance and coordination, vision problems, perception difficulties, emotional and behavorial problems, difficulty with reading, writing, and speaking, poor social skills, poor posture, and poor short-term memory.

Apraxia of speech has a whole other list of symptoms. I will be glad to give it to you, if you want it. I just don't want to overwhelm you with too much information too quickly. PM me if you want more info or have specific questions.

i was dygnosed at about 1 most of my famliy have it i am going into year 9 at school and i still cant write or walk properly i go about with out a weelchair but my legs get tired i am hopless at pe and am in the lowest set i cant swimm run or catch a ball i use a laptop at school and i never crawled and didnt walk till i was 3 life at school is hell can anyone help