What is dyspraxia?
Developmental dyspraxia is an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement. It is an immaturity in the way that the brain processes information, which results in messages not being properly or fully transmitted. The term dyspraxia comes from the word praxis, which means 'doing, acting'. Dyspraxia affects the planning of what to do and how to do it. It is associated with problems of perception, language and thought.
Dyspraxia is thought to affect up to ten per cent of the population and up to two per cent severely. Males are four times more likely to be affected than females. Dyspraxia sometimes runs in families. There may be an overlap with related conditions.
Dyspraxia (difficulty with movement)
Dyspraxia is the generic term used to cover a range of disorders affecting the initiation, organization and performance of action. It has been described as having trouble getting the body to do what we want, when we want. It is an immaturity of the way the brain processes information, resulting in messages not being fully transmitted to the body and is a learning difficulty that can be present from birth (developmental dyspraxia) or as a result of brain damage suffered from a stroke or other trauma (acquired dyspraxia).
Dyspraxia is also known as a developmental co-ordination disorder, and may also be present in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, dyslexia and dyscalculia, among others. Dyspraxia is described as having two main elements
• Ideational dyspraxia – difficulty with planning a sequence of coordinated movements
• Ideo-Motor dyspraxia – difficulty with executing a plan, even though it is known
