Dyspraxia
DCD
“At times, dyspraxia can feel like your brain is navigating a gauntlet of information, jumping through literal processing hurdles, only to get a disquieting “Error” message at the end.”
Dyspraxia FAQs
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DCD is short for Developmental Coordination Disorder (DSM verified).
Dyspraxia is another name for DCD.
Though used interchangeably, Dyspraxia is understood to encompass a broader set of symptoms (involving memory, executive functions, processing speeds and other skills) - more than what is defined in the DSM for DCD (Impairment of developmental, motor and coordination skills).
Braiins will focus on Dyspraxia.
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It is a life-long neurodevelopmental condition with childhood onset.
It affects motor skills, motor planning, along with co-ordination and developmental progress. Other cognitive functions can also be impeded.
Generally, it’s not well known or understood in North America.
6-10% of school-aged children are affected. However as much as 20% of the population may be affected. Many are unaware they may be dyspraxic.
Dyspraxia is a spectrum disorder - meaning the severity and types of symptoms range. It presents differently for everyone.
Dyspraxia often overlaps with other neuro and biological conditions like Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, ADHD, OCD, Autism, CMS and others - but not always.
It is often missed and left undiagnosed or confused with another condition.
There is no cure for dyspraxia. It’s a managed condition that can be helped with occupational therapy (and other forms of therapies), academic accommodations, implemented life strategies, patience and resilience.
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Dyspraxia can affect the body and the mind in various ways:
Body:
Movement
Balance
Coordination
Gross Motor Skills - large muscles groups like arms, legs, body
Fine Motor Skills - small muscle groups like use of hands and fingers
Proprioception - Dyspraxics can lack body sense and spatial awareness of their body and extremities (body parts).
Physical Fatigue (intense)
Brain:
Mental Fatigue (intense and sustained)
Short-Term Memory (short-term storage)
Working Memory (used in manipulation of information)
Automaticity
Processing Speed
Sequencing Skills
Planning
Organization
Decision Making
Judgement
Problem Solving
Multi-tasking
Learning
Perception
Literal Understanding
Social Skills and Integration
Emotional development and State of Mind
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To put the long list of symptoms of Dyspraxia into context, the following is a sample of how they translates into real world and real life situations - functionally and developmentally.
Dyspraxia can result in or cause difficulties with:
Gross Motor:
falling ● tripping ● bumping into objects ● knocking things over ● walking ● jumping ● crawling ● rolling ● sitting ● standing ● use of stairs ● playground movements ● climbing ● catching ● throwing ● hand-eye coordination ● kicking ● riding a bike (and other balance activities) ● dancing ● exaggerated movements ● awkward gait ● athletic coordination to play sports and games ● many physical activities in general.
Fine Motor:
writing ● drawing ● colouring ● using scissors ● tying shoe laces ● hand grasp ● holding ● locks and keys ● fastening buttons ● loops ● snaps ● elastics ● zippers ● using eating utensils properly ● cooking ● stacking objects ● folding ● opening bottles ● twisting ● using tools ● manipulating small objects in general ● manual dexterity ● activities requiring 2 hands ● activities that require detail and finesse.
Cognitive Functions:
trouble organizing ● planning ● prioritizing ● multitasking ● driving ● playing board games ● literal thinking and understanding ● judgement ● learning new things ● reading ● math ● understanding instructions ● following long lists of directions ● memorizing ● solving multi-step problems ● copying text and numbers from the board ● perception difficulties ● under-sensitivities ● over-sensitivities ● time management ●difficulty with skipped steps ● struggles with anxiety.
Speech and Language:
ability to speak ● loss for words ● mispronouncing words ● producing clear speech ● one volume ● difficulty organizing thoughts and events while speaking/ storytelling.
Self care:
dressing ● hair styling (with and without accessories) ● make-up application ● brushing teeth ● flossing ● shampooing ● shaving ● clipping nails ● washing ● flossing ● general hygiene.
Fatigue:
physical fatigue ● mental fatigue ● intense and sustained ● very real ● not exaggerated ● not laziness ● not low intelligence ● not lack of motivation and drive ● working memory is overloaded ● muscle strength and tone underdeveloped.
Social Impacts:
difficulty with group settings ● following conversations ● not recognizing tone and meaning ● missing non-verbal cues (gestures, touches) ● speaking loudly always ● missing conversation details ● social gaffes (like being late, unorganized) ● environment can be too loud or too bright ● taking things literally ● doing things literally ● jokes and sarcasm are difficult ● can be excluded from activities ● social anxiety can result ● choose not to participate ● choose to isolate.
Knowing the clinical definitions, explanations, and summary of symptoms alone, makes it hard to fully comprehend how dyspraxia affects the lives of people with this disorder. You need to move beyond that. You need to find the more meaningful personal stories and anecdotes to truly understand the diversity of symptoms, and grasp the depth and severity of the real-world impact of dyspraxia for those who live and struggle with it.
Start by exploring the Dyspraxia sections below and it’s interconnectedness with other conditions.
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Watch the video below
Read about our son’s dyspraxia and what a diagnosis meant for us (Bottom of this page)
Get deeper, more personal understanding of how dyspraxia impacts everyday life by exploring the links below:
A Child’s Perspective - a unique voice to what dyspraxia is like for a young child - My son’s descriptions as an 8 and 9 year old.
Share in the joys and sadness of dysrpraxic life with some thoughts on parenting a neurodiverse child: Explore Memories, Journal, Random Thoughts, and Our Story.
“Dyspraxia does not affect intelligence, but the pathways to learning, understanding, and problem solving appears to utilize so much more working memory, mental energy and focus.”
Dyspraxia Videos:
What is it? Its Invisible Side, and Dyspraxic Tactics
What is Dyspraxia? There’s an invisible side? A Video Raising Dyspraxia awareness! Perfect for kids, educators, family and more. Hear a 9 year old kid explain the invisible symptoms of their childhood dyspraxia - A much needed perspective for other children, classmates, educators, friends and family.
Dyspraxic Tactics are pefect for kids, educators, parents and more. School and life hacks for children, teens and adults living with dyspraxia and dyscalculia. In this video we applied our strategy to Grade 3 math terminology - like stack math!
Dyscalculia Can Be Linked With DCD | Dyspraxia
If you struggle with numbers, number sense and math, you’re not alone. There might be more to it.
CMS Movements Can be a DCD | Dyspraxic Trait
Do you handflap? Fidget? Are Easily Excitable? Get lost in an imaginative world? You’re not alone. There’s a connection.
Dyspraxia, Kids, And Parenting
Dyspraxia - A Child's Perspective
Kiids Braiins - Dedicated Braiinspace For Kids and Their Dyspraxia, Complex Motor Sterotypies and IIM Questions
Stories - Our Story. Diagonosis, Labels, and Bittersweet Answers
Dyspraxia Memories - Fleeting Thoughts of the Past
Dypraxia Journal - Capturing the Perfect and Imperfect Moments of Dyspraxic Life
Wandering Thoughts - Little Ramblings About Dyspraxia
“Having an invisible, lesser known and little understood part of this disability adds additional challenges in all aspects of his day to day life ”
Our Son’s Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia, Developmental Coordination Disorder, DCD…It’s Complicated
For something that in theory affects such a significant number of our young population (approx. 6-10% of all children), recognition and understanding of dypraxia/DCD (Developmental Co-ordination Disorder) remains relatively elusive. Dyspraxia is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects gross and fine motor skills, motor planning, coordination, organization pathways and so much more. Explaining my son’s obscure condition(s) always leaves me at a loss for words because the explanation is always so…involved and always so…complicated - particularly in an academic setting. What adds to the confusion is that every dyspraxic person is different. There is such a wide range of symptoms and how it affects people, how it manifests, and how it mimics and overlaps other conditions.
Our Son’s Dyspraxia and Its More Invisible Side - A Quick Glance
There’s usually a strong association and focus on the gross and fine motor control and co-ordination aspect of dyspraxia when discussing and diagnosing it. For my son, unfortunately, it’s the more invisible elements of DCD that affect him: his sequencing abilities, processing speed, difficulty with motor planning, and working memory, that predominantly affects him at home, in social settings, and at school.
Dyspraxia does not affect intelligence, but the pathways to learning, understanding, and problem solving appears to utilize so much more working memory, mental energy and focus. The automaticity for some task appears to be absent at times and needs to be learned. To use a coding analogy, my son’s dyspraxic brain uses an entirely different coding software platform, and like every new program, EVERY SINGLE LINE OF CODE needs to be written, and written precisely and concisely. If the code is too long and not clear, it taxes the system’s working memory (the RAM). If code is missing, the program does not execute. If code instructions are not written exactly, the program will perform differently or get stuck in an error loop. Having an invisible, lesser known and little understood part of this disability adds additional challenges in all aspects of his day to day life – making what he is able to overcome incredibly remarkable.
What further complicates matters for my son is the seemingly random onset of his dyspraxia. It adds confusion to outsiders, who see a bright, “normal” boy, who on some days is capable of doing something perfectly, and on other days, not know how to even begin. Frustratingly, the unpredictability of his dyspraxic onsets can even occur from one moment to the next.
The Gift of A Diagnosis
Dyspraxia has comorbidity with Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, motor stereotypies and other conditions. Meaning, if you, or your child, or someone else has dyspraxia, there’s a likelihood that you can have one (or more) of these additional disorders. Our son just happened to win the jackpot of obscure neuro-biological conditions.
Having a diagnosis for DCD has been immeasurable in helping our understanding of our son, teaching us to be more patient, to be more empathetic, and willing to find different ways to communicate and problem solve with him. We’ve learned to savour the small victories and applaud them, knowing he has worked 10x harder mentally to achieve what the average person does so easily, and takes for granted. It’s allowed us to recognize we have a smart little cookie who standardized teaching and testing will fail to show how capable he is and how much he truly knows, and also how hard we will have to advocate for him. The most important gift of this diagnosis is the understanding that on days when my child’s memory and brain fail to co-operate, is to know he is not doing it on purpose - that he needs an abundance of love, support and reassurance, and to remember that he is (in our case) invisibly, differently-abled.
