Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia is a neuro-development disorder which affects motor planning in children and adults. This can be the motor planning of fine or gross motor skills or the planning required for speech.

The two types of dyspraxia

Global dyspraxia
Verbal dyspraxia

1. Global dyspraxia

Affects the whole body
Affects the motor planning of gross motor and fine skills for example, may have trouble catching and throwing a ball or doing handwriting
Can have clumsiness/difficulty with balance and co-ordination
Takes longer to learn a new skill, e.g. riding a bike
Can impact on dressing, eating and self care.

2. Verbal dyspraxia (sometimes called Apraxia)

Affects the ability to speak
Affects planning and programming of speech sounds, syllables, words and sentences
Can be two types – putting in extra sounds or omitting sounds when speaking
Their understanding is better than their talking ability
Their connected speech can be very hard to understand
Consistently inconsistent in how they say words for example may say too four different ways
Limited range of letter sounds and distorted vowels
Difficulty with smooth movement between sound and words
The “music” of the voice is changed/flat

Verbal dyspraxia does not come from

The child being lazy or naughty
Delayed speech
Having weak muscles
Their environment

How is behaviour affected?

There can be frustration and anxiety
It impacts on self esteem and their ability to interact socially with others
They can react strongly to changes in routine
Can be more likely to play alone.

How is learning affected?

Areas of learning that are affected

Affects handwriting
Hard to follow routine and instructions
Hard to understand and follow the rules of games
Can become fidgety
Takes longer to process information

Other facts

Can co-exist with other learning difficulties
A person with verbal dyspraxia will see a speech therapist for help
A person with global dyspraxia will see an Occupational Therapist/Physio for help.

What will help for your child?

Associate tactile and visual symbols with sounds (multi sensory learning)
A little bit and often
Repetition, repetition, repetition
Patience

What helps with communication

Picture communication books
Low text methods eg photos, visual clues, post it notes
High text methods, eg ipads and apps.
Building sound and early words is important
Create a brag book – pictures of words your child can say, nearly make, etc

Supporting children with verbal dyspraxia

Most children are stronger with their eyes than their ears – visual based learner so match words with objects/pictures/symbols
Nuffield Dyspraxia Program is one approach
Making words with other programs
Flip Charts
Moving Across Syllables
Kaufman Speech To Language Protocol

Supporting children with global dyspraxia

Allowing extra time for processing
Use visual timetables
Good seating so both feet on the ground
Visual prompts when giving verbal instructions
Provide a routine

Useful links

Information provided from presentation by Ross Harland, Ministry of Education, Invercargill.