What is Dyspraxia?
Dyspraxia, also known as “clumsy child syndrome,” or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a disorder which interferes with the ability to plan and execute skilled or non-habitual motor tasks. This often includes tasks like writing, tying shoelaces and physical activities. From my experience as a dyspraxic person and as an educator of dyspraxic learners, although we can learn complex motor tasks like playing the piano, using a potters wheel or doing complicated light sabre dances. It usually takes us longer to learn.
Sadly these skills do not automatically translate into fewer accidents or better handwriting. For that we need to practice specific movements that stimulate our neuroplasticity. More about that later.
People talk about three different types of dyspraxia:
- Motor dyspraxia — causing problems with skills like writing, dressing or physical activities
- Verbal dyspraxia — AKA childhood apraxia of speech, where the child cannot pronounce words at will even though there are no oral motor problems
- Oral dyspraxia — Difficulty speaking resulting from oral motor challenges.
Any given dyspraxic person may display varying degrees of difficulty within these three areas. These challenges are often based in differences in sensory/motor processing.
Is dyspraxia classed as a learning disability?
Whether or not dyspraxia is classed as a learning disability depends on where you live. In the USA, dyspraxia is not classified as a learning disability. In the UK, dyspraxia is regarded as a specific learning disability. In Ireland, dyspraxia is listed as a physical and sensory disability.
Having said that, regarding the USA, dyspraxics often also have other ‘official’ learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, ASD or ADHD, which may qualify them for special accommodations.
Whether or not learning is a challenge depends as much on the teaching approach as it does on the learning differences.
