Identification

In relation to movement, a student with dyspraxia can be seen to have difficulties with gross motor activities such as walking, running, throwing and catching and also in fine motor skills such as threading, drawing and writing. The perceptual difficulties result in poor spatial and directional awareness and often some difficulties in concentration. Dyspraxic children may also have language problems, particularly language delay and speech articulation.

Memory and Sequencing Skills

Many dyspraxic children have problems absorbing and recalling information and responding to and carrying out instructions within a busy classroom situation. Children with visual perceptual problems may have difficulty copying from the blackboard as they are unable to memorise what they have seen and transpose it to the paper on the desk. As well as this they are required to rotate this visual image through 90 degrees from the vertical to the horizontal and also to transpose the size of the letters involved. Difficulties in this area, however, can be improved with training.

Writing Skills

Dyspraxic children are slow to learn to write and are likely to experience problems with the presentation and organisation of their written work. They may learn to write neatly at the expense of speed although it generally requires a disproportionate amount of effort to achieve the necessary muscle control. Excessive muscle tension and slow speed of writing are causes of extreme anxiety, particularly when time constraints are imposed.

Dyspraxic children may show some or all of the following:

• an overall untidiness in the presentation of written work with evidence of frequent erasing or crossing out

• Erratic letter formation and alignment due to an inability to integrate and place letter parts in their proper spatial perspective

• A tendency to overrun when composing individual letters due to excessive muscle tension, often they appear to have no perception of line and margin

• Copying from the blackboard is a particularly arduous task for dyspraxic children especially if they have visual perceptual problems as they are likely to lose their place transposing letters between vertical and horizontal planes

• Formulating their thoughts and ideas for written expression can be difficult. If offered direction and a plan, they may be able to get on with  the story but often they have problems sequencing their ideas and show little understanding of beginning, middle and ending

• They may show a poor concept of time and confuse tenses. Punctuation can be poor and words may be written backwards or spelt in several different ways. Generally speaking, written work takes a long time to complete and rarely reflects the true verbal potential of the child.