Dyspraxia

When Sophie was in pre-school, she was diagnosed with Verbal Dyspraxia. When she was 7, the family was informed that she would never speak intelligently and a year later she was transferred to a Special Needs School. Over the last few years there has been an amazing improvement in Sophie’s language. 

However, as Sophie’s skills developed, other Dyspraxia symptoms started to develop. Some of the symptoms are behavioural. She is very jealous of her brother, loses her temper, asks probing question and won’t give in till she gets a satisfactory answer.

These are all symptoms of Dyspraxia.  The family would like to take this opportunity to thank Union for their support of Sophie. She is due to see a Doctor at the hospital shortly to be re-assessed.

What is Dyspraxia?

Dyspraxia is generally recognised to be an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement. Associated with this may be problems of language, perception and thought. Other names for dyspraxia include, Clumsy Child Syndrome; Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD); Minimal Brain Dysfunction: Motor learning Difficulty; and Pereceptuo-motor Dysfunction.

What is Verbal Dyspraxia?

Speech may be immature or unintelligible in early years. Language may be impaired or late to develop. The primary difficulty is in making and co-ordinating the precise movements, which are used in the production of spoken language, which results in severe and persisting speech production difficulties. The condition is termed developmental verbal dyspraxia: it may occur in isolation or in conjunction with general motor difficulties.

Below are some symptoms of Dyspraxia, these are by no means exhaustive.

• Is late in reaching milestones e.g. rolling over, sitting, standing, walking, and speaking
• Has difficulty in keeping friends; or judging how to behave in company
• Has difficulty in walking up and down stairs, Poor at dressing and personal hygiene.
• Reacts to all stimuli without discrimination and attention span is poor
• Unable to remember and /or follow instructions, Is generally poorly organised
• High levels of excitability, with a loud/shrill voice, Unable to stay still
• Tendency to become easily distressed and emotional and prone to temper tantrums
• May constantly bump into objects and fall over
• Continued messy eating. May prefer to eat with their fingers, frequently spill drinks, Problems with co-ordinating a knife and fork
• Persistent language difficulties (as Sophie says ‘I don’t like hard words’)
• Sensitive to sensory stimulation, including high levels of noise, tactile defensiveness, wearing new clothes
• May be slow to respond and have problems with comprehension
• Limited concentration. Tasks are often left unfinished
• Difficulties in adapting to a structured school routine
• Sleeping difficulties, including wakefulness at night and nightmares
• Physical symptoms, such as migraine, headaches, feeling sick