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Myths of Dyspraxia: What's True and What's Not?
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About this talk: Dr Helen Likierman takes us through a dyspraxia quiz. She gives an insight into whether some commonly held conceptions about dyspraxia are true or false.
About the speaker: Dr Helen Likierman is a consultant clinical psychologist working with families and children where there are emotional, social, behavioural or learning concerns. Visit Helen's website at www.psykidz.co.uk.
Talk Topics - Dyspraxia
Further information about this Talk
Further Reading:
Visit Helen's website at www.psykidz.co.uk.
To get hold of Valerie Muter's and Helen Likierman's latest book on how parents can help with dyslexia, dyspraxia and related learning difficulties please click here.
Key Points Covered in This Talk:
- What is dyspraxia? A problem of poor motor coordination that is out of keeping with a child's other abilities and possibly their age as well. The problems are such that they will interfere with the child's academic progress (e.g. handwriting) or with their daily life (e.g. dressing).
- Commonly asked questions about dyspraxia:
- Are children with dyspraxia more likely to have attention problems? Many children with dyspraxia have attention problems. Half have some form of problem and one fifth have ADHD coinciding with dyspraxia as well. The term DAMP (deficit of attention and motor perception) has been used to describe this co-occurrence.
- Can dyspraxia easily be spotted in pre-schoolers? Dyspraxia is extremely difficult to spot in pre-schoolers because some children's nervous systems mature more slowly than others, therefore it is hard to tell if the problem is due to immaturity or an underlying problem that will not go away (dyspraxia). Also, some children don't have the opportunity to practice some of the fine motor skills (such as fastening their coat, painting, handling cutlery) because parents do it for them. Lots of young children may seem clumsy when they are young for perfectly normal reasons.
- Is dyspraxia usually outgrown by adolescence? Dyspraxia is not outgrown by adolescence. The pattern may change but children will continue to have problems and other problems will resurface as the complexities of what they are asked at school increase.
- Are there few effective treatments for dyspraxia? There are very few effective treatments because there is not a clear-cut underlying problem. Also dyspraxic children can show very widely differing sets of problems and difficulties. For instance, some children may have problems with fine motor control (e.g. handwriting) but have good gross motor control (e.g. sports). Many children have problems with visio-spatial difficulties but not all children have this kind of problem.
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What to Watch Next
Dyslexia, Dyspraxia & Overlapping Learning Difficulties: Amanda Kirby describes the co-occurrence of learning difficulties (also known as comorbidity) and how dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD overlap. She discusses the importance of the whole child approach when assessing if your child has any learning issues.
What is Dyspraxia (DCD)?: Professor Amanda Kirby, a leading expert on dyspraxia gives a talk on 'What is dyspraxia / developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD)?'. She describes the symptoms and ways that parents can help their children with dyspraxia.
How Parents Can Help Their Child With Dyspraxia: Dr Helen Likierman gives and insight into how parents can help their children to cope with dyspraxia. She gives a view of both what can be done in the early years and the middle years.