Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a condition affecting physical co-ordination. It causes a child to perform less well than expected in daily activities for their age, and appear to move clumsily.
What is Dyspraxia?
Key Characteristics
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Delays in reaching normal developmental milestones can be an early sign of DCD.
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Problems with movement and co-ordinations
Does my child have Dyspraxia
If your child displays at least 7/8 of these on the checklist then further guidance should sort
- People describe the child as being clumsy.
- The child has poor posture
- They may walk awkwardly.
- Some things done left sided and others right sided?
- The child may have difficulties throwing and catching, even with quite a large soft ball.
- You may notice that the child is much more sensitive to touch than other children.
- There may be objections to wearing some clothes and other routine events such as the application of plasters, having their hair brushed or teeth brushed because the child finds this uncomfortable.
- Parents and teachers may be frustrated or have noticed that the child forgets tasks learned the previous day.
- There will probably be reading and writing difficulties
- There is a very strong chance that the child cannot hold a pen or pencil properly.
- Does the child have a weak sense of direction?
- The child has had real difficulties with or cannot hop, skip or ride a bike.
- The child was much slower than most children to learn to dress or feed themselves.
- Parents and teachers may have noticed there is a difficulty in answering simple questions even though they know the answers.
- There may be evidence of speech problems perhaps with the child being slow to learn to speak or speech may be difficult to understand.
- It is possible that the child has a difficulty with phobias and perhaps obsessive behaviour.
- The child may be frustrated and impatient more than one would expect for a child of their age.
- Dislike of large groups, sports and PE in general.