What is dyslexia dyspraxia? Developmental dyspraxia means an immaturity or impairment of the organization of movement. This immaturity is expressed by the way the brain processes information so that messages do not get fully or properly transmitted.

The term dyslexia dyspraxia is related to the word praxis which means acting or doing. Dyslexia dyspraxia affects the patient’s ability to plan his actions and how to carry out that action. It involves difficulty in carrying out sequenced and complex actions and results in poor coordination. Children affected by it find it hard to catch a ball, do up buttons, tie up shoelaces, and more critically, their handwriting may be illegible and they may have difficulties with concentration, organisation and paying attention. Problems of language, perception and thought are also associated with it.

Dyslexia dyspraxia probably affects up to 10% of the population, and up to 2% may be affected severely. Males are likely to be affected four times as much as females. Sometimes, dyslexia dyspraxia is found to run in families, and there can be an overlapping with related conditions.

There are other names for dyspraxia, including Perceptuo Motor Dysfunction, Developmental Co-ordination Disorder or DCD and Motor Learning Difficulties. In the past it was referred as Clumsy Child Syndrome or Minimal Brain Damage.

In school, there is probably one child affected by dyslexia dyspraxia out of every class of thirty children. It is important that everyone understands this problem and is able to help this minority among the children.