Dyspraxia is a condition in which the brain has difficulty planning and coordinating body movements, causing the child to be unable to maintain balance, posture, and sometimes even having difficulty speaking. In this way, these children are often considered "clumsy children, " since they often break objects, stumble and fall for no apparent reason.
Depending on the type of movement affected, dyspraxia can be divided into several types, such as:
- Motor dyspraxia : it is characterized by difficulties in coordinating muscles, interfering with activities such as dressing, eating or walking. In some cases also be associated with slowness to make simple movements;
- Dyspraxia of speech : difficulty in developing language, pronouncing words in a wrong or imperceptible way;
- Postural dyspraxia : it leads to difficulty in maintaining a correct posture, whether standing, sitting or walking, for example.
In addition to affecting children, dyspraxia may also appear in people who have suffered a stroke or had a head injury.
Main symptoms
The symptoms of dyspraxia vary from person to person, depending on the type of movement affected and the severity of the condition, but in most cases difficulties arise in performing tasks such as:
- Walk;
- Jump;
- Run;
- Maintain balance;
- Draw or paint;
- Write;
- Combing;
- Eat with cutlery;
- Brushing teeth;
- Speak clearly.
In children, dyspraxia is usually only diagnosed between ages 3 and 5, and up to that age the child may be seen as being clumsy or lazy, since it takes a long time to master the movements that other children already do.
Possible causes
In the case of children, dyspraxia is almost always caused by a genetic change that causes nerve cells to take longer to develop. However, dyspraxia may also occur due to trauma or brain injury, such as stroke or head injury, which is more common in adults.
How to confirm the diagnosis
The diagnosis in children should be made by a pediatrician through observation of behavior and evaluation of reports by parents and teachers, since there is no specific test. Therefore, it is recommended that parents write down all the strange behaviors they observe in their child, as well as talk to teachers.
In adults, this diagnosis is easy to do, since it comes after a brain trauma and can be compared to what the person was able to do previously, which also ends up being identified by the person himself.
How is the treatment done?
The treatment for dyspraxia is done through occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech therapy because they are techniques that help improve both the physical aspects of the child and the muscular strength, balance and also the psychological aspects, providing more autonomy and safety. In this way, it is possible to have a better performance in daily activities, social relations and capacity to deal with the limitations imposed by dyspraxia.
In this way, an individualized intervention plan must be made, according to the needs of each person. In the case of children, it is still important to involve teachers in the treatment and guidance of health professionals so that they know how to deal with behaviors and help to overcome obstacles on an ongoing basis.
Exercises to do at home and at school
Some exercises that can help in the development of the child and keep the training of the techniques performed with health professionals are:
- Make puzzles : besides stimulating reasoning, they help the child to have better visual and space perception;
- Encourage the child to write on the computer keyboard : it is easier than writing by hand, but also requires coordination;
- Tightening an anti-stress ball : it stimulates and increases the muscular strength of the child;
- Throw a ball : it stimulates the coordination and the notion of space of the child.
At school, it is important for teachers to pay attention to encouraging oral presentation rather than writing, not asking for too much work, and avoid pointing out all the mistakes made by the child at work, working one at a time.
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