Dyspraxia: what it is, symptoms and treatment

Dyspraxia is a condition in which the brain has difficulty in planning and coordinating body movements, leading 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 usually break objects, stumble and fall for no apparent reason.

Depending on the type of movements affected, dyspraxia can be divided into several types, such as:

• Motor dyspraxia: it is characterized by difficulties to coordinate the muscles, interfering in activities such as dressing, eating or walking. In some cases it is also associated with slowness to make simple movements; Speech dyspraxia: difficulty in developing language, pronouncing words in a wrong or imperceptible way; Postural dyspraxia: leads to difficulty maintaining a correct posture, whether standing, sitting or walking, for example.

In addition to affecting children, dyspraxia can also appear in people who have suffered a stroke or have a head injury.

Main symptoms

Dyspraxia symptoms vary from person to person, depending on the type of movements affected and the severity of the condition, but in most cases difficulties arise in performing tasks such as:

• Walking; Jumping; Running; Maintaining balance; Drawing or painting; Writing; Combing; Eating with cutlery; Brushing teeth; Talking clearly.

In children, dyspraxia is usually only diagnosed between 3 and 5 years, and until that age the child can be seen as being clumsy or lazy, as 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 makes nerve cells take longer to develop. However, dyspraxia can also happen due to trauma or brain injury, such as stroke or head trauma, which is more common in adults.

How to confirm the diagnosis

The diagnosis in children should be made by a pediatrician through observation of the behavior and evaluation of the reports of parents and teachers, since there is no specific test. Therefore, it is recommended that parents write down any strange behaviors they observe in their child, as well as talk to the teachers.

In adults, this diagnosis is easy to make, since it appears after a brain trauma and can be compared with what the person was able to do previously, which also ends up being identified by the person himself.

How the treatment is done

The treatment for dyspraxia is done through occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech therapy, as they are techniques that help to improve both the child's physical aspects such as muscle strength, balance and also psychological aspects, providing more autonomy and safety. In this way, it is possible to have a better performance in daily activities, social relationships and the ability to deal with the limitations imposed by dyspraxia.

Thus, an individualized intervention plan should be made, according to the needs of each person. In the case of children, it is also 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 the child's development and maintain the training of techniques performed with health professionals, are:

• Making puzzles: in addition to 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 it also requires coordination; Squeezing an anti-stress ball: allows to stimulate and increase the child's muscular strength; Throwing a ball: stimulates the child's coordination and notion of space.

At school, it is important that teachers pay attention to encourage the presentation of oral works instead of written ones, not asking for excessive work and avoid pointing out all the mistakes made by the child at work, working one at a time.