Dyspraxia (DCD) often leads to moods like anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, frustration, and overwhelm, stemming from struggles with coordination, social situations, and daily tasks, causing feelings of inadequacy, isolation, and stress, and sometimes resulting in perfectionism or temper tantrums as coping mechanisms.
Children may face difficulties in school and adults may face difficulties in work. The emotional impact of dealing with the symptoms of dyspraxia and the social isolation that some individuals feel can result in mental health difficulties. Anxiety and depression are fairly common in individuals with dyspraxia.
Problems with movement and co-ordination are the main symptoms of DCD. Children may have difficulty with: playground activities such as hopping, jumping, running, and catching or kicking a ball. They often avoid joining in because of their lack of co-ordination and may find physical education difficult.
Dyspraxia can cause people to experience stress and frustration when they struggle with day-to-day tasks that require coordination, such as getting dressed, cleaning, cooking and driving. Dyspraxic adults may also walk with a different gait, bump into things frequently and/or have trouble participating in sports.
If you have dyspraxia it may affect:
Meltdowns are more common in students with sensory sensitivities, anxiety, or learning differences like dyslexia or ADHD. Difficulties in reading, writing, or processing information can lead to frustration, anxiety, and overwhelming feelings.
The challenges that come with dyspraxia should never overshadow the incredible strengths that individuals with the condition bring to the table. By embracing these superpowers—creativity, problem-solving, persistence, empathy, and adaptability—organisations can harness a new level of innovation and performance.
People with dyspraxia can also have difficulty with memory, time management and organisation. Alongside these challenges – and maybe because of them – many people experience social and emotional difficulties such as low confidence, doubting their own abilities and worries about social situations.
Though there are careers that utilise the assets of dyspraxia, such as empathy, and leadership, more than others. These jobs include teaching, coaching, leadership, creative arts and business development, amongst other things.
Dyspraxia can make it difficult for people to maintain attention and focus, especially when there are distractions and interruptions. Some people can also experience excessive tiredness.
People with dyspraxia may also experience issues with emotional regulation, such as: Frustration and anger – this may stem from the perception that they struggle with tasks that people without dyspraxia see as simple or routine. High-pressured situations such as exams or job interviews may exacerbate these feelings.
Signs of dyspraxia in older children
Difficulty with balance — they may bump into objects, fall frequently or seem clumsy. Difficulty with sports and activities, such as riding a bike; jumping; and catching, throwing or kicking a ball. They may avoid participating in activities because of their lack of coordination.
DCD is often confused with dyspraxia. Here's the thing, they are very similar and cause a lot of the same types of clumsiness and disorganisation. However, dyspraxia involves planning of tasks. A child with dyspraxia has difficulty to use toys and equipment in novel ways.
Some common signs of difficulty with emotional regulation in people with dyspraxia or autism include frequent meltdowns or outbursts, difficulty transitioning between activities or routines, and trouble understanding or expressing their own feelings.
It has also been suggested that disturbances of posture, also known as dyspraxia, as well as impairments in locomotion, facial expression, interests and affect, and inattention to other people's expressions, could be early markers of ASD.
Moderate to extreme difficulty doing physical tasks is experienced by some people with dyspraxia, and fatigue is common because so much energy is expended trying to execute physical movements correctly. Some dyspraxic people have hypotonia, low muscle tone, which can also detrimentally affect balance.
Dyspraxia often co-occurs with other learning differences, such as dyslexia, ADHD and autism. Many people with dyspraxia are creative, determined and good at problem-solving.
The following famous people with dyspraxia have done exactly that by using their talents to help them overcome their challenges:
Dyspraxia can disrupt the visual information coming to the brain from the eyes, causing issues with visual processing. Because of this disruption, the brain sometimes has to be selective with the information it considers, causing certain things to be ignored or missed.
Poor sleep, stress and depression are common. Adults with dyspraxia can be prone to low self-esteem, emotional outbursts, phobias, fears, obsessions and compulsions, and addictive behaviours.
For the majority of those with the condition there is no known cause, however, current research suggests that it is the unresponsive or varied development of neurones in the brain, rather than brain damage, which form the foundations of dyspraxia.
Because of their dyspraxia, kids can have trouble controlling their muscles. This includes small muscles, like the ones in their hands. This can make everyday tasks like writing and brushing their teeth a struggle. It can also make them seem uncoordinated, immature and socially awkward.
Famous actors like Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom all have dyslexia. Pablo Picasso's teachers described him as “having difficulty differentiating the orientation of letters”.
Dyspraxia has been recognised by both doctors and therapists since the early 1900's and was originally described as “Congenital Maladroitness”. In 1925 French Doctors and Therapists called it “Motor Weakness”. Later in 1937 Dr Samuel Orton described Dyspraxia as one of the six most common developmental disorders.
It is a complex interplay between motor, sensory, perceptual and cognitive processes. The praxis system is made up of a series of functions associated with particular areas of the brain including the frontal and parietal cortex, basal ganglia, and white matter tracts between these areas.