What is it?

Dyspraxia, also known as developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), 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.

How does it affect children?

Not every child who has dyspraxia has difficulties with their speech production. If they do have difficulties with their speech they may be referred to as having verbal dyspraxia or Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). Verbal dyspraxia is when a child has difficulties in being able to make and co-ordinate the movements needed to produce speech that is clear and easy to understand.

Symptoms

Every child with verbal dyspraxia is unique, and each child’s symptoms will vary depending in the severity of the condition. They may:

• Struggle to pronounce words correctly (effortful speech).
• Be able to say a word correctly one minute, but not the next.
• Have more difficulties with the beginning of words.
• Have more problem with longer words than shorter words.
• Be aware of their mistakes but often be unable to correct them.
• Speak more slowly.
• Be better at ‘automatic’ speech tasks such as counting and singing.
• Have a limited range of consonant and vowel sounds.

Some children may also have difficulty coordinating their mouths for eating, drinking and swallowing. For some children with verbal dyspraxia, they may benefit from additional visual supports for their communication including AAC devices.