How To Identify And Treat Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia is a medical condition where you will notice improper motor movement of the limbs leading to difficulty in mobility.

Apart from this, dyspraxia patients also suffer from speech related abilities. Their work output gets affected drastically due to reduced perception and thought.

Signs To Look Out For:

Initial symptoms of dyspraxia include delay in crawling, walking and sitting in the affected baby. In some cases, the condition is extremely mild, making it difficult to differentiate the affected child from normal children. General symptoms of dyspraxia include speech related problems where the child finds it extremely difficult to pronounce different letters or words. In some cases, the child may end up speaking inappropriately in unusual conditions.

Difficulty in walking due to decreased coordination between brain signals and limb movement is noticed in a large number of cases. Difficulty in carrying out orders due to short term memory loss is observed. Increased sensitivity towards sound, touch and light is also noticed

Causes For Dyspraxia:

The exact cause for dyspraxia is unknown. Interference between the brain signals causes decreased coordination between the mind and body. There has been a link between low birth weight babies or those born prematurely with increased chances of developing dyspraxia.

If the mother smokes or drinks alcohol when pregnant, several dangerous compounds present in cigarettes and alcohol can permanently damage the development of the fetal nervous system, leading to a host of brain related disorders including dyspraxia.  If one or more family members have an incidence of dyspraxia, there are increased chances of the baby developing the same condition.

What Is Unique About Dyspraxia?

Although the child has motor difficulty and short term memory loss, he/she has excellent long term memory. These children are very quick and efficient in solving mathematical questions. Although they do not perform very well in a group environment, interacting with them on a one to one basis will bring about amazing results.

How To Diagnose Dyspraxia?

Dyspraxia is diagnosed after going through the history of the child’s developmental skills. The delay observed in motor skills, especially those related to crawling and walking during infancy is recorded. The ability of the child to balance himself, frequency of tripping and falling over are monitored closely to diagnose the condition.

Short term memory loss and difficulty in following orders or performing work in a sequence are some common signs for diagnosing dyspraxia. The child’s sensitivity to sound, touch and light is also observed. Difficulty in analyzing the distance between a person and the object, difficulty in processing visuals that move at high speed are other symptoms used for diagnosis.

Treatment For Dyspraxia:

Interacting with the child on a one on one basis is one of the most effective ways to deal with the condition. Dyspraxia does not have a complete cure but the symptoms can be drastically minimized if detected early with proper emotional and intellectual support from teachers, parent and therapists, giving the child a positive environment to grow and develop.

Speech and language therapy is a very useful technique to help the child develop and improve his/her communication skills.  This is an immense confidence booster for the affected child.

Repeating instructions is a very effective method to make the child perform the required work. Creating an environment where the child performs the same type of work everyday is a very effective technique to prevent stumbling or tripping while working.

Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment to improve the child’s motor abilities, speech and communication related issues along with positive support and care are adequate to help the child lead a normal life.