Dyspraxia - What is Dyspraxia?

Developmental dyspraxia is more common in males than in females, and has been believed to affect 8% to 10% of all children (Dyspraxia Trust, 1991). Ripley, Daines, and Barrett state that 'Developmental dyspraxia is difficulty getting our bodies to do what we want when we want them to do it', and that this difficulty can be considered significant when it interferes with the normal range of activities expected for a child of their age. Madeline Portwood makes the distinction that dyspraxia is not due to a general medical condition, but that it may be due to immature neuron development. The word "dyspraxia" comes from the Latin word "dys" meaning difficulty with and the Greek word "praxis", meaning acting or doing.

Part of a continuum of related disorders, dyspraxia is also known as developmental co-ordination disorder, and may also be present in people with autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia and dyscalculia, among others. Dyspraxia is described as having two main elements

Ideational dyspraxia
Difficulty with planning a sequence of coordinated movements.

Ideo-Motor dyspraxia
Difficulty with executing a plan, even though it is known.