Childhood dyspraxia explained

A pre-school child with dyspraxia might:

• be late to roll over, sit, walk and talk
• be unable to run or hop
• find jigsaws or sorting games hard
• misunderstand words such as ‘in', ‘on', ‘behind' and ‘in front of'
• lose interest easily

A child of school age with dyspraxia might:

• be unable to speak clearly
• have trouble with reading and maths
• have difficulty copying from the board
• find PE lessons very difficult
• have great difficulty organising themself
• have a short concentration span.

If your child's teacher thinks your child is dyspraxic, they will probably ask for advice from the school's special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) and maybe also consult an educational psychologist. A class teacher might draw up a SEN support plan for your child with targets for them. They might also:

• make sure that your child is sitting near to them so that they can give help more often
• break your child's work down into smaller, more manageable tasks
• sit your child away from any possible distractions, such as class pets or the computer
• allow your child extra time when getting changed for PE lessons

Your child might be helped by an occupational therapist or a speech and language therapist, probably at a local clinic.

If the help provided by your child's school and the therapists isn't enough, your child might be formally assessed. Reports will be written by your child's teachers, an educational psychologist and anyone else who has been working with them. You will also be asked about what your child is like at home. This can lead to the Local Education Authority drawing up an Educational, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Plan.

This EHC Plan will describe your child's difficulties and what will be done to help them. Your child might, for instance, be given a non-teaching assistant to work with them for part of the time at school.