Our page on Understanding Dyspraxia explains that dyspraxia, also known as developmental coordination disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder, similar to dyslexia or dyscalculia. It affects the development of motor skills—that is, the skills that we use to move around, and interact with the world in a physical way.

Dyspraxia is a lifelong condition, and cannot be 'cured'. It is therefore important that children with the condition are helped and supported to live with their condition, and learn ways to manage it.

This page explains how parents and carers can help with this process.

What is Dyspraxia?

Dyspraxia is probably best understood as movement and coordination problems. This means that it affects the development of what are known as 'motor skills'.

These skills fall into two types: 'gross' and 'fine' motor skills.

• Gross motor skills are the skills that we use to move ourselves around using large muscles, in ways like running, walking and riding a bike.

• Fine motor skills are the small muscle movements used, for example, to control a pen and pencil, or to type.

Dyspraxia seems to disrupt the messages between brain and body, but we do not really understand how this happens.

The Effects of Dyspraxia

Children with dyspraxia may be slower than their peers to reach movement-type milestones such as sitting up, crawling and walking. As they reach school age, they may struggle to hold and control crayons, pencils or scissors, or learn to ride a bike or scooter.

They will therefore inevitably appear 'different' from many of their peers.

They may also find it difficult to do some of the things that are 'expected' when they start school. Activities like fastening their shoes, getting changed for a games lesson, or participating in playground games like skipping may be a real challenge.

These challenges are not unexpected.

However, what may be more unexpected—for parents and teachers alike—is the effect on executive function.

Children with dyspraxia—like many other neurodivergent children—often find it much harder to process information. They may be unable to sit still for very long, or need to fidget a lot. They may find it hard to concentrate. They may find it difficult to understand concepts involving time or direction (in/out, up/down). They may also lose things a lot, even if those things are right there in front of them.

Research has also confirmed that children with dyspraxia are often very literal in their thinking, which may affect their understanding of what has been said.

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Ways to Support Children with Dyspraxia

What can you do as a parent to support your child?

1. Make sure that your child has a diagnosis.

Early intervention is known to be helpful with dyspraxia.

A diagnosis unlocks doors to help and (hopefully) understanding. It will not open all doors, and there will still be plenty of people who are less than accommodating. However, without a diagnosis, your child is unfortunately likely to be simply labelled 'lazy' or 'difficult'.

If you are concerned about whether your child is meeting developmental milestones, or that they are developing slower than their peers, it is a good idea to talk to your doctor or health visitor. They can make a referral for an assessment.

To get this referral, you may need to be able to show a pattern of behaviour that has lasted several months. It may therefore be helpful to keep a diary of dates of milestones, evidence of 'clumsiness', and odd behaviour that doesn't quite fit 'the norm'.

2. Advocate for your child

Dyspraxia is relatively common—like dyslexia, it is estimated to affect around 1 in 20 children, so there is probably a child with dyspraxia in most classrooms.

However, despite this, it is relatively poorly understood.

You may therefore need to advocate extensively for your child to get the accommodations that they need to thrive (or even just survive) in school.

This advocacy is likely to continue throughout their educational career—although of course as they get older, they will become better able to advocate for themselves.

You may need to help them develop their self-advocacy skills by providing them with phrases that they can use with teachers, such as 'May I just have a few minutes more to finish this off?', 'Would you mind explaining that again?' or 'Please will you leave the slide up so that I can refer back to it?'.

3. Encourage and support your child

Children are often extremely quick to pick up on 'differences'.

Both your child and those around them are likely to notice that they find some things much more difficult than other children. They may also be equally quick to suggest that this means that there is something 'wrong' with them.

It is important that children with dyspraxia understand that this is not true.

There is nothing 'wrong' with them. Their brains are simply wired differently. This actually gives them some real strengths, such as ability to think more creatively. Partly, this arises because they have to find solutions to problems that life throws at them—but it is also partly because they do not process information like 'most' people.

As they get older, make sure that they have access to information about their condition, and hopefully get to know other people with dyspraxia.

4. Get professional help for your child if they need it

There are some forms of therapy that may be helpful for children with dyspraxia.

For example, working with an occupational therapist is often useful. They can provide exercises to strengthen particular muscles, or tools to help with certain tasks.

Later on, a specialist tutor may be helpful to provide advice on strategies that could help your child.

It may therefore be worth seeking out professional help if your child is struggling.

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5. Work with the school

This may sound obvious, but you will need to work closely with the school, and with any other specialists involved in your child's life.

You need to build relationships with your child's class teachers, the teacher in charge of managing special educational needs (in the UK, the SENCo), and anyone else with a key role.

The point here is that when you email or call, they will be prepared to listen and respond. They need to know that you advocate, but not unreasonably, and that you are always prepared to work with them on what can be delivered.

6. Provide practical help

Obviously you can help your child with tasks at home—but there is also practical help that you can provide that will help them when they are at school.

For example, Velcro fastenings on shoes are much easier to manage than shoelaces. Trousers with elasticated waists avoid fights with zips and buttons. Showing your child how to remove a shirt without undoing all the buttons can make getting dressed much quicker.

You can also provide tools like fatter pencils or extra grips for use in school. Test them at home first to make sure they help, and check with the teacher—but these kinds of tools can make a lot of difference.

7. Encourage physical activity, both large and small

It may seem odd to encourage physical activity among children who find this difficult.

However, using muscles seems to help those muscles 'learn' how to move more effectively and efficiently. It really is a case of 'practice makes perfect', even if children with dyspraxia may require more practice than their peers to reach the same level of proficiency.

It is therefore a good idea to make plenty of opportunities to be outside moving around.

Running, walking, climbing, riding a bike or scooter, and playing at a playground are all good options. Learning to swim is an essential life skill, as well as good coordination practice. Throwing and catching something like a beanbag is also helpful.

For fine motor skills, you can encourage drawing (perhaps with big, fat chalks, which are easier to hold), or finger painting, or printing with various shapes. Jigsaw puzzles are also good, because you have to pick up the pieces and place them precisely.

Doing more activities will also help you to find your child's strengths, as well as develop weaker skills. This, in turn, will improve their self-confidence.

8. Adjust your expectations

With neurodivergent children, it is no good thinking about what they 'should' be able to do.

Instead, you have to adjust your expectations, and simply help them to develop the skills that they need in the world.

For example, a child with dyspraxia is likely to need help getting dressed for far longer than their peers. Just keep providing the help while they need it.

9. Encourage independence

You may need to provide help for longer than you expected—but children with dyspraxia also need to develop independence.

Parents have a key role in encouraging this, by making sure that children are given appropriate tasks and responsibilities to achieve by themselves. Start with them helping you, move onto you helping them, and finally to them doing it by themselves.

10. Build your own support system

Having a neurodivergent child can be challenging.

It can feel like hard work to help them navigate issues, especially if those are issues that you yourself navigated with ease as a child. Make sure that you have your own support network of friends, family, and professionals to help you cope, and provide advice and support when you need it.

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And finally...

Remember that everyone is different.

Not everyone with dyspraxia has the same challenges or difficulties, and what works for one person may not work for another. It is therefore important to see your child as themselves, and not simply as someone with dyspraxia. Work with them and their needs, and use other people's experience as inspiration, not an instruction manual.

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