Guide To Dyspraxia Symptoms
Dyspraxia is a significant disorder. This condition affects up to six percent of the overall population! Many individuals also refer to it as 'developmental coordination disorder' due to some of its symptoms. These signs usually start during a patient's childhood, though they last throughout their lifetime. However, the symptoms are quite hard to pinpoint when seeking a diagnosis! They also include more than what the alternative name suggests.
Thankfully, there are many options for dyspraxia treatment! The focus, of course, is on symptom management. Occupational therapy for dyspraxia is the most common treatment. Many patients also receive cognitive behavioral therapy for dyspraxia. There are also several natural remedies for dyspraxia out there. Regular exercise is a great way to manage symptoms. Of course, patients must understand their symptoms before receiving treatment for dyspraxia!
Poor Posture
Many dyspraxia patients experience poor posture! This symptom is more common in children with this condition than adults. This symptom appears for different reasons. Many patients with this condition have weak muscle tone. This makes it harder for them to stay balanced and stand up straight!
Most individuals learn posture when they are young. They imitate others! However, this disorder has a negative influence on a patient's cognitive and learning abilities. Thus, they find it harder to learn to stand and sit up straight! Clearly, several factors trigger poor posture in individuals with dyspraxia.
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Poor Hand-Eye Coordination
Many individuals with this condition have poor hand-eye coordination. This symptom makes simple tasks a significant amount harder for them to complete! Typically, individuals use feed-forward control to perform an action. This means that they move their hands towards an object even before their eyes are focused on it! Unfortunately, studies indicate that dyspraxia patients do not do this. Instead, the studies show that they focus their eyes first and then move their hands!
Evidence also suggests that patients have trouble maintaining their focus on the object. Certain individuals even have vertical eye movement that is slower than horizontal eye movement! Changing their focus is also slower in many cases. All of these factors cause poor hand-eye coordination in individuals with dyspraxia.
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Perception Issues
Perception issues are also common in patients with this condition. They often have trouble differentiating between what they smell, see, taste, hear, and feel! Consider when individuals use their sense of touch. Most individuals can tell the difference between two textures. Dyspraxia patients have significant issues at doing this!
Many experts believe perception problems are why these patients have problems with certain tasks. This includes handwriting! Most patients with this disorder often pause when they are writing. They often have to think carefully about what they are going to write next. Many even have to physically coordinate this! Most experts connect this to the patient's senses of sight and touch. Individuals use these senses when planning the action. However, when dyspraxia sends the wrong signals, the movement is negatively affected!
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Clumsiness
This condition, as discussed, impacts a patient's hand-eye coordination. It also affects their overall coordination and movement! Thus, many patients experience significant clumsiness. This symptom is so common that dyspraxia used to be referred to as 'clumsy child syndrome.' Many patients with it have significant balance issues when walking. They cannot stay steady very well! Weak muscle tone is a common reason for this. In addition, the mentioned issues with hand-eye coordination also make patients more clumsy!
Most individuals consider clumsiness the symptom that disrupts their life the most. Adult patients have a hard time doing their job effectively. Children have a tougher time with many school tasks when they deal with this symptom as well! In fact, since this symptom develops early, many patients also struggle with self-esteem problems.
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Trouble Learning New Skills
This disorder does not affect overall intelligence. However, patients often have trouble learning new skills! There are a couple of reasons for this symptom. One is that this condition impairs an individual's visual-spatial working memory. This is the part of memory that allows individuals to remember shapes, colors, and the location of items. Dyspraxia impacts short-term memory the most. The result is that patients cannot learn new skills as fast as others!
It is also worth noting that this condition used to be primarily viewed as a coordination problem. However, this is not reality. It is a learning disorder as well! In fact, many patients with this condition also have autism spectrum disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Both of these disorders affect an individual's ability to learn new skills and their memory. They are quite similar to dyspraxia in this way!