Symptoms of Dyspraxia

• Motor skills: They may have difficulty holding a pencil or avoid playing with building blocks. They may be messy eaters, or move awkwardly.
• Speech and thought skills: Slow to respond to questions or instructions; limited concentration. Some children may have persistent language difficulties.

• Thought skills: Limited concentration; inability to follow more than 2 or 3 instructions.
  
• Motor skills: Difficulties with PE and ball skills; hard-to-read handwriting. The child may also appear clumsy in terms of spillages or falling over due to poor balance.
  
• Social skills: Difficulty in forming friendships and may be isolated in class.

Many of the symptoms above may persist. In addition, the following signs of dyspraxia may be present:

• Sensitive to different levels of light, sound and heat.
• Poor organisational skills, such as when planning essays or in time management.
• The child may tire easily and require longer periods of sleep and rest.

Again, some of the symptoms of dyspraxia listed above may still persist. In addition, an adult with dyspraxia may experience:

• Difficulties with judging distance, for example when driving or parking a car.
• Poor organisational skills: they may find it difficult to multi-task or to concentrate. Their short-term memory may be poor too.
• Cognitive skills may still exist, so they may find it challenging to complete forms.

In short: a person with dyspraxia is likely to have low self-esteem (at any age)… they may look like everyone else, but they struggle to do things that “the other kids” take for granted.