Is It Possible to Have Both Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Together? What are their Differences?
No matter how you look at it, learning differences or disorders are relatively common. Estimates show that they are sufficiently prevalent that most classrooms will have at least one student that experiences learning disorders; many will have 2 or even 3.
With that said, many parents ask medical practitioners and educators about the possibility of their child having more than one of these differences. Even adults who are in the process of getting a late diagnosis will ask these questions. And it’s obvious why: people want to know about the range of possible challenges. In addition, a lot of adults are looking for ways to explain the struggles they had as children. Since those challenges can have an affect on adult life, answers remain valuable into adulthood.
That brings us to the questions behind this article. First, can someone have both dyslexia and dyspraxia. And how can tell the two apart, even if someone has both specific learning differences (SLDs). To that end, I’m going to start out with brief descriptions of both dyslexia and dyspraxia. Then, we’ll talk about the differences. Finally, let’s look at how these challenges can combine in some people.
Dyslexia: a brief description
At its most basic, dyslexia is an SLD that affects people’s ability to read and understand writing. As the dyslexia experts at Yale University define it, dyslexia is a condition that causes difficulties in learning how to read and spell, and which is unexpected considering someone’s intelligence. Most experts also stipulate that, for someone to receive the diagnosis of dyslexia, he or she must have gotten age-appropriate, competent instruction in reading. Most diagnostic instructions have this proviso.
From here, it gets a little bit more complex. The most common manifestation of dyslexia is trouble with “encoding and decoding:” that is, turning linguistic sounds into letters, words, and phrases. Or alternately, turning those letters and words into the sounds of language. Practically applied, this means that someone has trouble spelling and reading words to the level that is expected of them.
In addition, there are a few other problems that can be part of the condition for many people. For instance, there’s the classic reversal or confusion of similar letters when reading or writing. Many people with dyslexia struggle with reading at a normal speed, or in composing written material in an efficient manner. Poor organizational skills and bad handwriting can also occur. Finally, problems with attention are common.
What effects does this have on people with dyslexia? While nobody is the same, many students struggle with reading at a normal speed in their adult lives. And that child in most classrooms that has trouble sounding out words to read in public? There’s a high chance that he is the one with dyslexia. Luckily, proper interventions can significantly alleviate the problems for most people.
Dyspraxia: what you need to know
Although the most common term for this condition nowadays is dyspraxia, there are two other terms that are useful for understanding what it is. The first one is “developmental coordination disorder,” and the other one is “clumsy child syndrome.” What do these terms have in common? An emphasis on coordination.
Dyspraxia is a form of learning difference or disability that affects both fine and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills are the ability to easily regulate smaller muscles to achieve a purpose. For instance, writing, typing, and wiggling your toes require fine motor skills. Gross motor skills pertain to larger muscles, such as walking or kicking a ball. With dyspraxia, these skills are impaired because the brain doesn’t send those signals to muscles properly.
Naturally, not being able to move as easily as someone else has significant disadvantages. For instance, like someone with dyslexia, many students struggle with messy handwriting. They’ll also frequently struggle with sequencing: First A, then B, and so on. Depending on the student, this can make a huge difference in their ability to excel at sports and in physical education classes.
Whether it’s a sequencing issue, poor coordination, or both, people with dyspraxia often appear clumsy. Some of them run into things or lean on objects to keep their balance. More subtly, dyspraxia can cause bad handwriting, abnormal posture, or even trouble with attention. And, like dyslexia, people with dyspraxia perform poorly in these areas in comparison with their peers of comparable intelligence and instruction.
Ways in which dyslexia, dyspraxia are similar
Understanding the way in which dyspraxia and dyslexia are different does require some discussion of the similarities. As I already mentioned, one of the similarities is difficulty with handwriting. This can include messy writing, increased time required to write, and confused or poorly formed letters. Of course, with poorly formed letters you can also have some that appear to be wrong: it’s easy to mistake a cursive lower-case Q, G, and P depending on the script.
Concentration is frequently affected by both
Another similarity is difficulties with concentration. When someone must work hard to form letters or distinguish them from each other on a page, it’s easy to focus just on that. In turn, other tasks can be easily neglected. In addition, mental fatigue and frustration with a task can set in quickly, especially when someone is surrounded by people that are having fewer challenges. Finally, a lot of people with either condition struggle with directions, like right and left.
Both academic achievement and life skills can be affected
Although most people don’t realize this, both dyslexia and dyspraxia can affect academics and life skills. For instance, reading is critical for learning most academic subjects in schools. In order to learn math, science, and history, most students need to read textbooks and other materials. Dyspraxia makes it more difficult to play sports and perform other tasks, such as making artwork.
In terms of life skills, poor reading abilities can make the world of work more difficult for people with dyslexia. Some adults with dyslexia can also have trouble with organization or timekeeping. With dyspraxia, difficulties with timekeeping are also commonplace. Plus, many people have trouble with tasks such as typing, which is also a frequent requirement in the workplace.
They have a developmental origin
However, these differences are somewhat variable. While differences in motor coordination is a hallmark of dyspraxia and reading difficulties of dyslexia, it’s important to understand that both are brain-based conditions. Both are present at the earliest stages of life, although dyslexia is arguably harder to notice early on. In addition, both represent deficits between achievement and potential, especially when it comes to developmental milestones and intelligence.
Differences between the two learning challenges
Studying the nature of and similarities between dyslexia and dyspraxia brings us to the other side of the coin: how they’re different. The first observation is that dyslexia and dyspraxia are disorders that affect different aspects of human functioning. Dyslexia is primarily related to writing and the perception of words on a page, while dyspraxia primarily affects motor skills. Both are differences in the way that someone’s brain processes information, and in many cases, there are overlaps in how it “looks” or behaves. However, from here there are several key differences.
Dyslexia and dyspraxia involve a different primary type of impairment.
While it’s obvious that dyslexia and dyspraxia have some similar symptoms, the causes of these features are typically different. This is true because the two learning differences have a different core impairment. For dyslexia, this is a deficit in written language skills. Dyspraxia, on the other hand, primarily deals with movement.
Let’s look at this on a practical level. Let’s say that someone has trouble with messy handwriting. For the person with dyslexia, this is likely to be a perceptual or coding problem. In other words, it could be that this person is confusing letters so that they look the same. Or, they might be having trouble recalling what letters go into which words, and so forth. By contrast, someone with dyspraxia is more likely to be struggling with the mechanical aspect of writing. Those letters are simply difficult to form.
Someone with dyslexia may move much better than someone with dyspraxia
Although there are people who have dyslexia and are clumsy (we’ll get to this soon), this isn’t a feature of the disorder. People with dyslexia do sometimes have trouble with movement tasks, but their nature and cause are much different. For instance, in dyslexia the problem is typically more focused on differentiating right from left or deciding what should go first or second.
On the other hand, in dyspraxia problems with motor coordination are more comprehensive. Many people struggle with kicking a ball, and also with balance. Here, the reason isn’t keeping the sequences straight. Instead, it’s a problem of the muscles and nerves working together properly. For that reason, clumsiness is typically a much bigger problem with dyspraxia. And, as a rule, people with dyslexia move more efficiently than people with dyspraxia.
Someone with dyspraxia may have an easier time with sounding out words
When it comes to reading, the differences between dyslexia and dyspraxia are also evident, especially out loud. Someone with dyspraxia will likely not have trouble reading the words on a page silently. This means that when they are studying or enjoying a good book, there isn’t much difference between them and the general population. On the other hand, someone with dyslexia will often experience problems with reading in both contexts.
Why is this? Simply put, someone with dyspraxia doesn’t necessarily have trouble decoding words on a page. For this reason, reading may not be a problem. On the other hand, reading out loud may be a challenge if the dyspraxia affects his speech. With classic dyslexia symptoms, however, sounding out words is often more difficult. This is true both in the head and when spoken, since the disconnect is between the eyes and the brain.
It is possible to have both learning differences?
Absolutely. In fact, we have known that dyslexia and dyspraxia occur together frequently since at least the nineties. This is so common that studies indicate that more than half of people with dyslexia also have dyspraxia. Quite a few also suffer from ADHD, though that is outside our scope.
There’s more to this than the simple overlap of symptoms. Both learning differences involve a disconnect in how the brain relates to the body and outside stimuli. However, as we learned above, there are a lot of things about dyslexia and dyspraxia that are different from each other. Furthermore, the cause of a shared feature is different between the two conditions. Where it gets tricky is during evaluation time, when a psychologist or other professional must decide what is causing the challenges their client is facing.
A careful evaluation and proper interventions are key to success
During a psychoeducational evaluation, it’s easy to think that the professionals involved are simply checking off boxes. However, when done properly the evaluation will identify not just what challenges exist, but which learning difference is causing it. In addition, evaluators are supposed to ensure that the difference isn’t caused by a medical condition that should be treated instead.
As interventions are devised, whether for a child or adult, the object should be to both teach needed skills and address the underlying problem. So, for clumsiness due to dyspraxia, the focus is on neurological challenges and coping skills. If the same problem is caused by dyslexia, then the intervention will usually focus on linguistic and related areas of the brain (for example, by training the difference between right and left).
Dyslexia and dyspraxia, though different, are commonly found together. But that doesn’t mean that we are left with a single, cookie-cutter approach. Rather, professionals have many intervention options that are specific to each condition. Fortunately, with the right help many people with learning differences are able to lead normal adult lives.
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