What Treatment Activities Help with Dyspraxia?

Whether you are a parent just learning that your child has dyspraxia, an adult who recently got evaluated for developmental dyspraxia, or someone who acquired it later, chances are that you want to know about dyspraxia treatment activities. After all, it’s natural that we want to live up to our full potential, and that our children have the best life possible. In addition, a lot of people are initially confused about the diagnosis and what it entails.

Strictly speaking, dyspraxia is a condition with a cluster of symptoms that vary from person to person and can be mild to severe. This means that no two people with dyspraxia are alike, and that no treatment plan will be exactly the same. One reason for this is that treatment is based on each person’s unique strengths and weaknesses. With that said, let’s look at some possible impairments and ways in which they can be addressed.

An overview of dyspraxia-related impairments

At its core, dyspraxia is a deficit in the brain’s ability to regulate the way muscles work. This results in a cluster of difficulties in fine motor skills, gross motor skills, speech, coordination, and time management. In some cases, time management also suffers. These difficulties can show up in any part of the body, and can result in challenges for any number of everyday life skills. Let’s break these characteristics down a bit.

Fine motor skills

Simply put, fine motor skills are the ability to move smaller muscles in your body. Most of us think of these in terms of buttoning a shirt, tying a shoe, or writing by hand. Fine motor skills also include wiggling your toes, chewing food, and more.

When there are fine motor deficits, it can result in many different challenges, depending on the person. One of the most obvious issues for smaller children is tying shoes. In grade school, it might be learning how to write. And for adults, doing certain hobbies or typing might be harder.

Of course, one of the most common problems for people with dyspraxia is difficulty with handwriting. Although we live in a computerized world, most of us need to write on paper in some situations. It can even be helpful to handwrite your thoughts or jot down a shopping list.

People who have fine motor problems, then, might need help learning how to do these things. Or, they may require adaptations to the way things are normally done. For instance, some people can switch to slip on shoes or those with hook and loop closures. Nonetheless, these aren’t interventions in and of themselves.

Gross motor skills

Likewise, gross motor skills are often affected by dyspraxia. This is true to such an extent that clumsiness is one of the most recognizable symptoms, especially in children. Gross motor skills are ones which involve larger muscles, such as arms and legs, rather than smaller ones.

People with dyspraxia can struggle with tasks such as catching a ball, kicking while running, maintaining rhythm, and coordinating movements. Many people also don’t walk the same way as most of us. So, they may trip over their own feet, or walk in a swaying motion, for example.

Depending on the nature and severity of gross motor challenges, many people have difficulties playing sports. The child with dyspraxia is often the one who is chosen last on the playground or walks into a wall or furniture for no apparent reason. These situations in turn make it either more difficult or undesirable to practice gross motor skills.

Speech and language

According to the Dyspraxia Foundation, many people with this condition struggle with speech and language. Especially with children, speech can seem unintelligible. Other impediments can be slurred speech, stuttering, and difficulty forming words. Children and adults can have trouble expressing their thoughts and being understood for this reason. Notably, this is one deficit that often occurs with acquired dyspraxia, such as through a stroke.

Struggles with coordination

If fine motor and gross motor skills deficits aren’t enough, struggles with coordination can exacerbate them. Here, coordination is the ability to do multiple movements in the proper sequence or at the same time. Some people also struggle with what’s called “hand eye coordination,” or the ability of hands and arms to react to what the eye is seeing. A great example of this would be watching a baseball as it flies through the air in order to catch it more easily. Another might be chasing a ball with a tennis racket or something similar.

A poor sense of time, space, and direction.

People with dyspraxia can have trouble sensing how long they have been doing something, or how long an hour takes. They might have trouble planning ahead or managing their schedule easily. This can look different depending on the age of the person involved: a child won’t be late for school if a parent can keep them on schedule, for instance. But an adult might always be running late.

Similarly, space and direction can be a challenge. For instance, someone might struggle with knowing how far an object is, or how fast it’s moving. Most of us do this naturally but miscalculating something like speed or direction can make that person miss something important. In the imaginary baseball game, for instance, they might be able physically to catch the ball, but fail to be in the right place to do so when the ball hits the ground. Most people miss, but this is more acute.

So, what dyspraxia treatment activities can help?

Realistically, anything that helps someone develop the skills they are struggling with. Whether it’s learning to tie shoes, to write, or play sports, there’s a wide range of interventions that can help. In addition, practicing some everyday activities can hone those skills over time. Each intervention is geared to address a specific deficit or type of deficit. Some need to be given by professionals, while others can be practiced at home.

Occupational therapy

One of the best interventions for many people with dyspraxia is occupational therapy. Essentially occupational therapy involves teaching people how to do things that are difficult for them. For example, in everyday medicine you’ll often see an occupational therapist helping someone learn to use a walker or cane. However, for dyspraxia the interventions through occupational therapy are a little bit different.

As has been pointed out by occupational therapists, an OT can often teach a child with dyspraxia how to tie their shoes or button a shirt. For most people, this is second nature from relatively early on. An OT will determine if each individual can realistically do this skill in a manner that most of us would, given sufficient practice. If so, the skill is taught and drilled like you would with a typical child. Except that the instruction is more intense and individualized. On the other hand, the OT might decide there is a better strategy for dealing with the impairment. Here, they might modify shoe tying for this person or recommend a different approach to keeping shoes on their feet.

Another thing that an OT can often help with is handwriting. In occupational therapy, there are specialized tools that can be used to help practice these skills. Often, the patient and their support system is taught how to use the equipment. Over time, this person might find the special materials are no longer needed, or that their dependence on them is reduced. Or, they might use these things for life.

Finally, an occupational therapist can help with certain gross motor skills, such as climbing stairs. An OT will develop an individualized plan to ensure that each person with dyspraxia can move as well as possible, so that they can carry on everyday life with minimal impairment.

Physiotherapy

Also called “physical therapy,” this is a medical specialty that addresses many of the problems faced by people with dyspraxia. However, they are more famous for treating injuries, such as by restoring someone’s ability to move a joint, or aiding post operation recovery. Other things that they treat are poor balance, bad hand-eye coordination, and neurological side effects of a stroke.

For people with dyspraxia, physical therapy can be a blessing. A qualified physical therapist will diagnose the motor functioning deficits, and help develop a treatment plan. There are several options. For instance, the PT might prescribe and teach exercises that will help you or your child with balance. Or, they might devise an intervention to improve hand-eye coordination. They work with both fine motor and gross motor skills, so there are plenty of options within this field.

With physiotherapy, many of the interventions can be practiced at home. For example, an exercise that requires little to no special equipment is easy to do at home. This is handy when the patient goes on vacation or needs extra benefits. Best of all, the interventions can be altered over time to reflect improved functioning.

Speech therapy

Related to both physio and occupational therapy is speech therapy or speech pathology. This intervention is used when the person with dyspraxia has trouble with speech or swallowing. Think of this as physio for the mouth. Speech pathologists teach people strategies to improve their ability to speak clearly. For instance, they might work on a stuttering problem, or with slurred speech. Over time, the goal is for the patient to speak clearly and be able to freely express themselves.

Naturally, the ability to speak properly helps in most areas of life. Children will be able to talk to their peers without being made fun of or misunderstood. And adults can introduce themselves properly or make presentations at work.

Specialized physical education (children and youth)

For children and youth with dyspraxia, physical education classes can seem like a nightmare. Few things are as embarrassing as not being able to kick the ball, fumbling a catch, or running into something. Luckily, the British Dyspraxia Foundation has some wonderful suggestions for adapted learning. Examples include having the child learn to navigate an obstacle course rather than football kicking drills. These don’t embarrass the child and teach sequencing. Over time, these activities should also help strengthen muscles and build confidence.

Playing games/getting exercise

Of course, physical activity doesn’t only have to be at school. In fact, everyone should be active on a regular basis. Once again the Dyslexia Foundation put out a great guide to physical exercises you can do at home. Whether you can’t go out due to bad weather or are navigating a health emergency, these can be enjoyed any time. In addition, some of these activities train fine motor skills and sequencing. This way, you can learn life skills and improve functioning anytime.

Sports and hobbies

Lastly, while traditional sports and hobbies may be difficult for many people with dyspraxia, they aren’t always impossible. One of the best things that patients and their caregivers can do is find a sport that they can play. For instance, someone might have trouble catching a ball, but be great at swimming or horseback riding. Here, find a coach who has the patience and willpower to help ensure success.

Likewise, hobbies can be enjoyable while also helping. For example, if someone struggles with certain fine motor skills, they might find making models is too difficult. But, they might love knitting. Over time, knitting can help strengthen certain muscles. Plus, this person will have found something they can enjoy. As with sports, it’s important to find an instructor who has the patience to teach. Alternatively, some hobbies can be watched and adapted.

Dyspraxia can seem like a scary, confusing diagnosis. Fortunately, there are a lot of interventions and dyspraxia treatment activities which can help improve symptoms. Some are boring, and may seem like a chore, but others can be fun and rewarding. Either way, there’s a lot of hope for people with dyspraxia to maximize their potential.

For further reading on dyspraxia, please see:

To receive our advice based on your self-assessment of your child, please download our free checklist below: