Table of contents:
- What is dyspraxia?
- What are the causes of dyspraxia?
- Dyspraxia has many types
- Signs of dyspraxia
- What are the consequences?
- Diagnosis and treatment
You can walk, grip, type, kick, and wave, thanks to the coordination process of body movements that are orchestrated by the brain and various nerve cells. This process is very complex and even begins in infancy and continues to develop into childhood. The existence of problems with the nerves of the brain can cause the coordination process of body movements to be disturbed, which can last until adulthood. This condition is called dyspraxia.
What is dyspraxia?
Dyspraxia is a form of impaired development of fine and gross motor coordination in children.
This condition is caused by a disturbance in the nerves that makes it difficult for the brain to process motion command signals. Simply put, dyspraxia makes it difficult for children to think, plan, execute, and organize movements so that they are unable to perform general physical activities such as walking, jumping, or holding stationery as well as other children their age. Dyspraxia also causes a child to have awkward postures and movements.
Apart from interfering with the coordination of body movements, dyspraxia can also affect articulation and speech, perception and thinking. Even so, dyspraxia is different from other motor disorders such as cerebral palsy which can cause decreased cognitive function of the brain and level of intelligence.
Dyspraxia is a lifelong condition. Even so, there are many types of therapy that can help children adapt to daily activities.
What are the causes of dyspraxia?
Dyspraxia is a coordination disorder of body movements caused by disorders of the nerves that send signals from the brain to the muscles of the limbs. Many health experts believe that this condition is caused by genetic factors.
The risk of dyspraxia is reported to increase if the mother is accustomed to drinking alcohol while pregnant, or if the baby is born prematurely with a low weight. Even so, the mechanism that causes it is not certain.
Dyspraxia has many types
Based on the type of physical movement that is affected, dyspraxia can be divided into several categories, namely:
- Dyspraxia ideomotor : difficulty performing single-stage movements, such as combing hair and waving.
- Dyspraxia ideational : difficulty making sequential movements, such as when brushing your teeth or making the bed.
- Dyspraxia oromotor : difficulty moving the muscles to speak and pronounce sentences so that things that are spoken cannot be heard clearly and are difficult to understand.
- Dispractional constructional : difficulty understanding spatial or spatial shapes so that children find it difficult to understand and make geometric drawings and compose blocks.
Signs of dyspraxia
Dyspraxia is more common in boys than girls. The variation in symptoms that appear and their severity can be different for each child. The earliest symptoms can be present in infancy, such as a baby who is too late to turn on his stomach or walk.
Here are some signs of dispraction from three years of age to school age.
- Dyspraxia at three years of age:
- Difficulty using cutlery and prefer to use hands.
- Cannot ride a tricycle or play with the ball.
- Being late in being able to use the toilet.
- Dislikes puzzles and other composing toys.
- Talking late until the age of three.
- Dyspraxia from pre-school to elementary school age:
- Often bumps into people or objects.
- Difficulty jumping.
- Being late in using your dominant hand.
- Difficulty using writing tools.
- Trouble closing and unbuttoning.
- Difficulty pronouncing words.
- Difficulty interacting with other children.
- Dyspraxia at middle school age (SMP and SMA):
- Avoid sports lessons.
- Difficulty exercising.
- Difficulty following commands that require hand-eye coordination.
- Trouble following instructions and remembering them.
- Unable to stand for a long time.
- It is very easy to forget and often loses a lot of things.
- Difficulty understanding other people's non-verbal language.
What are the consequences?
Movement coordination disorders may also cause the following:
- Communication disorders - from difficulty speaking to expressing ideas / ideas. They also have difficulty adjusting the volume.
- Behavioral and emotional disorders - these include immature behavior and difficulty making friends with other people. They also tend to have anxiety about socializing with other people especially as they get older.
- Academic impairment - this is generally associated with the ability to write quickly to take notes as well as solve exam questions by handwriting.
Diagnosis and treatment
Symptoms of this disorder of movement coordination have been observed since children were 3 years old, but most cases have received an official diagnosis at the age of over five years.
The doctor may also check for other neurological conditions to make sure that the child's coordination is due to dyspraxia.
If a child is known to have dyspraxia, there are several things you can do to help him with his activities. Among others:
- Occupational therapyto improve activity skills, such as using tools and writing
- Talk therapy to train the child's ability to communicate more clearly.
- Perceptual motor therapy to improve language, visual, movement and listening and understanding skills.
In addition to therapy with a doctor,Some of the ways you can do at home to help children with dyspraxia are:
- Encourage children to actively move, by playing or light exercise such as swimming
- Playing puzzles to help the child's visual and spatial perception skills
- Encourage children to actively write and draw with writing tools such as pens, markers and colored pencils
- Play throwing balls to help with hand-eye coordination.
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