Dyspraxia in Further and Higher Education

In many ways dyspraxia and dyslexia overlap and often co-exist in the same person. Dyspraxia is an impairment of the organisation of movement that is often accompanied by problems with language, perception and thought. Dyslexia is primarily a difficulty with learning to read, write and spell and is also generally accompanied by other problems such as poor organisational abilities. The pattern of difficulties in dyspraxia (or Developmental Co-ordination Disorder) may vary from person to person as with dyslexia.

A dyspraxia student may have difficulties with: -

Planning their movements and being aware of the space around them: They frequently bump into things and trip over things. They may have a clumsy posture and poor muscle tone.

Perception: They find it difficult to judge heights and distances: making them appear to be more clumsy.

Co-ordinating different parts of the body: They may find it hard to catch, throw and balance as well as moving the different parts of their body without looking. Sport and dancing can cause acute problems.

Laterality: It may be difficult to work out right from left without a reminder.

Manual and practical work: They may find it difficult to handle keyboards, tools, cars, bandages, laboratory and cooking equipment etc. safely and easily and tend to knock over and spill things often.

Handwriting: They tend to write laboriously slowly and/or untidily and illegibly. Accurate copying can be difficult.

Language: They may find it difficult to pronounce some words and some may stutter.

Concentration They may take a long time to complete a task and find it difficult to do more than one thing at a time.

Short-term memory and sequencing tasks: They may find it hard to make sense of information when listening or reading instructions, taking notes from books and lecturers and dealing with maps and charts. They may keep forgetting and losing things as well as finding it difficult to spell.

Organisation and thought: They may operate in a muddled way, having little sense of direction, time or weight. They may constantly miss appointments and hand in assignments late because they find it difficult to organise themselves and their work. They may find it difficult to express themselves easily.

Response to external stimulation: They may be over or under sensitive to noise, touch, light and taste.

All the above can lead to Emotional Problems, making them easily depressed, angry, frustrated and anxious. Many have low self-esteem. They can find it difficult to relate to others, especially in groups and read social cues correctly. These difficulties will become more apparent in times of stress such as during and before exams and when embarking on a new project. They also tend to be erratic and have ‘good and bad days’ in normal circumstances.

Strategies that can be adopted by the college in particular by the Student/Dyslexia/ Disability Department

1) Special guidance with regard to both their capability or successfully completing the course of study and the suitability of a particular course to lead to further study and employment should be provided.

2) Formal tuition in the planning and organisation of work, both practical and academic. Give examples of essays, reports and projects. Break down processes to steps with an opportunity for feedback to check understanding.

3) Strategies to compensate for poor memory and organisational skills, e.g. the use of mnemonics, work timetables, flow charts and mind maps, hand-outs (preferably in large print) from lectures

4) Training in relaxation techniques, as can fatty acids (omega 3) food supplements.

5) Computer hardware is very important e.g. laptops for note-taking and ergonomic keyboards and mice and large computer screens can make a great difference.

6) Computer Software that is used for the dyslexic can also be very helpful such as texthelp and planning software such as mindmanager.

7) A digital mini-disk recorder is important to record lectures and seminars. An

extra allowance for photocopying is also necessary.

They should be entitled to extra time for their course work and exams

If the student needs to apply for these concessions at university, they should seek a cognitive assessment from an educational psychologist in order to get a Disability Students Allowance, which is available to full and part time students. Students in further education can apply for an access grant.

Further Reading