Dyslexia and Dyspraxia (Specific Learning Disabilities

The term specific learning difficulty refers to an area in which a child has difficulty in their learning. The term is not the same as learning disability where a child has an overall intellectual impairment. Children with a specific learning disability only have this in certain areas and in other respects function as well as other children. There are many types of learning difficulties. Some are very mild and may show up in difficulties in learning particular subjects at school, such as mathematics or These very mild specific learning difficulties can be successfully treated provided they are noticed and help provided. The most commonly known specific learning difficulties are dyslexia and dyspraxia.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia refers to children who have a specific learning difficulty in the area of writing and language. It affects children's ability to read, write and spell. Children may have difficulty recognising letters and numbers or confuse the two. For instance they might confuse "45" with "54" or "p" with "q" or "b" with "d". This leads to difficulty in reading and spelling.

In most respects children with dyspraxia will cope as well as other youngsters. They often have better verbal skills than non-verbal skills when psychologically tested. Dyslexic children may not be able to follow traditional school lessons easily. This can lead to distractibility in class and difficulty in completing homework. In some schools children are provided with lap-top computers to write on as they often prefer this to writing by hand. On a computer, corrections are easier to make and they don't end up with pages of crossed out work.

Because of these difficulties, children can feel bad about themselves and may be mistakenly viewed as being lazy and inattentive by staff at school. The low self-confidence which can result from this, can make it more difficult to enjoy academic work, make friends and to generally get along with people. This can happen at home too, with parents getting frustrated about homework and the child's lack of progress at school. This is why assessment is so important.

When older, children with dyslexia may struggle with written examinations, or try to avoid them. Often an allowance is made for this if the condition has been diagnosed. Situations should be avoided in school which may lead to embarrassment - such as having to read out in class.

Careful assessment needs to be made of these children, usually by an educational psychologist. Allowance will have to be made for the areas of difficulty. The assessment should be clearly explained to children, parents and school teachers and a programme set-up that takes into account the child's psychological, social, and academic needs.

Dyspraxia

It is thought dyspraxia results from a lack of development in the brain which leads to difficulties in the brain sending messages to the body. This difficulty in processing information, leads to poor co-ordination in the child. Such children were often called "clumsy children" in the past. It affects about 2-3% of the population. The degree of disability varies, and of those with dyspraxia, about 70% are boys. Children with dyspraxia are often late developing gross and fine motor skills. Motor skills refer to how you move your limbs. Fine motor skills refer to abilities such as fine movements of the fingers, or of co-ordinating a spoon of food towards a mouth etc. When toddlers, these children can find activities such as dressing themselves, getting a spoon of food into their mouth and walking etc. more difficult than children of a similar age. Later on, at school, the dyspraxia can show up in difficulty in handwriting and drawing. They can have difficulty holding a pen and may have speech difficulties too. Some children find hopping and catching balls difficult and struggle in subjects such as PE and games. The da