Teach Early Years - Issue 14.2

SAL MCKEOWN IS A FREELANCE EDITOR AND JOURNALIST It’s a condition whose symptoms can be challenging to spot, but early years settings have an important role to play, as Sal McKeown explains… Is dyspraxia hiding in plain sight? D yspraxia has fallen off the radar in early years. My book How to Help Your Dyslexic and Dyspraxic Child was published in 2012. Dyspraxia was a common condition then and nurseries were alert to children who were not making expected progress with sitting, walking and co-ordination. Now it is rarely mentioned. In fact, I contacted over 20 nurseries to see if they had recent experience of a child with dyspraxia and not one of them did. Yet we know that children are arriving in Reception without many of the important physical skills that are part of being “school ready”. It doesn’t help that dyspraxia is also known as DCD (developmental coordination disorder), and this can confuse many people. DCD is a medical term for the condition. Dyspraxia is what we see: “an observable difficulty in motor performance: both motor coordination and planning how to do that task”. The NHS website points out that “Dyspraxia can be used to describe movement difficulties that happen later in life because of damage to the brain, such as from a stroke or head injury.” Comments on forums show that parents often spot the signs before practitioners: “He drops things, crashes into people and objects, stands on things. He lurches when he walks or runs.” “He can’t ride a tricycle and is not interested in trying to work it out,” and “I’ve really noticed the difference with his little sister, who is already confidently climbing the stairs.” WHY DON’T WE ASSESS EARLIER? Occupational therapist Beth Smithson, who currently works for Sensory Integration Education, reflects on how referral patterns have shifted over the past two decades. Twenty years ago, physical disabilities were a major cause of referrals, with many presenting with signs of cerebral palsy or developmental coordination disorder. Autism was rarely mentioned. Today, children with DCD are often identified later, which Beth suggests may be influenced by how different needs present in the classroom. “Children with DCD are not going to disrupt a session but might sit quietly in the background, overwhelmed and unable to engage with an activity. Their needs can be easily missed, not because they are less important, but because they’re less visible.” Estimates vary, but autism is diagnosed in around 1% of the population. Dyspraxia affects up to 6%, with up to 2% severely affected. Males are four times more likely to be dyspraxic than females. It has also been shown to run in families and frequently coexists with dyslexia. While we rarely diagnose dyspraxia and DCD until a child is six, this is not the case in other countries. Research in Portugal, published in 2022, followed six children (five boys, one girl). Signs of dyspraxia were identified at three or four years old. Early signs included a delay in developing a pincer grip. Five of the six went on to be diagnosed with ADHD, and five of the children experienced difficulties in school. Parents often spot the signs before practitioners 24 Teachearlyyears.com