18. Dyspraxia

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"Dyspraxia is a neurological disorder that impacts an individual's ability to plan and process motor tasks. Individuals with dyspraxia often have language problems, and sometimes a degree of difficulty with thought and perception."

So Dyspraxia is another branch off of Dyslexia but again, with a lot of differences. I've found that with a lot of disorders, you have overlapping symptoms and you can even have symptoms of one disorder without yourself having it because again, the traits tend to overlap.

That's why I have a bit of an issue myself with some aspects of Dyspraxia and other Dyslexic disorders. In fact, while writing this, I ended up finding a lot I could relate to - maybe I have something undiagnosed here. But enough of that, let's get into more about Dyspraxia!

First of all, what are the signs of Dyspraxia? Poor balance would be a start - a lot of people who suffer from Dyspraxia can't ride a bike, myself included, because of lacking the balance and motor skills that it requires. Poor posture which in turn causes fatigue, difficulty with sports, hand-eye coordination, clumsiness, and even lack of rhythm with music and dancing.

That last one, I have problems with because I find it hard to clap in time to music - I never can seem to get in sync with the beat. It's something I've been trying to work on and honestly, it was always a bit embarrassing for me to clap along to songs in church because of that very reason.

One misconception though is that Dyspraxia or any other form of Dyslexia can affect your intelligence - very untrue. Although it can make day-to-day life a bit more difficult in some respects. Things that take coordination skills - anything requiring balance, playing sports, climbing a ladder, learning to drive a car or even menial tasks such as writing or using smaller objects.

Now Dyspraxia, as are many disorders, also seems to be very genetic and run in families. It also seems to be more common in men than women or even for those born premature.

People with Dyspraxia also tend to repeat themselves a lot or talk continuously. Some struggle with unclear speech or are unable to pronounce words. That last one is also a problem I can relate to.

Other symptoms include over-sensitivity to light, difficulty distinguishing sounds from background noise, over or under-sensitive to touch, little sense of things such as time, speed, weight, etc.

Those with Dyspraxia also tend to face a lot of problems with anxiety and depression as well as low self-esteem and addictive behaviors.

Writing this, I've found that Dyspraxia has a lot in common symptom-wise with other disorders like ADHD (interrupting, impulsivity, insomnia) and even Asperger's (difficulty in picking up on non-verbal signals).

And likewise, a lot of people who have Dyspraxia have other disorders as well such as ADHD or Autism.

There are things you can do though to better manage the symptoms such as exercising regularly which helps with coordination, using a laptop or computer instead of writing, or even joining a support group.

As with Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia has had more studies done on it in the UK rather than the US so more information would be available through them. But hopefully one day, things will change and more research will be done to help those who need it.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! ^_^

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