F E AT U R E

DRIVING WITH

Dyspraxia causes one to have poor physical

coordination, so is it possible for a sufferer to sychronise
different parts of his or her body enough to drive a car?
Experts say it is, with some extra care and effort.
WORDS
JASMINE CHUNG

H
ave you ever encountered
someone who tripped
over a chair, then brushed
him or her off as a klutz?
That person’s clumsiness could be
a sign of something more serious.
Dyspraxia is a developmental
disorder that significantly affects
motor skills. Impairments in motor
skills may affect achievement of
developmental milestones such as
walking and many other aspects
of daily life, from writing and
playing sports, to using cutlery
and driving.
The National Institute of
Neurological Disorders and Stroke
(NINDS) describes people with
dyspraxia as being “out of sync”
with their environment.
WHAT IS DYSPRA XIA?
As early as 1925, dyspraxia was
identified as debilite motrice
(motorically deficient) and referred
to sometimes as Clumsy Child
Syndrome, since there were plenty
of descriptions of children with
the condition struggling to cope
with games, dancing, writing and
even tying their shoelaces. Today,
dyspraxia is clinically referred to
as Developmental Coordination
Disorder (DCD) and classified in
the fifth edition of the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders as a motor disorder.
While dyspraxia is often an
overlooked developmental
disorder, where identification
is prompted on the failure to
acquire fine and gross motor skills,
experts and researchers have
shown an increased interest to
better understand this disorder
in recent years, shares Ms Geetha
Shantha Ram, Director of the
English Language and Literacy
(ELL) Division, SpLD Assessment
Service and Staff Professional
Development, Dyslexia Association
of Singapore (DAS). For instance,
there is now increased awareness
of the early signs of dyspraxia in a
child so that prompt action can be
taken to mitigate its effects.
DIAGNOSING DYSPRA XIA
Dyspraxia can be formally
diagnosed after the age of five
and through varied ways by a

26 H I G H WAY
multidisciplinary team that includes thing kind of funny, really, because appearance and social acceptance.
medical doctors, occupational it wasn’t my fault. Many dyspraxic Ram explains that early
therapists or psychologists. individuals aren’t that lucky.” identification, a supportive family
Globally, the prevalence rate DCD has both short- and long- and school environment, and
among school-going children term effects. In the immediate appropriate use of strategies to
is about 5–6%, affecting more term, children may not be able help overcome challenges will
boys than girls. It is also closely to fully participate in expected make a great difference to the
associated with other learning activities, and often suffer from low holistic development of dyspraxics.
disorders, such as attention deficit self-esteem. As they grow older, The condition can continue beyond
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and they may view themselves as less childhood; adults can continue to
dyslexia. competent than their peers in play, find routine daily tasks challenging.
Professor Amanda Kirby,
founder of The Dyscovery Centre,
relates dyspraxia to an umbrella
“I KNEW THAT IT WAS OKAY TO FIND THE WHOLE
diagnosis within which children THING KIND OF FUNNY, REALLY, BECAUSE
show a range of co-ordination IT WASN’T MY FAULT. MANY DYSPRAXIC
symptoms, ranging from fine to INDIVIDUALS AREN’T THAT LUCKY.”
gross motor skills. “The different
patterned difficulties may
present challenges in diagnosing
dyspraxia,” she advises.
Editor Jenny Hollander
recalls how her father failed his
driving test eight times. She also
remembers how, as a child, she
used walk oddly, bumping into
people and getting lost on her way
to class. Diagnosed at 11, she feels
fortunate to understand why she
was such a clumsy child. “I knew
that it was okay to find the whole

SYMPTOMS OF
DYSPRAXIA IN
ADULTHOOD
• Gross motor skills: poor balance and
posture, lack of rhythm, tendency to fall
and trip
EARLY • Fine motor skills: difficulty in writing,
gripping and grasping
INDICATORS OF • Poorly established hand dominance: difficulty in using both
hands at the same time
A CHILD WITH • Speech and language: unclear speech and pronunciation,
DYSPRAXIA uncontrolled pitch, volume and rate
• Eye movements: poor eye tracking and relocating
• Avoids PE and games • Perception: over-sensitivity to light, noise, touch, smell, taste,
• Poor attention span temperature and pain, lack of spatial awareness, inadequate
• Weak in math and structure sense of direction, time, speed, distance or weight
• Trouble in copying from the • Learning, thought and memory: difficulty in planning and
board organising, poor memory, difficulty in concentrating and
• Writes laboriously following instructions
• Poor memory and • Emotion and behaviour: difficulty in listening or picking non-
organisation skills verbal cues, slow to adapt, impulsive and erratic

H I G H WAY 27
 “WHILE DYSPRAXIA AND DYSLEXIA SOUND VERY DIFFERENT, THEY
SHARE SOME SORT OF LINK — MORE THAN HALF (ABOUT 53%) OF
PEOPLE WHO ARE DYSLEXIC ARE ALSO DYSPRAXIC.”
TREATING DYSPRA XIA
Dyspraxia is incurable. However,
sufferers can learn to cope with it.
The earlier the diagnosis is made,
the better the prognosis, with help
from the following therapies:
Occupational therapy The therapist
assesses how the child deals with
everyday activities at home and
at school, then helps the child
develop skills for specific activities
that are difficult.
Speech and language therapy
The therapist assesses the
child’s speech, then implement a
treatment plan to help the child to
communicate more effectively.
Perceptual motor training The child
is given tasks that test his language,
visual, hearing and movement
skills that gradually become more
advanced.
28 H I G H WAY
The idea is to challenge
the child so that he improves
without making it too tough such
that the child becomes stressed
or gives up.
Equine therapy In a study
published in the Journal of
Alternative and Complementary
Medicine, equine therapy
(therapeutic horse-riding) was
found to stimulate and improve
the cognition, mood, and gait
parameters on a group of 40
children aged 6–15 years with
dyspraxia.
The children participated in
six horse-riding sessions lasting
30 minutes each, as well as two
30-minute audiovisual screening
sessions.
“The data also pointed to the
potential value of an audiovisual
approach to equine therapy,” the
study advocated.
Active play Any play that
involves physical activity, either
outdoors or indoors, helps
improve motor skills. In fact,
play for a child — particularly
one aged between three and
five years — is his way of learning
about the environment and
about himself. This is when
everything comes together
for the child — physical and
emotional learning, language
development, spatial
awareness, the development of
what their senses.
THE DYSPRA XIA-DYSLEXIA LINK
Dyspraxia and dyslexia are
learning difficulties that can
cause children and adults to
struggle with everyday activities
we all take for granted. Dyslexia
means that a person has a
problem with reading, writing
and spelling; a person with
dyspraxia finds it difficult coping
with physically coordinating the
different parts of his body.
While the two conditions
sound very different, they share
some sort of link — more than
half (about 53%) of people who
are dyslexic are also dyspraxic. It
is important to note that neither
conditions affects intelligence.
But because organisation and
memory are impacted to varying
degrees, people with either or
both of these conditions have
to devise their own learning
strategies, although they usually
need to invest more effort and
take longer.
Despite their difficulties,
people with either conditions
are frequently described
as holistic and intuitive
problem solvers.
IS IT SAFE TO DRIVE?
According to the Dyspraxia
Foundation in UK and US, driving
is one of the most demanding
everyday activities for people with
the condition, as it involves multi-
tasking in areas requiring the use
of both hands and feet, perception
to judge distance, and carry out a
sequence of activities — all at the
same time.
While some may consider
dyspraxic drivers a source of
potential danger to themselves
and others, leading insurers
have yet to refuse coverage of a
driver with DCD. Hence, if they
pass the driving test, they can
take the wheel — but must take
certain precautions.

“THEY MUST REVIEW

AVAILABLE RESOURCES
AND FIND A COMBINATION
OF STRATEGIES THAT
WORK WELL TOGETHER TO
TO REDUCE
OVERCOME THEIR SPECIFIC STRESS DURING
DIFFICULTIES.” A DRIVE FOR
DYSPAXICS
• Use an automatic car
instead of one with manual
transmission
• Add extra side mirrors and
reverse cameras for parking
• Place stickers on one side
of the steering wheel to
identify right from left
• Use a GPS voice assist
software to help with
directions

IT’S TIME FOR

“An awareness of their abilities
and weaknesses is important in
order for them to be safe drivers.
Each driver is as different as is their
DCD. They must review available
resources and find a combination of
strategies that work well together to
overcome their specific difficulties,”
Ram recommends.
Ram concludes that there are
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successful personalities with FREE EXTENSION ON
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Radcliffe, writer Jack Kerouac, and EMERGENCY EVACUATION!
scientist Albert Einstein, who are all GET YOURS AT
sources of inspiration for dyspraxics AAS.AGENCY.
and their loved ones. As Radcliffe
says, “Don’t let it stop you. It has
never held me back, and some of the
smartest people I know are people
who have learning disabilities.”

H I G H WAY 29