Living with Dyspraxia: The Jordan Holland Story

Dyspraxia – which is also known as Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) – is a neurological disorder that affects the planning and coordination required to complete specific movements, while leaving no physical damage to nerves or muscles. Dyspraxia begins in childhood, and it is often misclassified as clumsiness in healthy children, as they struggle to perform simple tasks such as writing and tying their shoes, and as they transition into adulthood, they could also find driving a car very difficult. Many people don’t know what Dyspraxia is – they often confuse it with Dyslexia or think it’s the same thing. A few people will know someone with Dyspraxia or will have it themselves. Out of those that do have it, not many would share their experience of living life with Dyspraxia. It turns out that I’m not one of those people. I have Dyspraxia. My name is Jordan Holland, and this is my story.

“Dyspraxia is a neurological disorder that affects the planning and coordination required to complete specific movements, while leaving no physical damage to nerves or muscles”

Both childhood and school-life weren’t easy. Children with Dyspraxia are very easily distracted. This was the case with me, as from a very early age my parents were finding ways to try to keep me distracted so I would keep away from all the things I was too young to know about – though this may have worked a bit too well, as I was finding new ways to keep myself distracted. One example of my distraction tactics was teaching myself the alphabet backwards, and it didn’t keep me distracted for very long, as I had successfully mastered this task by the age of two. Once I started school, I had a whole new range of things to keep me distracted in the classroom. This was mainly because that children with Dyspraxia are distracted by many different things in a classroom, which includes visual and auditory distraction, their posture, poor proprioception, a lack of motivation, or receiving a task that is either too difficult or too easy (Kirby, 1999).

The transition to high school wasn’t easy. I went from being in stuck in one classroom all day to being stuck in five different classrooms all day, and this happened for five years. Having to adapt to the layout of the school was a bit harder, as the many classes I took were spread out across different parts of the school, and I had to try to navigate my way around the buildings just to find the right classroom. Change such as this was never my strong suit, and all Dyspraxic children face the same problem. Non-dyspraxic children will have no problems in getting adjusted to the many teachers that they will see and the school layout they walk through every day at high school, while it could take a Dyspraxic child several weeks to get used to these things (Kirby, 1999). To help deal with the stress that I was facing at high school, I found comfort in playing video games in my spare time – though this also distracted me from doing the homework that I was given by my teachers. I took to playing sports games such as the “Madden NFL” series, as I found games like this the easiest to play because little to no strategy is required to play them.

“Children with Dyspraxia are distracted by many different things in a classroom, which includes visual and auditory distraction, their posture, poor proprioception, a lack of motivation, or receiving a task that is either too difficult or too easy”

My transition into adulthood was a bit easier. Some strengths I didn’t know I had came to light – my good computer skills are a particularly strong suit due to my consistent playing of video games along with my love of computers from the get-go – but some of my weaknesses shone a bit brighter. My organisational skills got a lot worse, and this wasn’t helped by the fact that I now had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. This was a skill carried over from high school, and it truly made its mark during my first year of tertiary education, as I was constantly turning in assignment after assignment well after its due date – and in doing this, I almost failed that year. It would have helped had I set alarms for each assignment, and all Dyspraxic people need to do things like this, along with things such as prioritising their tasks and taking time each night to prepare for the next day (Kirby, 1999). 

Children with dyspraxia are anxious and downhearted, teachers say | Goldsmiths, University of London https://t.co/SmOsfBvRfd

— DYSPRAXIA FOUNDATION (@DYSPRAXIAFDTN) November 6, 2018

Although Dyspraxia is untreatable, it can be relatively easy to deal with. If there is someone in your place of work or education that has always seemed a bit clumsy, consider the fact that they may be a person living with Dyspraxia. Take note of what they tend to do – for example the routine in which they do things – and ask them if they would like any help. Just doing something simple such as a quick look at what they do can end up going a long way – and you never know, you could end up learning a thing or two about Dyspraxia in the process.

Q+A about Dyspraxia with Anita Wilson from the McKenzie Centre

Anita Wilson is a speech language therapist at the McKenzie Centre in Hamilton, so she specifically deals with those who have verbal dyspraxia. However, there are children who attend the McKenzie Centre who have motor dyspraxia as well.

How would you define Dyspraxia?
Dyspraxia is a neurological difficulty affecting the planning and co-ordination required to complete specific movements. There is no physical damage to nerves or muscles.

What are some of the key issues that people with Dyspraxia face? 

This depends on the type of dyspraxia and the severity. Children with verbal dyspraxia can have significant difficulty communicating verbally and find alternate communication methods useful. Others struggle with planning and sequencing tasks in daily life. Sensory and social issues are also not uncommon. A key issue would be that it is not generally well known.

Do you have any success stories in helping people with Dyspraxia?

Because we might work with children for a number of years, there is a lot of opportunity to see progress, I can think of children who have progressed from having only three words in total with a limited number of sounds to communicating in full sentences with minimal speech errors. Every child is different though and some will continue to have ongoing challenges with being understood. Success for other children might be learning to dress independently or develop in the area of social communication skills.

What should someone do if they believe they might have Dyspraxia?

This depends on the type of difficulties the person is having and the person’s age. For children with verbal dyspraxia seeing a speech therapist would be useful. For those with motor dyspraxia, seeing an Occupational Therapist would be useful. The first step might be speaking with a GP, contacting services that provide appropriate services e.g. Ministry of Education, or seeking a diagnosis through somewhere like the child development centre. There is a dyspraxia support group in NZ that may be able to provide information to families.

REFERENCES

• Kirby, A. (1999). Dyspraxia: The Hidden Handicap (p. 79, 120, 157). London, United Kingdom: Souvenir Press (Educational & Academic) Ltd.
• Wilson, A. “Dyspraxia Questions.” Received by the author, 2 Nov. 2018.
• EA Tiburon. (2018). Madden NFL 19. Maitland, FL: EA Sports.