Dyspraxia and Apraxia

Motor and coordination issues in Autism and ADHD

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Communication is a basic human right

Humans place an unreasonable level of importance on communicating verbally, but that’s an ableist belief of superiority based on speech being the method of communication preferred by the majority of the population.

Building on my previous article, I do acknowledge the potential flaws in the rapid prompting method of communication (RPM) and Facilitated Communication (FC).

Despite some drawbacks to certain types of assisted communication methods, I’d still much prefer to support avenues which increase autonomy and options for effective communication for everyone.

Acknowledging the weaknesses of some methods will hopefully lead to improvements and thus, even better options coming about in the future.

This article isn’t about that, specifically, but it is related. Many Autistics who have unreliable speech or are non-speaking use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), RPM, FC, and Spelling to Communicate (S2C).

Many Autistics and people with ADHD have co-occurring conditions called dyspraxia and apraxia, which can significantly impact one’s speech, but do not impact a person’s intelligence. People seem to understand this in principle, but not in practice.

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What is the difference between dyspraxia and apraxia?

Dyspraxia is difficulty in performing a motor task.

The prefix dys- refers to difficulty or “impairment”.

Apraxia is the inability to perform a particular motor task.

The prefix ‘A’- means not, or without.

The term -praxia refers to the performance of movements.

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Prevalence

As many as 87% of Autistics have co-occurring motor issues, and one study found a prevalence rate of 75% of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) in children with ADHD.

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Motor and co-ordination difficulties

Like most things, motor issues occur along a spectrum.

Some are relatively minor, whereas some impact every aspect of a person’s life, and most fall somewhere in between.

There are also different types of dyspraxia and apraxia, which impact different types of movement.

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Dyspraxia & apraxia of speech