Further and Higher Education 
In many ways dyspraxia and dyslexia overlap and often co-exist in the same person. Dyspraxia is an impairment of the organisation of movement that is often accompanied by problems with language, perception and thought. Dyslexia is primarily a difficulty with learning to read, write and spell and is also generally accompanied by other problems such as poor organisational abilities. The pattern of difficulties in dyspraxia (or Developmental Co-ordination Disorder) may vary widely from person to person as with dyslexia.
A dyspraxic student may
have difficulties with:-
Planning their movements
and being aware of the space around them: They frequently bump into and
trip over things. They may have a clumsy posture
and poor muscle tone.
Perception: They find it difficult to judge heights
and distances: making them appear to be more
clumsy.
Co-ordinating different
parts of the body: They may
find it hard to catch, throw and balance as
well as moving the different parts of their body
without looking. Sport and dancing can cause
acute problems.
Laterality: It may be difficult to work out right from
left without a reminder.
Manual and practical work: They may find it difficult
to handle keyboards, tools, cars, bandages,
laboratory and cooking equipment etc. safely
and easily and tend to knock over and spill things
often.
Hand-writing: They tend to write laboriously slowly
and/or untidily and illegibly. Accurate copying
can be difficult.
Language: They may find it difficult to pronounce some
words and some may stutter.
Concentration: They may take a long time to complete
a task and find it difficult to do more than
one thing at a time.
Short term memory and sequencing
tasks: They may find
it hard to make sense of information when listening
or reading instructions, taking notes from
books and lecturers, and dealing with maps and
charts. They may keep forgetting and losing things
as well as finding it difficult to spell.
Organisation and thought: They may operate in a muddled
way, having little sense of direction, time or
weight. They may constantly miss appointments
and hand in assignments late because they find
it difficult to organise themselves and their
work. They may find it difficult to express themselves
easily.
Response to external stimulation: They may be over
or under sensitive to noise, touch, light and
taste.
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