this blog post is the follow up to my mental difficulties post (which you can see here http://dyspraxiactivist.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/mental-neuro-difficulties.html ) and this one is going to focus on some of the physical aspects of dyspraxia.
the most obvious and well known physical aspect of dyspraxia is the 'clumsiness' co-ordination difficulties which for us dyspraxics its not that we cant do certain movements its a case of our body not doing what our brain is telling to do in the correct time sometimes this can be obvious and at other times less so however it can affect us in everything that we do whether that be walking, eating or playing sports and something that needs to be made clear is that clumsy does not mean stupid as some people seem to think.
these co-ordination difficulties affect both fine and gross motor skills, fine being the very small actions such as handwriting (that is not illegible) and shoelaces which are often difficult for people who struggle with actions based around the smaller parts of the body such as wrist, fingers and hands. whereas gross motor skills are the activities that require the use of the larger body parts such as arms and legs and this can make it difficult when learning different sporting activities such as cycling, catching, throwing and kicking and all of these actions are seen as basic by people who don't have any co-ordination difficulties whereas they are a lot more complex for those of us who do.
from my perspective these physical difficulties can be annoying but shouldn't worry us as there are things that can help improve or make things slightly easier for example you can get different shaped pens and pencil grips which people often find helpful or practicing certain things consistently that we find helpful and as many people with dyspraxia find mention is that as we get older we develop coping strategies or alternative ways of doing things that have the same effectiveness compared to others.
just remember that we can find ways to make life easier and if you are really determined to succeed (as us dyspraxics usually are) then you will, it may just take that little bit longer and require more work than it does for others.
