timekeeping

timekeeping being late, planning etc. all seem to be traits that are very common among many people with dyspraxia.
often you see that dyspraxics often find themselves being late for things.
when looking into it the diffuclties with planning, organisation etc are definetley going to be contributing factors in timekeeping and possibly even difficulties with learning to drive and sometimes understanding the timetables for public transport can be quite difficult.starting with planning a journey and for certain things to happen at certain times that can be helpful for those of us with dyspraxia so you know how long you have to get somewhere can work for public transport however for me i always get lost in larger train stations i have in the past actually totally forgot about some stuff that was fairly regular once it was actually my driving lesson and i had no idea that i was meant to have a driving lesson then even though they were always on the same day at the same time
now i am quite the oppsoite of this however i tend to arrive very early for things for example when im planning to be somewhere at 320 and the journey takes approximately 40 mins i will leave at 2 oclock not 240 and that gives me roughly 30 or so minutes just in case of traffic or getting a little bit lost if its somehwere i have not been before and i tend to do this give myself extra time for pretty much every journey even if i do it fairly regularly. the one down side to this is that you often end up wasting that extra 30 or so minutes not doing anything (i have actually written parts of these blogs in those situation sometimes). but my view is its better to be early than late however sometimes you have no control over what happens such as traffic or public transport running late or not at all and although its annoying and can ruin any plans, you have to accept that there is nothing you can do and try not worry or stress

Social Media and dyspraxia

i have recently written a couple of blogs on celebrities that have dyspraxia and the coverage of dyspraxia in the (traditional) media so in this blog i thought i would talk about social media and the role that does and can have for support or increased understanding and awareness of dyspraxia.
there are quite a few different formats/channels of social media available aswell and this creates a lot of options.
for instance there are a few different people who do blogs and videos which tend to provide information with personal experiences which in my view helps to showcase that dyspraxia can have such a varied affect and you can find many of these via this link from the dyspraxia foundation https://www.dfyouth.org.uk/youth-focus-group/youth-blogs/  as well as seeing them shared around social media pages, groups etc.
talking about pages and groups, there are a wide range of differing groups on facebook that can help people to offer support or advice aswell as seek that help and these groups can be targeted to certain groups (Peers) of people such as groups for adults, youths and even parents as well as groups that are all inclusive.
and not forgetting that social media is a great tool for sharing upcoming events or related 'activities' helping to give you a wider audience to promote too.
social media as a tool can be very good and helps many people alot but the advice you seek through social media groups etc. is personal experiences, opinions etc. and is not to replace seeking professional advice if needed. and obviously when communicating with others that you may have never met you need to be safe which the dyspraxia foundation youth website has a full page on that with links to other organisation which you can see here. (good advice for all not just youth)
https://www.dfyouth.org.uk/online-safety/

Famous people who have dyspraxia

there are some people in the public eye that have dyspraxia and sometimes talk about it in interviews and having someone to look up to who is similar to you can be incredibly supportive for people

to start with the dyspraxia foundations celebrity patron Jamie Lambert a singer from the band Collabro who won britains got talent in 2014 and jamie has spoken in public about how dyspraxia affects him and when he became the patron of the dyspraxia foundation he's mum wrote a blog on dyspraxia as a parent which you can see here https://yorkie007.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/pug-diaries-the-devil-is-in-the-detail-dumbing-down-dyspraxia/


florence welch is a singer known from the band florence and the machine and she has dyslexia as well as dyspraxia and has talked about it and in an article on understood.org she mentioned that dyspraxia has helped her with being in a creative industry.


david bailey is a well known photographer who also has dyspraxia although there arent really any articles of him talking about it there is a bit from his wife again suggesting the creativity side of dyspraxia being a positive thing that may help people so they dont focus on the negatives.


Cara delevigne model and actress has fairly recently spoken about having dyspraxia (it was mentioned in an article in vogue) and i think there is something about her when she does interviews that when you know she has dyspraxia you can notice.

perhaps the most well known dyspraxic is Daniel Radcliffe the actor who played harry potter and i can remember dyspraxia being mentioned around the 3rd film prisoner of azkaban i think on an extras disc where he mentions he always struggled with school and has difficulty with shoelaces i also remember an interview towards the end of the films in which he said that he is always breaking the wands. and he also gave some advice in an interview which was to not let dyspraxia hold you back it didnt him for him.

and finally albert einstein is thought to have had dyspraxia or possibly aspegers/autism and is perhaps why he excelled so much in one area of science.

Dyspraxia in the Media

this blog is about the coverage of dyspraxia in the media specifically traditional media such as newspaper, television and radio perhaps even some internet coverage aswell.
any media coverage of Dyspraxia or any other neuro/hidden disabilities in general seems to be quite rare although recently there has been an increase of media coverage of some hidden disabilities mostly the more well known ones such as autism and in the past i have seen some programmes on dyslexia and AD(H)D
this is not to say that dyspraxia does not fetaure in these forms of media media at all in fact recently (the last 2 or so years) there is some coverage as there has been a couple of newspaper artcles which i will link to at the bottom of this post and some features through radio and online comedy which you can see here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-39351356
unlike some other hidden conditions dyspraxia has as far as im aware never had a trelvision programme speccifically for increasing the understanding and awareness however dyspraxia has appeared or been a part of a couple of television programmes one of which is (young) childrens show tree fu tom that tries to encourage activity and improve motor skills whilst watching television you can read more about it in these two links below
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/treefutom/dyspraxia-foundation.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/children-with-dyspraxia
and something that perhaps more would have seen was lofty a character played by lee mead in casualty and now holby city (BBC shows) was that in an episode of casualty there is a mention that lofty may have dyspraxia however after that one scene in one episode it was never mentioned afterwards.
links to as many articles about or featuring dyspraxia as i can from the last few years.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/29/dyspraxia-serious-recognition

http://metro.co.uk/2017/03/10/what-is-dyspraxia-its-more-than-just-clumsiness-6496918

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/dyspraxia-is-more-than-just-clumsy-child-syndrome-it-can-cause-emotional-distress-and-anxiety-a7416081.html

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/health/this-is-how-a-dyspraxia-diagnosis-changed-my-life-a3359906.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/i-get-knocked-back-but-i-get-up-again-my-journey-with-dyspraxia-a7091426.html

Handwriting

handwriting or poor handwriting is probably one of the things that is most associated or visible in someone who has dyspraxia and is one of the things that most affected me in school.

i remember that around the time i was diagnosed with dyspraxia i used to see a specialist (occupational therapist i think) and there was a sort of writing test/activity that without any time constraints to write as neatly as possible and for me and many dyspraxics it can take a long time to write one sentence neatly can be physically painful however after we did this we were told that my handwriting would not improve from that point. and below is what my handwriting is currently like

(i may have mentioned in a previous blog that when i was in yr11 15/16 yrs old my english teacher tried to teach me how to write the letter e which makes up half of my name)
as far as i am aware all children are taught to write in the same way with the same pen/pencil grip etc.however some people do still tend to grip things in different way some will wrap their handnaround a pen some will hold with just their fingertips
however there are a lot of different styles, shapes and size pens out there that try to encourage help develop the usage of the 'correct' pen grip such as the yoropen which im pretty sure i have used in the past but they were not for me as they were a bit too narrow.there is also a variety of pens and some pencils made by the company stabilo which have an ergonomic grip built into them these are the pens i have probably used most although they are a bit chunky and cand raw attention from others even adults. perhaps also useful for dyspraxics are the frixion pens made by pilot which are erasable pens but prior to using pens you can get pencil that have foam grips on them, but you do not neccesarily need to have a 'specialist' pen there are basic pens out there that come in different shapes and sizes fatter, thinner or triangular pens could work just aswell if you like the feel and shape and you are comfortable using it that is what is mmost important that you are comfortable using whatever pens you use.

Gender/Sexes?

it is widely thought that dyspraxia is more likely to affect males more than females from a (older) dyspraxia foundation leaflet that of those diagnosed 80% are male however there are also lots of females out there with dyspraxia.
firstly even when comparing dyspraxia among genders that males tend to be diagnosed earlier than females although this is not always the case and this could have a large impact on the diagnosis rates among the genders as often the older you get it is likely that you will have developed effective coping mechanisms and there tends to be less of a need for diagnosis for many especially if outside of education as those coping starategies may work so well that you dont feel that need and have no reason for it and from what i can recall seeing is that many people who dont get diagnosed via parents/teachers at school age often find if they go onto it university life and its at that age those people get their diagnosis.
when you see research done via polls or you look on social madia platforms you are more likely to see more of a 50-50 split in the genders however this could be impacted by research that suggests females tend to be much more active/involved in social media.
it is quite easy to see why the thought that dyspraxia affects boys more than girls especially with the difference in age of diagnosis and this is because on average boys are much more likely to pursue and be pushed towards sports and physical activities than girls are, so there is potentially much more oppurtunity to identify aspects of dyspraxia.
is the huge difference in diagnnosis of dyspraxia between genders and widely thought belief representative? highly unlikely
that is a big question and is highly unlikely/ impossible to be answered definititively as you would need to test everyone. there could well be some difference but there is not really any reason for it to be so big.
back in 2015 there was a article from the dyspraxia foundation about this difference
 http://dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/dyspraxia-is-battle-sexes/

Everyday Life

everyday or day-to-day life as a dyspraxic person can sometimes be annoying, funny, frustrating, forgetful and possibly even dufficult and occasionally just normal/average.

you can often see around in leaflets or online that one of the more common things to come up is women and make-up and how something that most people consider a fairly easy and simple task a person with dyspraxia can find incredibly difficult, the same can be said about quite a lot of other daily tasks that are considered simple by most people yet many of these can actually require quite a lot of fine motor control. sometimes people can just forget to do a certain thing which can be quite common it certainly is for me for example sometimes i can forget to brush my teeth and i might not even think about it and i can get through the day and at a really random time like driving somewhere i then think oh i havent brushed my teeth yet today the same could be said for not having breakfast occasionally, alot of people have probably had similar situations sometimes when youre going out a realise that you have forgotten something.
also for alot of people with dyspraxia eating or using cutlery especially is something that can be difficult although there are different types of cutlery that you can buy made of differnet material or different shapes such as being ergonomic so they fit to the hand or encourage the 'correct' grip for me personally i dont find using cutlery hard but i know that when i use cutlery i use it quite diffferently to most others i know such as the dominant task i will always use my right hand so for cutting with the knife i will use my right hand and then will swap the fork to my right hand for eating and when i am cutting i tend to stab the item i am cutting with the fork then cut with the knife in my right hand however i do prefer to and find it easier to use cutlery that has flat handles and not rounded handles.
and then there is shaving although as a man who likes and often has a beard/ facial hair, i dont shave that often but when i first needed to start shaving my dad actually helped alot (did most of the shaving for me) however when i do shave now i mostly use and electric shaver/trimmer although i am never able to trim the beard to certain length when i try to so i just shave most/all off and using an electric shaver is easier than using a razor however i have found that you kind of get used to using a razor after time if you are careful although it can still take time as you are having to look in a mirror whilst doing some weird face contortionism and use a razor and make sure you dont miss any spots which i do as i only use my right (dominant) hand when shaving and making sure you dont apply too mush pressure.

Exams

we are coming into exam time at the moment (in the UK atleast) for people in school or college etc. i thought it a good time to write a blog about dyspraxia/ dyspraxics and exams but also for other as i know exam time can be difficult for a lot of people not just those with learning difficulties

but im going to start by saying that in my experience exams have never seemed to be an accurate or efficient way of testing knowledge or skill to me atleast they have always seemed more like a memory test especially with subjects that dont have definitive answers like english etc.however i can see that subjects like maths (and to an extent) science the correct answer is always going to be the correct answer so is perhaps a slighlty more accurate way although it is still a test of memory (how tu do certain aspects of it)

but in terms of preparing for exams revision is important even if it is just quick testing of yourself but dont just sit revising (reading) for hours take regular breaks when you need to otherwise i found you can just start getting bored and stop taking stuff in  and by testing yourself you can find what you are not so good or confident at and focus a bit more time to those things although you should contine to work on the other things aswell. revising is just like anything else in that most importantly you need to find what works for you whether that is taking tests, reading up on things or leaving notes around the house.

getting the correct supports in place is something that is also incredibly important especially for those with learning difficulties if neccesary this could be variety from having extra time to using a laptop or a scribe/reader. for my exams i had a scribe from GCSE's through to university and it helps if you can be in a different room which i wasn't for GCSE and sixth form. i have mentioned some of this in a previous blog here http://bit.ly/2qiOAfx

Memory

memory and dyspraxia is something that many people dont seem to understand. how someone could forget something they've only just been told and poor short term memory is a common trait among many but not all dyspraxics.
as just mentioned short term memory is said to be poor amongst dyspraxic people but they tend to have quite good mid to long term memory and that kind of describes me a little bit i often tend to forget things sometimes even though i repeatedly tell myself to do them for example fairly recently i needed to re-send an email and everytime i went on to my laptop i could never remmebr to do it even if i was on my email and it eventually took about 3 or 4 days to do it yet i can remember some things in quite a lot of detail from 10+ years ago whether they were quite memorable events or sometimes even just some other random things.
when it comes to very short term memory i do think that if its a single instruction without much interuption then its all ok but if theres more than one thing to do and more than one instruction then im likely to forget some part of it which is something that is quite common among dyspraxics which is why when you see things about learning disabiloity and teaching teachers are advised to simplify their instruction and go through any steps that may be needed one at a time which is something we could potentially do in everyday life as well.
some tips to help with remmbering to do things could be to have notes as reminders around the house or a list of things to do and tick them off as they are done or even setting a range of alarms/reminders on phones etc.

Sensitivity

sensitivity or hyper/hypo sensitivity is something that can and does impact on many dyspraxic people quite a lot and in this blog post im goign tot go through what it means and how people can be affected.

to start with all the aspects of sensitivity can be affected by dyspraxia such as taste, touch,sight, smell and sound. all these senses are quite clear to most people but those who have dyspraxia can have very different reactions to the same or only slighlty differring situations and thats where hypo and hyper sensitivity comes in hypo-sensitivity means someone may not react at lot less if at all compared to someone else and hyper-sensitivity is the exact opposite and someone feels something very strongly and it can be quite extreme either way. the same person can experience both ends of the scale as well for example somehting fairly minor like a little bending of the finger hurt quite a lot but something severe a broken leg (tibia-shin bone) didnt really hurt at all.

this can often affect clothing some people may not like the feellof certain clothes or if the fit is not just right it can prove difficult to wear certain items for me one is jeans which ive never worn.  

it is not just touch/feel that is affceted often light has an impact aswell such as when a light is turned on in the dark which can hurt the eyes sometimes or they struggle to see and visibly have to adjust and its not always that extreme it can just be the differnece in light in different room/buildings. this is something that happens to me sometimes often when ging from outside to inside.

tatse and textures is something that a lot of dyspraxics can have trouble with as well potentially even not being able to taste the flavours of certain foods but the texture often causes the biggest problem even making it almost impossoble to eat certain things but i'll go through this in another blog.

Travel/New Places

i thought of combining this blog with the public transport one but felt it best to do this on its own because as dyspraxics newplaces and new situations can be quite daunting and not just the travelling part of it although that can have a large impact.

as i said travel can be large part of some difficulties when going to new places because of short term memory and sense of direction as well as spatial awareness which can make it diffcult travelling not just too a certain place but possibly even exploring new areas however new technology such as phones satnav etc. make it a lot easier and the internet something like google maps street view is something that has helped me alot as you can sometimes see 'markers' on street view things like signs, a certain building etc. that you then recognise to reassure yourself or use as refernce points when travelling.i actually used google street view to plan most of the cycle i did almost 2 years ago (streetviewed over 2000 miles)

something that isnt noticed that much i find is that you become a bit more aware of your self when in new situations and have to focus a bit more on things very simple such as sometimes even walkingso that you dont walk into something or someone whereas when you are somehwere you know you ont really have to think about certiain things as much

Public Transport

Public transport buses, trains etc. can be quite daunting for some people whether neurodiverse or not especially if travelling somehwere new or on your own. if its a journey that you know you will be doing regularly like a new school or workplace it gets a lot easier and becomes a part of your routine although if its a one off journey you may not be that comfortable and there might be bits of the journey that you dont know like where to go to get from train to bus or how to get to the next platform for me when im at train stations i dont know i often doubt myself and start thinking am i in the right on the right platform and in some cases is the next train the one i want to get on or not. when i first went to my high school i had to get a train and then a bus i found the train quite easy because it was a short journey i got on at the 1st stop and got off at the last but when it came to the bus i had no idea which bus went anywear near my school and i remmebr that there were two peoplein the same school uniform in front of me and when i got on the bus i just said the same things as them hoping it was the right place as this became a regular journey i got used to it and eventually i started to cycle or walk the bus part of the journey. sometimes not very often i travel to london by train which i can find a little bit awkward as some of the station are very big and quite busy and i can struggle to find my way around them and sometime si find myself looking around trying to work out where i am and where i need to be and more often than not i end up asking someone where the platform is hoping its fairly simple.
some useful tips are if you have a smart phone then you should be able to check times etc. if youre unsure and sometimes whether there are delays or you could have a small pocket size notepad and write down all the times and what platforms and any direction if needed.

Frustration

i find that i can get quite frustrated over some of the things associated with dyspraxia and wondering whether this happens to most people with dyspraxia or just a few. ive seen it mentioned a few times on group discussions controlling emotions over small things but not quite being angry.
for me personally the little frustrations happen fairly often but not that often and its genereally that kind or rghhh! moment and this seems to be when the simple things or things that i know i can do fine most of the time then go wrong and  alot of it is generally dyspraxia related stuff like bashing my toe, tripping up stairs, walking into a door as your opening it, dropping the same thing repeatedly or dropping food.
when this sort of stuff keeps on happening repeatedly throughout the day the levels of frustration can rise which also happens when things out of my control go wrong or stop working (technology) for no reason and when it gets to this point i generally end up giving whatever it is or the nearest solid inanimate object a forceful tap although i have got a lot better at not doing this as not being able to judge your strength can lead to some broken items occassionally howveer as a child i used to be very angry/upset a lot of the time i think this was probably because i struggled with things such as doing a tie quite a lot and didnt think kii would be able to do these things.
genreally id do find that it is just the small slightly annoying things that do frustrate me, howvere i do find that when i do get frustrated with myself (the 1st scenario) it can lead to me dropping more things leading me to be a bit more frustrated which just creates this cycle.
howvere one way of coping with this or stopping yourself from getting frustrated at yourself or duyspraxic moments is to be able to kind of joke about it and accept you are having a bit more of a clumsy/dyspraxic day.

Driving

Driving is quite a common topic among the many different platforms and support groups for Dyspraxia and quite often its questions such as can a dyspraxic drive or is it harder for someone with Dyspraxia to drive.
the answer to the first question is yes people with dyspraxia can drive either or both a manual and automatic and to answer the second question i think it mostly depends on the person some people take a long time to pass and some people pass first time whether neurodiverse or not but i personally see it as learning  a new skill (which it is) and as with anything some people will find it more difficult than others however with dyspraxia it may take a little bit longer to adapt to driving with the need to be able to focus on more than one thing for driving.
my personal experiences of driving and learning to drive is that i started learning on my 17th birthday which i remember was a 2 hour lesson of which the first 30 mins-1 hour was meting the instructor who i'm pretty sure was aware i have dyspraxia as she had previously taught both my brother and my mum how to drive and i learnt in a manual and it wasn't anything i ever thought about at the time as the driving lesson were a birthday present so also during that first lesson was getting used to what does what in the car and feeling for the biting point of the clutch and as its pretty much a certainty to happen to most people is in the first few lessons i can remember stalling quite a lot and a few late/early gear changes.whilst i was having my lessons i took my theory test which i passed first time and the majority of that as people may know is about safety and road sign/marking and scenario knowledge which i think my cycling has helped with quite a lot and as its multiple choice it is possibly easier for some people and then a few weeks before my 18th birthday i passed my practical driving test at the 2nd attempt and even though it took a year to pass i probably had approximately 25-30 hours of lessons in that time with holidays etc. however different people take longer and lots of people don't pass first or second or even third time for example i think my brother had over 10 tests overall (combined practical and theory) and hes the one in the family that really likes cars.
 i would like to say however that it was after passing my test that had been some of the best but also most challenging experiences of driving and having your own car because as teenager you pass your test and want to start driving straightaway and my parents did get me a second hand car ford escort ( i think for my 18th birthday). i never actually drove that car due to incredibly high insurance a couple of months later i was put onto my mums car insurance for 1 month and i drove that once or twice around quiet areas of town with my dad who didn't like that i occasionally looked down at the gear stick to change gear and quite soon after this my dad bought a different car 2nd hand automatic (this was after selling the ford escort) and that is the car that i currently use and although i've had my license for more than 5 years now i am only into my 2nd year of driving having gone to university in a city where there was not much point to having a car and then when i started driving again once i had come home from university and started driving again i had to get used to it and that took sometime.
i am thinking that i would like to start driving a manual again even though i like driving my automatic as it is quite 'easy' you don't need to worry about changing gear can focus on whats happening on the road around you but i would like to make sure that i'm still able to drive a manual car fairly comfortably.
when learning or considering whether to learn to drive or not and unsure about whether to go an auto or a manual my advice would be to start off with a manual, make sure you find an instructor that suits and understands you and see how you get on in the first few (5 or so) lessons don't worry about stalling or not changing gear correctly even experienced drivers sometimes make these types of mistakes sometimes quite frequently the reason that i suggest this is that if you pass your test in a manual they you have the option to choose what type of car you want whereas if you pass in an automatic you can only legally drive an automatic. and a bit of advice for people who do drive or are new to driving i would say is to not worry about what other drivers are thinking for example there is nothing wrong with going 5,10 mph under the speed limit sometimes 20 even(e.g. 50 on a 70 road is fine) and if there are impatient people close behind you that's their problem as long as your driving safely within the laws of the road it should never be a problem.
the speed limit is the limit not the target.
thanks for reading this blog and i hope some of it at least is useful for people

Names

Dyspraxia has had many different names over the years and there is still a little lack of certainty over exactly what to call it now although as far as i'm aware there is currently two widely recognised and accepted names which are Dyspraxia and Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD) which is definitely a step in the right direction from some of the negative term used in the past and this blog is going to go through many of these terms.
starting with the most common of the older and more negative terms to be used for dyspraxia which is clumsy child syndrome which is clearly quite negative and inaccurate as dyspraxia is not something that only affects children and although it is easy to see why this term may have been used in the past as clumsiness is often a very common trait of people who have dyspraxia however it is not the only thing involved and the term clumsy child syndrome may promote the idea that it is. this may also have lead to a belief that the people were not intelligent because they were unable to carry out a "simple" task. however the term clumsy child syndrome is very rarely used now and in my experience if it is its as a previously referred to or known as which may help when trying to explain as the current most used terms are fairly recent developments.
two more of the much older terms that have been used, both of which are very negative, are minimal brain damage and motor morons which i only found out was a term that was used whilst i was doing my dissertation at university and it is clear to see why these terms are negative and have not been commonly used terms with one suggesting brain damage which i believe has been proven not to be the case otherwise we would have a cause and the other term motor morons which suggests idiotic or stupid which we also know not to be the case as many people who have dyspraxia are shown to actually be quite intelligent.
moving on to a more professional or medical term which is perceptuo-motor dysfunction which seems to be a perfectly acceptable term to be used as it means neurological motor difficulties/problem and i can see why it is not used that much if at all especially with there now being DCD and Dyspraxia as it could seem quite complex or too medical to some
personally (as you may be able to tell) i prefer the term Dyspraxia over developmental co-ordination disorder partly because i feel that DCD could potentially lead some people into believing co-ordination is the only aspect or difficulty which we know it isnt. the main reason i prefer the term dyspraxia is because as 1 word it doesnt seem to create any possible preconceptions (unless you translate it from very old greek to modern english dys=poor and praxia/praxis=practice/movement) as well as this it also has a clear and obvious link to dyslexia and dyscalculia and with them often occurring together it could be useful for the awareness and understanding of all of the 'conditions'.
hopefully this blog makes some people more aware of what others mean when they use different terms.

Explaining Dyspraxia

the many, many different ways in which dyspraxia affects people i find can make it very difficult to properly explain to people what dyspraxia actually is especially in a more general/everyday setting when you have a limited amount of time in a conversation and when i have time to actually think about explaining dyspraxia i tend to describe it as a "learning" disability (or neurodiversity) that affects people both physically and mentally (learning etc.) and if i am able to i also add that dyspraxia affects different people in different ways which is accurate but probably doesn't mean that much to many people as it is still quite vague and doesn't really explain how it affects people or what the affect on people is, which is where we get into the explanations that only seems to focus on one thing which would be fine if you had time but could possibly lead to misconceptions that all dyspraxic people have poor handwriting, are clumsy etc. etc. but that misses out the difficulties with organisation, planning, memory and probably the biggest factor that people with dyspraxia think and learn in different ways which is quite hard to explain in itself.
this explaining dyspraxia in regular conversation setting is something i sometimes struggle with because i find a lot of the time after i mention one thing the other person moves the conversation on or have to go and do something else which means there is a possibility that person leaves thinking that dyspraxia only affects co-ordination or is just physical difficulties rather than having a very basic understanding of the condition as a whole.
my advice to anyone else who perhaps has difficulty with explaining what dyspraxia is to others is to
1. try and keep it short if you have and just give an overview
2. however dont focus on one aspect or just the struggles
3. direct or encourage them to look online for information aswell
and if you can know a little about that person(s) you're talking to e.g. if there a teacher or work in an environment with children or disability in general as you may be able to focus the explanation

if people reading this have a way to explain dyspraxia quickly that works for you share them in the comments below as it may make it easier for others.