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.