Motor Planning and Praxis

Praxis is the ability to conceive of, plan, sequence, or execute novel actions. Dyspraxia is the inability to carry out one or more of these areas and often impacts a child’s academic participation, self-care skills, ability to perform an adaptive response, and overall level of arousal. When left untreated early praxis issues often manifests itself as executive functioning difficulties as a child enters middle school or high school. 

People with dyspraxia may appear awkward and poorly coordinated in gross, fine, or oral-motor areas. Difficulty with praxis can cause people to be unsure of where their body is in space and have trouble judging their distance from objects, people, or both. They display difficulty with projected action sequences that require timing, and learn best by trial and error – but require significantly more practice or repetitions than is typical. They also demonstrate decreased ability to generalize skills to other motor tasks. A lot of children who have difficulties with praxis tend to be more rigid and inflexible, while perseverating and preferring the familiar to the novel. It is also important to note that self-esteem may be poor because of dissatisfaction with abilities and repeated feelings of failure. Children with motor planning difficulties often have low frustration tolerance.

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