What Is Dyspraxia?

Dyspraxia means having disordered or very little function in parts of the body. It may also be called developmental coordination disorder (DCD), especially in children. 

Symptoms of dyspraxia can include difficulty with motor control and balance. People with dyspraxia may have trouble with motor skills like fastening buttons or writing. They may also lose control of the motion of their arms and legs.

Apraxia is similar – it means a person has no function of movement in a part or parts of the body. Many people have heard of childhood apraxia of speech, which makes it hard for a person to speak. Apraxia and dyspraxia are often used interchangeably in many cases. 

Apraxia and dyspraxia are neurological disorders that affect movement. They are not behavioral or cognitive in nature, although outsiders may assume that they are. 

This can be frustrating for people who have dyspraxia or apraxia. They know exactly what they want to do but their bodies don’t allow them to. Yet, it can look like they don’t know how to do something or are being disobedient purposely.

Dyspraxia feels different for everyone. Today, we’ll hear from two different Autistic people, TJ and Isaiah, to see their perspectives on the topic.  

Tiffany “TJ” Joseph

How does dyspraxia feel from the inside? Well, for me, it feels like a mix between strong, involuntary tics and paralysis. And I never know which one I’ll get either; it’s all random or based on the environment. Either way, it's out of my control.

I like to explain dyspraxia by using a car analogy. What powers bodies and cars alike is called a motor (or motor skills). Dyspraxia can be like driving a car where the brakes don't work, so you can't stop. You turn on the engine, and even though you are pushing the brakes, the car lurches forward. You push the brakes harder to counteract that forward motion, but instead, it accelerates forward even more. 

Because of that unpredictable response, you are very anxious all of the time. But this is the only body – erm, car – that you will ever get, and somehow you have to get from point A to B and back while trying to control an uncontrollable vehicle.

Dyspraxia Effects on the Body

A car, like a body, is your long-term vehicle to move from place to place. But what if your car was faulty? What if its wires were always crossed? It works sometimes but not other times, and you don’t have a real idea when or how it will work. That’s what it’s like having an apraxic or dyspraxic body motor system. 

You may want to say hi or wave to someone only for your body to walk off instead. That’s sort of like wanting to go straight forward, but your car instead turns left. 

It’s a frustrating condition that affects daily activities like tying shoelaces or just pointing something out – instead of moving like you want them to, your fingers might just make a fist. 

That's what it's like having a dyspraxic body. Inside your body is an experienced driver, but its outward movements are unreliable.

A Dyspraxia Spectrum

Dyspraxia is a spectrum. Some people have parts of their bodies that work like this. Some people have entire bodies like this. That’s why some of us can speak and move how we want to, and some of us can’t. 

Dysregulation is also the default due to anxiety. Imagine if you had to drive everywhere in that type of car. Wouldn't you be anxious all the time if it only worked some of the time? If it could get stuck turning one moment and the next, it could be inside the grocery store.  

Dyspraxia & Sensory Issues

Now, imagine that car is blasting heavy metal music extremely loud, and you can’t turn down the volume or change the music. Or, you could hear the music in the cars around you all at one time, but they are just as loud as if they were all inside your car with you. And then, the sun is shining bright, right in your eyes. 

Now try driving that car and not feeling sensory overwhelm or getting really worried. Or maybe you melt down and just start pushing all the pedals and buttons and turning all the knobs just to get it to work the way you want. 

Yet, you have to drive this car like that. You have no choice. It’s the only vehicle you will get for the rest of your life, and you have to find out how it works by yourself. Nobody teaches you. How would you behave if your body was always like this?

Isaiah Tien Grewal

Dyspraxia feels like living underwater 24/7. All my movements take so much effort, and being alive feels exhausting. Situations that are too loud or stimulating feel like ocean waves, and I just give up fighting sometimes to retreat into the safety of stimming. 

Dyspraxia in Autistic Children

A child with dyspraxia may seem to hit developmental motor milestones, but they can get discouraged if some portion of the movements are involuntary. I think it's important for people to realize that with dyspraxia, Autistic children may only be able to do half the actions that they’re thinking about.

When I was small, it was depressing to realize I had been trying so hard to communicate with the world, but they would never hear me. The communication therapy I finally got at 13 years old saved my sanity. 

Dyspraxia and Autistic Overwhelm

My Autistic nervous system is easily overloaded. With dyspraxia too, my body may get aggressively responsive sometimes. When my aggression happens, it should be labelled dysregulation in a perfect world, after the dysregulated nervous system that causes it. 

But let’s face it: having a 250-pound man scream and run at you is scary, both for me and the person trying to calm my body down. Giving this kind of motor action the red-colour label it needs is important so Autistics can get the help we need to demyelinate our unwanted motor responses. 

During COVID lockdowns, all the constant changes and scary broadcasts dysregulated my nervous system so much that I started to attack my dad. My parents were shocked, as I had never done that type of motor ever before, and they didn't know how to help me. 

The dyspraxia of my body feeling anxiety manifested as limbs flailing, wanting to feel control and predictability. Then when those limbs connected with my poor dad, who was only trying to help me stop breaking door frames, the flailing became a horrific motor loop. Feel anxiety, hit Dad. 

Breaking that loop became our main goal for 18 months. At first, we were only able to scramble the end of the loop by putting funny hats and caps on Dad. Dad still loved me even though I beat him up badly many times. Eventually, we all taught my nervous system to respond differently to anxiety, and of course, the COVID lockdowns finally ending helped. 

Now we all know that if I am vigorously worked out by my trainer regularly, spoken to softly and slowly when I’m anxious, and taken on trips so that I can break my loops in a fun way, I’m almost guaranteed a hitting-free life.    

Brain-Body Disconnect is a Spectrum

It is important for people who care for or work with Autistic people to be aware of the apraxia-dyspraxia spectrum and how it can physically disable Autistic people. This “brain-body disconnect” is inherent in many of them. It is the reason why some Autistic people can speak well, some can speak a little, and many cannot speak at all. Some can control their bodies well, and some have very little control in some situations. 

Not only is everyone different when it comes to the brain-body disconnect, the same person may have varying control in different situations or on different days. Dyspraxia and apraxia are extremely sensitive to the environment and emotional state. 

Dyspraxia and Apraxia

Apraxia is the reason that some Autistic people have what appear to be behavior problems. It is not fair to constantly be treated like one’s movements or physical actions are purposeful or intentional when they aren’t. This is especially true when these facts change the entire life trajectory of human beings. 

Because of apraxic reactions, people are often kept away from and isolated from peers. They and their families are segregated from society in general, causing severe difficulties with loneliness and mental health. People may be refused education and assumed to not even be inside their own minds. 

About the authors:

Tiffany Joseph is a Bened Life Neurodiversity and Disability Consultant. is an Autistic adult working in accessible education with teen and young adult Autistic nonspeakers. She herself is Hard of Hearing and utilizes many ways to communicate including ASL, mouth words, and high-tech AAC (augmentative and alternative communication). Their passion in the disability space is communication and education rights for people of all disabilities. Find TJ on social media at Nigh Functioning Autism.

Isaiah Tien Grewal is a Trainee in the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Fellowship Program at Stony Brook University and a Neurodiversity and Disability Specialist at Bened Life. He holds an Undergraduate Certificate from Harvard Extension School and appears in the award-winning short film LISTEN produced by Communication First. He contributed Chapter 39 of the book, “Leaders Around Me: Autobiographies of Autistics Who Type, Point, and Spell to Communicate.” He is a member of research teams at the University of Toronto and Johns Hopkins University, with projects focusing on neural imaging of cognition in Autistic nonspeakers.

Recommended reading:

Nonspeaking Autism - My Point of View

Autistics & Regulation Tools: Making a Strong Case for iPads

Stimming in Autism: Why It Is Necessary & Natural