Dyspraxia/DCD pocketbook

Since the turn of the century, scientific and medical literature has been peppered with case reports of children without an identifiable medical or neurological condition who appeared physically and intellectually normal, yet who lacked the movement competence necessary to cope with the demands of everyday living.

These children had previously been described as 'clumsy'.

The condition is now widely referred to as 'dyspraxia' or Developmental Co-ordination Disorder. This cartoon-illustrated Pocketbook provides readers with an understanding and insight into the 'hidden disability' of dyspraxia/DCD.

It describes how dyspraxia can affect an individual and outlines the challenges they might face.

It focuses on how to support children to learn to cope with the demands of the classroom and how to afford them maximal learning opportunities.

After defining dyspraxia/DCD, the author explains current approaches to identification.

She highlights the main areas of difficulty and offers practical strategies to address these.

Chapters on perceptual function, motor memory and the secondary consequences of dyspraxia help to form a full picture. The book concludes with how to develop a dyspraxia-friendly classroom and provides a helpful list of resources, websites, suppliers, equipment and contacts. Author Afroza Talukdar is SEN advisory teacher for a local authority.

She runs training sessions and conferences on SEN issues and holds a range of post-graduate qualifications in the field of dyspraxia.

She is a member of the education panel for the Dyspraxia Foundation.