Few people know in our country that the popular actor who played the role of Harry Potter has an incurable disease - dyspraxia. This is a violation of the coordination of movements that are done purposefully. Looking through the frames of the film, it is hard to imagine that this person has any problems, however, as Daniel himself claims, it was only thanks to this incurable disease that he became an actor.
What it is?
Dyspraxia is a pathology that manifests itself in childhood. It is quite difficult for a child to carry out daily activities, to dress or even talk.
According to ICD-10, the disease is classified as a disorder of the development of motor function, and in the reference book DSM-IV, the pathology is listed in the department of disorders of development of coordination. Simply put, scientists use the term “dyspraxia” to mean a disorder in the brain that makes it difficult for the patient to plan his movements. At the same time, the child understands everything that is happening around him, what he should do, but it is quite difficult for him to plan and repeat the movements.
Despite the high level of development of the medical field, this type of pathology causes a lot of controversy, both in terms of the reasons for its appearance and in terms of treatment.
Main manifestations
Pathology is found in 3-6% of all children. It can manifest itself in one way or another. The disease is more characteristic of boys than girls.
Many babies are clumsy, but dyspraxia is a disease that lasts a lifetime.
The most vivid and common problems a child faces are:
- Disorders of articulatory function, often accompanied by respiratory dysfunction. It is difficult for a baby to coordinate the work of speech muscles.
- Problems holding pen or pencil. Such children for a long time master the skills of writing, drawing. Even learning to write, they do it very slowly.
- Reading problems. It is difficult for a child to concentrate on one line and follow his gaze along it.
- Problems with the most common tasks: walking, running, maintaining balance. It is also difficult for a child to remember, and even more so later to reproduce successive movements, games of high complexity are difficult to respond to.
Symptoms depending on age
Despite the poor knowledge of the problem, it is still possible to suspect pathology even at the household level.
At an early age (from 0 to 1 year), pathology can manifest itself in the form of sleep disturbances and sucking function. The kid may not be able to direct his gaze to one point, much less keep him. Disorders of seizure function, irritability and frequent crying may be observed.
In this case, dyspraxia is a violation in motor development, manifested by the fact that the baby hardly sits and crawls, practically does not show interest in games, does not express his mood with gestures and verbal signals.
Preschool period
This is the age of 1 to 5 years. At this age, the disease can be characterized by the following symptoms:
- decreased attention span;
- increased physical activity;
- trouble falling asleep;
- inability to eat independently;
- uncoordinated gait.
At this age, a problem with articulation is already clearly observed, such children have a very poor supply of words, they can know no more than 50 words. Some do not even know how to draw and use scissors, dance to the rhythm with music.
School age
Dyspraxia in children from 6 years of age causes problems with the development of the school curriculum, mathematics is the most difficult. Pronounced dysgraphia and generally difficulties with learning.
Why is this happening?
Most often, the disease is diagnosed in children from 5 to 11 years. There are huge difficulties with the diagnosis, since the symptoms of dyspraxia intersect with many diseases.
There are many hypotheses regarding the real causes of the development of the disease, but there is no consensus among doctors.
One of the determining causes of the development of pathology is heredity. Naturally, if at least one parent has a disease, then the child is definitely at risk.
According to another theory, the disease is a genetic disorder. This is thought to be due to the mutation of the FOXP2 gene, which plays a crucial role in the development of verbal skills. For example, such a violation is characteristic of people with diagnosed autism, who also have problems with verbal function.
Other scientists suggest that motor dyspraxia and other types of the disease can be the result of brain microtraumas that occur against the background of fetal anoxia, that is, appear during gestation. Moreover, it has long been noticed that babies who are premature or vice versa are postponed more often suffer from this type of pathology.
In addition to all these factors, a relationship has been established between dyspraxia and Down, Asperger syndrome and autism. The disease often occurs against the background of a head injury and in the presence of a number of neurological problems.
Species depending on the reasons
To date, several types of dyspraxia are distinguished, in particular, depending on the causes:
- Primary Clearly establish in this case, why the disease appeared is almost impossible, since it is not a consequence of any disease or injury.
- Secondary, that is, the development of the disease is directly related to another pathology.
Views depending on the type of action
According to another classification, pathology is divided into types depending on the type of action.
Verbal or articulatory dyspraxia, that is, problems with the correct placement of words, the construction of phrases. Often a child is not able to clearly express his thought. Often this type is accompanied by problems with performing movements and the speech apparatus.
Motor type of pathology is characterized by impaired motor function. It can appear not only in the form of a shaky gait, there may be problems with grabbing items and performing other daily tasks.
Ophthalmic or oculomotor pathology. In this case, there is a problem with controlling eye movement. Often, in order to read the sentence, the child needs to move his whole head or he is not at all able to concentrate and quickly read something.
Classification of pathology for specific motor disorders
In this classification there is:
- Kinetic dyspraxia. Pathology is characterized by slow movements, that is, the inability to perform almost any movement at a fast pace.
- Ideal. The patient has difficulties with comprehension and further implementation of actions.
- Deambulatory. A child with this type of dyspraxia is unable to alternate walking and running, or other suggested movements.
- The expressive type is characterized by almost complete inability to express their emotions with facial expressions. The child does not correlate facial expressions with his emotional state.
- Constructive. The patient does not perceive the world around him adequately, neither in three-dimensional nor in two-dimensional dimension.
- Dressing dysfunction, as the name implies, is associated with the donning process. A child can confuse the sequence of the process of putting on, for example, first put on shoes, and only then put on underwear.
How to determine?
The huge role of dyspraxia in the occurrence of motor dysgraphia, which in the future will only complicate it in adulthood. In light of this, it is very important to identify the disease as early as possible, because it is quite simple to confuse it with another pathology.
Parents may suspect problems at home. For example, watching a baby dress and undress. If the correct order is constantly violated, it is best to consult a doctor. You can ask your child to play with a puzzle where you want to connect the grooves. You can also notice that there are problems if you ask the walking child to run right away, but he cannot immediately rebuild.
At the slightest suspicion, consult a doctor. It can be a pediatrician, an ophthalmologist or a speech therapist.
Therapeutic measures
To date, there is no treatment methodology that would completely get rid of dyspraxia. It is necessary to be prepared that a child with this type of pathology will have certain difficulties in adulthood.
Despite this, there are certain methods that will simplify the child and adult socialization in society.
In particular, the motor type of pathology is corrected using the so-called “Third Person” method. Exercises allow you to teach your baby to combine their own movements with signals from the outside world. At the same time it is possible to improve the perception of time and space.
Exercises called "Body and Me" allow you to develop a sense of your own body. The child learns to control his own breathing and limbs - upper and lower.
In addition, it is recommended to enter into the regime additional classes that will improve the condition. For example, swimming, which improves coordination. It will require constant monitoring of posture and gait, eye movement.
Correction of motor dyspraxia involves occupational therapy. In this case, the child learns to clearly perform everyday functions, which will maximize socialization in the environment.
Treatment of the verbal type of pathology
This type is most often found in children. Therefore, it is very important that it is easier for the child to live, to turn to a speech therapist in time. Dyspraxia - in this case, the inability to clearly express your thoughts and form sounds correctly.
Depending on the assessment of the problem, one of two rehabilitation strategies is selected:
- "Re-education" of phonetics. In this case, the doctor helps to improve the quality of sounds and their quantity.
- Correction of the motor function of the face with emitted sounds. In this case, face muscles are trained so that in the future the child can remember the movements and use them in the context of his own speech.
Adult dyspraxia
For a long time, doctors around the world were confident that the child "outgrows" dyspraxia. But today it is already clearly understood that the pathology persists throughout life and carries a number of problems for the patient.
Adults with dyspraxia can be characterized as people with inability to plan, that is, they are constantly late, do their homework with difficulty, or do everything for too long. It’s hard for them to even learn to drive a car and a bicycle.
The study of adult pathology is only at the initial stage, so the question of what can fundamentally help such people is not even discussed.
Prevention
Despite the rapid development of medicine, no one came up with preventive measures and vaccines for dyspraxia. The most important thing, at the slightest suspicion that something is wrong with the baby’s health, urgently need to see a doctor, since the treatment of this type of pathology is quite long.