Academic literature on the topic 'Dyspraxia'

Imitation deficits are well-documented in autism although the specific nature of these deficits is not completely understood. Researchers have attempted to account for imitation deficits within the context of cognitive theories of autism but these theories have not been successful in explaining all of the gestural disturbances reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The types of gestural impairments along with error patterns observed in autism are similar to those reported in adult patients with limb apraxia. In this thesis, a neuropsychological account of apraxia was explored. A cognitive model of praxis processing that has been tested in adults with limb apraxia was adapted for a group of children with autism. An experimental battery of tasks was designed to assess the different levels of gestural processing following the cognitive model. The battery included seventeen different experimental tasks: nine tasks assessing the production of meaningful gestures across modalities (verbal, visual, tactile, and imitation); two tasks assessing the imitation of meaningless gestures; six tasks assessing gestural recognition and gesture comprehension. The main aim of the thesis was to determine if the gestural performance patterns identified in individuals with autism could be more parsimoniously explained by disorders of praxis processing than by the traditional cognitive theories of autism. More specifically the aims were: (1) Determine if an ASD group differs from a group of typically developing controls in their ability to imitate meaningful and/or meaningless gestures, (2) Determine if deficits in gesture production are task dependent (transitive, intransitive, pantomimes), (3) Determine if group differences in gesture production are better accounted for by underlying cognitive deficits in visual motor (VMI), visual perceptual (VP), and working memory abilities (listening recall, (LR) digit recall (DR) and word list matching (WLM), (4) identify the specific patterns of gestural impairments using a single case approach to analysis using results of recognition, comprehension, production and imitation tasks across gesture types. Experiments testing gesture imitation and gesture production across modalities employed a logistic regression approach to analysis which was designed to compare a group of individuals with autism to that of a typically developing control group. Five main findings emerged: (1) Individuals with autism performed more poorly in tasks of imitation and production across modalities than their typically developing peers; (2) Meaningful gesture imitation and production tasks were not performed equally, supporting the theory of task dependency; (3) The same cognitive variables predicting imitative success of meaningful gestures also predicted production success. An increase in visual perception and listening recall were associated with greater success; an increase in LR was also associated with greater success; (4) Different cognitive variables predicted imitation success of meaningless gestures. Listening recall was associated with increased success of hand imitation but not finger imitation. Finger matching was associated with higher performance of finger imitation but not hand imitation and this effect was slightly stronger in the TD group; (5) Results of the single case approach to analysis revealed that patterns of praxis processing were identified in individuals with autism that were similar to those of previously reported cases of limb apraxia. Ideational, ideomotor, and ideational with ideomotor praxic syndromes were all revealed. The results of this study confirm that the cognitive model of Cubelli and colleagues (2000) successfully predicted patterns of praxis processing in ASD thereby confirming that the deficit extends beyond imitation. Standard cognitive theories of autism were unable to accommodate all of the findings. The implications of these results and synthesis of dyspraxia and current autism theories are discussed.

Background: Dyspraxia, a form of developmental coordination disorder (DCD), is one of the most common disorders of childhood (Wann 2007). However, while there is increasing evidence that in many cases childhood motor difficulties persist into adulthood (Kirby et al 2013) little is known about the impact of the condition during adolescence. Moreover, existing research reflects the interests and concerns of professionals and parents rather than the perspectives of teenagers themselves. Methodology: The study was guided by the philosophical principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). A Research Reference Group of older teenagers and young adults with dyspraxia was involved in the study design and analysis of findings. Sixteen interviews were carried out with teenagers aged 13-15 years over a two year period. Participants’ accounts were subjected to a systematic process of ideographic, inductive and interpretative analysis. Findings: Five themes that represent the lived experience of dyspraxia during adolescence emerged. These were: “Doing everything the hard way”; “I didn’t want to be seen as someone different”; “I’m an intelligent person but I can’t even write. It’s making me fill up”; right help, right time; and making sense of the diagnosis. In accordance with the philosophical principles of IPA the findings prioritise the voice of the participants, and my influence as the researcher and insights offered by the Reference Group on the interpretation of findings are acknowledged. Evidence built through the process of interpretative analysis is drawn together into a conceptual framework. This is presented as a novel means of demonstrating the complex interaction of personal and environmental factors that influence the lived experience of DCD/dyspraxia during adolescence and their impact on teenagers’ sense of identity, agency, ambition and emotional resilience. The thesis concludes by summarising the new understandings about DCD/dyspraxia that the study brought forth, identifying how these might help parents, professionals, support organisations including the Dyspraxia Foundation and researchers to improve outcomes for teenagers living with DCD/dyspraxia in the future.

The thesis investigates the relationship between spoken and written language difficulties. Two children aged eleven and twelve years were studied. Both were of average intelligence but had a persisting speech difficulty of a dyspraxic nature. Normal control data was collected on each area tested so that the casescould be viewed from a developmental perspective. First, a detailed analysis of speech errors was carried out. Compared to Articulation Age matched controls, the speech disordered children made multiple errors, had difficulty assembling the articulatory programme for unfamiliar words and relied upon word specific knowledge. Second, on tests of auditory discrimination, lexical decision and segmentation skills, the speech disordered children performed less well than Reading Age matched controls. Their difficulties were most pronounced in the auditory modality and when non word material was used. Third, their reading and spelling performance was compared to low Reading Age dyslexic children without obvious speech difficulties. The speech disordered children were more deficient in their use of phonological strategies and had not broken through to the alphabetic phase of literacy development. The cases were followed up after three years. Although the children had improved their performance quantitatively, they still exhibited the same pattern of errors overall. They had become "trapped" in the logographic phase of literacy development and were adopting compensatory strategies when reading and spelling. Their pervasive phonological difficulties were compounded by their inconsistent and incoordinated speech. These findings challenge the traditional view of Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia as a motor speech disorder. In addition to their articulatory difficulties, the children also had auditory processing and lexical problems. The findings allow further discussion of the role of articulatory and phonological skills in literacy development. A model of reading and spelling strategies is presented and the points where speech and language disordered children are most at risk, are indicated. Finally, the clinical, educational and research implications are outlined.