Dyspraxia or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), as it is more properly known, affects 5-10% of school-aged children. Despite having normal intelligence and physical appearance, these children have poor coordination. We have learned much more about this condition in the last decade and no longer believe that such children should simply "grow out of" their difficulties. The condition leads to educational underachievement and most pupils need extra help at home and in school. So far, most effort has been expended on helping children of primary school age with DCD. When reaching secondary school, a pupil is required to take notes, write examination papers and manipulate materials in practical subjects. Secondary school can therefore become a stressful environment and these children may fail to achieve their true potential.

This project aims to improve the situation for teenagers with DCD by producing better assessment instruments to describe a young person’s problems more precisely. This would allow professionals to offer a sound basis for planning and evaluating new treatments and compete for scarce resources on behalf of these children. Although the main base for the researchers will be London, the work will be carried out with children at many centres across the UK.

This project was generously funded by the Freemasons’ Grand Charity.