Symptoms of dyspraxia are evident from an early age. Babies are usually irritable from birth and may exhibit significant feeding problems. They are slow to achieve expected developmental milestones. For example, by the age of eight months they still may not sit independently.

Common signs and symptoms of dyspraxia are:

The pre-school child

• Is late in reaching milestones e.g. rolling over, sitting, standing, walking, and speaking
• May not be able to run, hop, jump, or catch or kick a ball although their peers can do so
• Has difficulty in keeping friends; or judging how to behave in company
• Has little understanding of concepts such as 'in', 'on', 'in front of' etc
• Has difficulty in walking up and down stairs
• Poor at dressing
• Slow and hesitant in most actions
• Appears not to be able to learn anything instinctively but must be taught skills
• Falls over frequently
• Poor pencil grip
• Cannot do jigsaws or shape sorting games
• Bumps into things
• Artwork is very immature
• Often anxious and easily distracted

The school age child

• Probably has all the difficulties experienced by the pre-school child with dyspraxia, with little or no improvement
• High levels of excitability with a loud/shrill voice
• Avoids PE and games
• Has difficulty using a knife and fork
• Does badly in class but significantly better on a one-to -one basis
• May be easily distressed and prone to temper tantrums
• Hands flap when running or when excited
• Has difficulty tying shoe laces
• Reacts to all stimuli without discrimination and attention span is poor
• May have trouble with maths and writing structured stories
• Experiences great difficulty in copying from the blackboard
• Writes laboriously and immaturely
• Unable to remember and /or follow instructions
• Inability to remember more than two instructions at once
• May be a late in learning how to ride a bicycle
• Poor social skills with peers
• Low self esteem
• Is generally poorly organised