Tests for Dyspraxia

Tests for Dyspraxia explains how teachers and clinicians spot signs of Developmental Coordination Disorder, the clinical term often used for dyspraxia. DCD is a neurodevelopmental condition. It means a learner's motor coordination is below the level expected for their age and chances to practise. The difficulty also affects schoolwork, self-care or play (Blank et al., 2019).

In class, this may look like a learner who understands a science investigation but struggles with the practical tasks around it. They may not be able to copy the results table, handle scissors safely, organise PE movements or finish written work before the lesson moves on. Formal assessment can help, but support should not wait for a diagnosis. While specialist assessment is being arranged, teachers can record patterns, reduce unnecessary handwriting load, adjust equipment and use assistive technology.

Dyspraxia and Developmental Coordination Disorder

Dyspraxia is the common term for Developmental Coordination Disorder, or DCD. It affects fine and gross motor coordination, motor planning and how smoothly a learner carries out everyday actions. It does not affect intelligence. A learner may know the answer in maths but still lose marks because aligning numbers, copying diagrams and controlling pencil pressure use up working memory (Subara-Zukic et al., 2022).

Developmental Coordination Disorder affects around 5-6% of school-age children (Blank et al., 2019). This means most classes will have one or two learners with DCD. Boys get diagnosed more often than girls.

Research suggests this is referral bias (Barnett et al., 2020). Girls' DCD often appears as avoidance or quietness. This differs from the clumsiness prompting boys' referrals (Kirby et al., 2011).

Dyspraxia is usually long term, but support can reduce its impact. Teachers should not wait for a formal diagnosis before they act. While a referral is being considered, they can start to gather classroom evidence, make reasonable adjustments and review the SEN Support plan (Department for Education and Department of Health, 2015; SASC, 2025).

Developmental Coordination Disorder often occurs with needs like dyslexia (Nicolson & Fawcett, 2007). A learner with one condition may also have DCD (Kirby et al., 2008). When teachers understand dyspraxia, they can spot difficulties that go beyond one diagnosis (Zwicker et al., 2018).

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Signs of Dyspraxia by Age

Dyspraxia can look different as a learner grows (Sumner, 2021). Teachers should look for signs that fit the learner's age and key stage (Kirby, 2011). Use it as a starting point for professional discussion: identify the learner's current need, record evidence from more than one lesson, and agree the next classroom adjustment with the SENCO or family.

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Early Years (EYFS, ages 3 to 5)

In early years, dyspraxia may show as delayed motor milestones. Learners may walk later than peers, avoid climbing frames, find scissors and pencils hard to control, or struggle with buttons, zips and shoelaces. Some avoid construction toys and jigsaws because the motor planning demand is too high. Verbal dyspraxia affects the planning and sequencing of speech movements (Kirby, 2011; Dewey et al., 2007).

Fine motor skills impact early learning. A teacher may see a learner avoid climbing. The learner may grip a pencil with their fist, unlike peers. They may struggle to catch a ball or become upset changing for PE.

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Key Stage 1 (ages 5 to 7)

By KS1, the gap between a dyspraxic child and their peers becomes more visible. Handwriting is often the most obvious difficulty: letters are poorly formed, inconsistently sized, and produced slowly with visible effort. The child may press too hard or too lightly on the paper. Sitting still at a desk is exhausting because maintaining posture requires the same motor planning that other children do without thinking.

Learners may struggle to ride a bike or scooter. They may have problems with PE, like hopping or balancing. Messy eating and losing belongings is common.

They may struggle with instructions needing physical steps (Cousins, 2015). Poor task planning affects motor skills development (Kirby & Drew, 2003). This can affect learners' participation (Cairney et al., 2005).

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Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 11)

In KS2, academic demands increase and dyspraxia creates wider consequences. The child may avoid writing tasks entirely, not because they lack ideas but because the physical act of writing is so demanding that they cannot think and write simultaneously. This is a cognitive load problem: the motor task of forming letters consumes working memory that should be available for composing sentences.

Learners may show social issues. Breaktime games become awkward. Group tasks like science, art, or DT are stressful.

Learners avoid PE, "forget" kit, or claim illness. These behaviours are coping, not flaws (Ball, 2024).

Learners in Key Stage 2 often struggle with organisation. They may have trouble with homework (Alloway & Gathercole, 2006). Managing timetables and packing bags can prove hard.

Moving between classes also presents difficulty; these tasks involve motor planning. Dyspraxic learners find such tasks very challenging (Kirby & Drew, 2003).

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Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, and Dyscalculia Compared

Teachers mistake these conditions due to shared traits. They all cause poor grades, frustration, and avoidance behaviours. (Researcher names and dates) say accurate identification matters. Support differs because the root causes are unique.

Feature	Dyspraxia (DCD)	Dyslexia	Dyscalculia
Primary difficulty	Motor coordination and planning	Phonological processing and word decoding	Number sense and mathematical reasoning
Affects handwriting	Yes: poor letter formation, inconsistent sizing, slow speed	Sometimes: letter reversals, spelling errors	Rarely: only when writing numbers
Affects reading	Indirectly: tracking text across the page can be difficult	Yes: decoding, fluency, and comprehension	No, unless the text contains numerical information
Affects PE and sport	Yes: catching, throwing, balancing, team sports	No	No
Affects daily living	Yes: dressing, eating, personal care, organisation	Mainly time management and written communication	Money handling, time-telling, measurement
Prevalence	5 to 6% of children	10 to 15% of the population	3 to 6% of the population
Diagnosed by	Occupational therapist, physiotherapist, or paediatrician	Educational psychologist or specialist teacher	Educational psychologist or qualified Specialist Teacher/Assessor with a current Assessment Practising Certificate for dyscalculia assessment (British Dyslexia Association, 2026)
Co-occurrence	Often overlaps with dyslexia, ADHD and other neurodevelopmental needs	Frequently co-occurs with DCD, ADHD	Often co-occurs with dyslexia and ADHD

The overlap between conditions is important. Kaplan et al. (1998) remains useful historically, but schools should not rely on one older percentage. Current neurodevelopmental thinking treats DCD, ADHD, dyslexia and language needs as profiles that often overlap, so learners need broad screening, not one-condition referral routes (Gillberg, 2010; Blank et al., 2019). This means a learner referred for one condition should be screened for others, as a child who appears to have "just" handwriting difficulties may have underlying motor coordination problems (DCD), phonological processing difficulties (dyslexia), or both.

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The Assessment Pathway

No single test can diagnose dyspraxia. Identification should bring together several types of evidence. These include developmental history, parent and teacher evidence, standardised motor assessment, impact on daily functioning and consideration of other explanations (NHS, 2023; Blank et al., 2019; SASC, 2025).

Step 1: Teacher and parent concerns. Most referrals start when a teacher or parent notices ongoing motor coordination difficulties. The school should record clear observations as part of graduated SEN Support evidence.

This includes which tasks the learner struggles with, how their performance compares to peers, what strategies have been tried, and whether the difficulties are consistent across settings (Department for Education and Department of Health, 2015). This evidence forms the basis of a referral.

GPs can refer learners to paediatricians or occupational therapy (OT). Schools also refer learners to OT in many areas. The SENCO manages school referrals, providing teacher evidence. (Step 2; adapted from Case-Smith & O'Brien, 2015; Law et al., 2021; Missiuna et al., 2015).

Occupational therapists use structured tools to assess motor skills and daily functioning. Current assessment may include the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Third Edition (Movement ABC-3), Movement ABC-2 where still used locally, BOT-2, Beery VMI and DASH handwriting measures. It may also include teacher or parent questionnaires such as the DCDQ (Pearson, 2025; Barnett et al., 2007).

• Movement Assessment Battery for Children (Movement ABC-2): The most widely used standardised test for identifying DCD in children aged 3 to 16. It assesses manual dexterity (posting coins, threading lace, drawing trail), aiming and catching (catching bean bag, throwing at target), and static and active balance (one-leg stand, walking heel-to-toe, hopping). Scores below the 5th percentile indicate significant motor difficulty; scores between the 5th and 15th percentile suggest the child is at risk.
• Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT-2): A comprehensive assessment covering fine motor precision, fine motor integration, manual dexterity, bilateral coordination, balance, running speed and agility, upper-limb coordination, and strength. It provides a detailed profile of motor strengths and weaknesses.
• Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI): Assesses the ability to integrate visual perception and motor coordination by asking the child to copy geometric forms of increasing complexity. This test is particularly relevant for handwriting difficulties.

DCD diagnosis follows the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision. A learner's motor coordination must be below what is expected for their age. It must affect daily life or schoolwork, start early in development and not be better explained by another medical, neurological or intellectual condition (American Psychiatric Association, 2022).

After assessment, the occupational therapy report should give clear recommendations for home and school. These may include classroom changes, intervention programmes, access arrangements and strategies for parents or teachers. School leaders should also keep pre-diagnostic evidence, such as records of needs-led support, reviewed adjustments and impact data. This can support SEN Support decisions and EHCP discussions without forcing families into private assessment costs (Department for Education and Department of Health, 2015).

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Classroom Support Strategies

Research by Smythe and Stirling (2003) and Kirby (2011) shows simple support works best. Teachers can help dyspraxic learners with small classroom changes. These adjustments often assist other learners too, say Nicolson and Fawcett (2007).

Handwriting and written output. Reduce the physical demand of writing wherever possible. Allow the learner to use a laptop or tablet for extended writing tasks. Provide lined paper with wider spacing, and consider a writing slope (a slanted board) that improves wrist position and reduces fatigue.

Teach keyboard skills explicitly, as typing becomes the primary writing method for most dyspraxic learners by secondary school. Do not penalise poor presentation when assessing content knowledge.

Dyspraxic learners find organisation tricky, as sequencing involves motor skills (Kirby, 1999). Provide a visual timetable at their desk. Give learners clear, single-step instructions.

Allow extra time to move between tasks (Portwood, 2000). A desk buddy helps them quietly recall needed items. This support reduces anxiety and frees their minds to learn (Stein, 2004).

PE and physical activity. Never exclude a dyspraxic learner from PE, but adapt activities so they can participate meaningfully.

Replace competitive team sports with individual challenges: "Can you improve your own time?" rather than "Which team wins?" Break complex movements into smaller steps and allow extra practice time. Use targets that are closer and larger. Celebrate effort and personal improvement rather than comparison with peers.

Fine motor activities. In art, design technology, and science, provide alternatives to tasks requiring precise fine motor control. Allow the use of larger tools (thicker paintbrushes, larger scissors with spring-return handles).

Pre-cut materials when the cutting itself is not the learning objective. Pair the learner with a partner who can handle the physical manipulation while the dyspraxic learner contributes ideas and planning.

Dyspraxic learners notice when tasks are hard for them (Kirby, 1999). This can cause frustration and anxiety. Celebrate each learner's strengths to build their confidence.

Many dyspraxic learners are creative and good at problem-solving. Provide chances to show off these skills publicly. A growth mindset, valuing effort (Dweck, 2006), really helps all learners.

If a dyspraxic learner receives occupational therapy support, ask the therapist for classroom exercises. Many OT programmes include short "motor breaks" (alertness and coordination activities). Hand-strengthening exercises also take only a few minutes each day. Building these into daily routines is more effective than relying only on weekly sessions.

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Treatments and Interventions

Dyspraxia is not curable, but it is highly manageable with the right interventions. The goal is to help the child develop compensatory strategies and build the motor skills they can improve, while reducing the impact of difficulties that will persist.

• Occupational therapy: The primary intervention for DCD. OTs work on fine motor skills (handwriting, using tools), self-care skills (dressing, eating), and classroom strategies. Programmes like the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) teach children to identify their own motor challenges and develop problem-solving strategies. Research shows CO-OP produces better long-term outcomes than task-specific practice alone (Polatajko and Mandich, 2004).
• Physiotherapy: Focuses on gross motor skills: balance, coordination, strength, and physical fitness. Useful when the learner's primary difficulties are with whole-body movements, sport, and playground activities.
• Speech and language therapy: Required when verbal dyspraxia (childhood apraxia of speech) affects the child's ability to produce clear, fluent speech. This involves intensive practice of mouth movements and sound sequences.
• Educational support: Differentiated teaching approaches, access to technology, extra time in assessments, and targeted intervention programmes within school. For learners with significant needs, an EHC plan may provide additional funding for support staff or specialist resources.
• Sensory integration therapy: Some occupational therapists use sensory integration approaches for learners whose DCD includes sensory processing difficulties. This involves structured activities that challenge the child's balance, proprioception (body awareness), and tactile processing in a supportive environment.

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When to Seek Assessment

Teachers should consider referral when motor barriers continue after classroom support. For post-pandemic KS1 and KS2 cohorts, compare a child's performance with their teaching history, attendance, outdoor play and chances to practise. This is important because lockdown-era studies found disrupted motor development in some children (den Uil et al., 2023; SASC, 2025).

• Motor coordination difficulties are persistent (not just a "bad day") and have been present for at least six months
• The learner's motor skills are significantly below what is expected for their age, even after targeted support from the school
• The difficulties are affecting academic progress, social participation, or emotional wellbeing
• Standard classroom assessment strategies are not capturing the learner's true ability because the assessment format requires motor skills the learner lacks
• Parents report similar difficulties at home (dressing, eating, sports, riding a bike)

Early motor support helps, but referral should not be the first support a learner receives. Start with low-cost classroom adjustments, record what changes, and escalate when difficulties persist across settings. This gives specialists better evidence and gives the learner support while waiting lists move.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Limitations and Critiques

Dyspraxia tests help schools describe motor barriers. But they do not give a full explanation of a learner's learning difficulty. Blank et al. warn that DCD identification should bring together standardised motor testing, developmental history, daily functioning and exclusion of other causes (Blank et al., 2019). A low Movement ABC score alone cannot show whether the main barrier is motor control, attention, anxiety, comprehension or limited practice.

Second, DCD rarely appears alone. Gillberg's ESSENCE framework shows that early motor problems often overlap with ADHD, autism, language difficulties, dyslexia and emotional needs (Gillberg, 2010). This matters because an assessment task may test planning, inhibition and working memory, as well as movement. Subara-Zukic et al. also show that DCD research points to cognitive-motor integration differences, meaning differences in how thinking and movement work together, not a simple clumsiness profile (Subara-Zukic et al., 2022).

Third, standardised tasks can carry cultural and socioeconomic bias. Learners with less access to bikes, balls, scissors, outdoor space, swimming, clubs or adult coaching may perform poorly because of opportunity, not DCD. SASC guidance therefore stresses age and opportunity to learn motor skills, not age alone (SASC, 2025).

Finally, access in the UK is uneven. NHS referral routes, occupational therapy thresholds and private assessment costs can delay identification, especially for lower-income families. Even so, careful assessment is still useful when it guides needs-led teaching, records barriers and helps schools secure the right level of support.

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References

Ball (2024).

Barnett et al. (2020).

Blank et al. (2019).

Cairney et al. (2005).

Cousins (2015).

Dweck (2006).

Gillberg (2010).

Green et al. (2005).

Kaplan et al. (1998).

Kirby (2007).

Kirby (2011).

Kirby (1999).

Kirby et al. (2011).

Kirby et al. (2008).

Missiuna et al. (2006).

Peters et al. (2009).

Polatajko and Mandich (2004).

Portwood (2000).

Reynolds (1981).

Rodger et al. (2021).

Rose (2023).

SASC (2025).

Stein (2004).

Subara-Zukic et al. (2022).

Sumner (2021).

Zwicker et al. (2018).

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Further Reading: Key Research on Dyspraxia and DCD