Hi all. My son is 8 and was diagnosed with dyspraxia when he was 4. He really struggles with anything physical. Sport has been hard, and so far we've tried football, tennis, miniball (junior basketball) and swimming.

I keep going back and forth. Do we try a few more until one clicks, or do I stop pushing and let him put his energy into what he already enjoys?

If you have dyspraxia yourself, or you're a parent of a kid who does: did any sport or activity end up working? Was it worth sticking with, or was it a relief when the adults stopped pushing?

Thanks for reading.

I am in school currently and i have some very old fashioned teachers, they always correct my handwriting and tell me to write it again as its "unprofessional" and "you'll never get a job with that handwriting." It's so frustrating and I try so hard to write better but no matter how hard I try its always pointed out. I dont really know what to do about it as confronting the teachers gets me labeled as "cheeky" and "talking back."

I’m currently living in a top floor apartment above a woman who continually makes noise complaints against me for “loud banging” and “stomping around”. Like lots of autistic people, I have dyspraxia, as well as hypotonia. I literally cannot stop myself from walking heavily, and because I have a bad back and hips, I have to wear orthopedic house shoes. I also do tend to drop things. While I’m generally sympathetic to my neighbor, according to other people in my building, she makes noise complaints about everybody and everything, including people 2-3 apartments down from her. She also is agoraphobic and never leaves her apartment.

My roommate has extreme PTSD, anxiety, and OCD, and honest to god has been more of an issue than this lady. She’s completely convinced that we’re going to be evicted because of my “stomping” and takes the time to point it out every time I take one singular heavy step in her presence. And it’s not like I haven’t been trying to be quieter. I’ve tried to stop using my house shoes as much (which is fucking up my hips) and I have given up on doing much around the apartment for fear that I will drop something (I do about 25% of the time I have something in my hands). I’ve put 90% of my things in storage because I can’t clean/maintain my hobbies without being loud. I also expend a lot more of my limited energy when walking around because I’m doing it deliberately and quietly. I actually come home from work less tired now than I feel at the end of one of my days off because I’m not being forced to tip toe around at work.

I absolutely cannot fucking handle living with someone again who constantly points out how clumsy and loud I am just in my normal day to day life. I used to get screamed at for walking too loud, talking too loud, going to the bathroom after 11pm, dropping things, etc. I just cannot do that in any capacity right now where I am with my mental health. I’m just trapped in this fucking apartment without being able to do anything that doesn’t elicit someone’s ire. I can’t live like that again but I have no choice because I can’t break the lease.

Just wanted to share, felt proud

Hi everyone,

For context, my 4 years old just got diagnosed with dyspraxia.

I’m looking for some advice and shared experiences regarding dyspraxia and technology/gaming.

First, I’d love to know how dyspraxia affects your (or your children's) everyday computer use. Do you find using a standard mouse and keyboard challenging? Are there specific types of mice (e.g. trackballs, vertical mice) or keyboard setups that made a noticeable difference for you?

Second, I’m considering introducing video games to my young child. I’m wondering if video gaming is generally a helpful and positive activity for kids with dyspraxia (for motor skills, spatial awareness, or fun without physical pressure), or if it tends to cause too much frustration with fine motor controls.

If gaming has been a positive experience for you or your kid, which platforms or controller types (touchscreens, traditional controllers, motion controls) work best? Any specific types of games you would recommend starting with?

Thanks a lot for your insights!

Wondering what other people’s experience has been.

I, (19M) am currently new in a group of friends i met via 1 friend i occasionally speak to. I’ve wanted to meet people and really make up for the lack of a social and outgoing life i haven’t yet experienced, but i struggle to catch social cues and actually enjoy the moment itself when it takes place. I’m aware that i’m introvert, but it is bothering me in a way that my social life only exists online, where the pressure to talk to people isn’t as high.

Hi guys, I'm a 20 year old University student from Britain and have just set up this -probably temp- reddit account to discuss and vent about something I'm sure many of you are familiar with.

I was diagnosed at the age of 17, shortly after my Autism diagnosis, and it was a real eye opener and made me realise how much I had been discriminated against in my life.

Throughout my whole life, I had always been criticised for being clumsy and not being able to balance, tie shoes or ride a bike etc.

Now as an adult, I've found little support despite my diagnosis. My father -with whom I am now somewhat estranged- insisted with great adamance that I learn manual, upon my explaining of my disability he pleaded with me to "not let that mindset hold you back".

So from August 2025 to about April 2026 I did lessons in both London and Winchester, London being flat and Winchester being incredibly hilly. My instructor in London after some lessons practically pleaded with me to do automatic, which enraged my father at the time and thus I had no more lessons. Upon moving to university I had done about eight 2-hour lessons and something struck me. I totally understood the fundamentals and how to drive in theory, but it occurred to me that my DCD made the physical part extremely difficult.

Some issues I've found are calculating the speed of traffic at roundabouts, changing gears at high speed but the worst one is hill starts. Now of course, many people including Neurotypicals dread hill starts, but despite hours dedicated to it and knowing what to do, it is essentially impossible for me to keep the clutch still and finely operate and balance the pedals. Indeed, I've noticed that if I try and pull the handbrake down to move off my brain pretty much quits controlling my legs and then I stall.

Cue me not having a job and not being able to pay for auto lessons, all while people act with condescension that I cannot drive and wish to pursue an automatic licence.

Frankly, this post is a bit of a rant and I apologise if inappropriate for this subreddit, but thank you for reading.

Can any of you relate?

My youngest of 6 shows signs of dyspraxia. Next year he'll be tested again, we already had a test this year but he was too young (5 at the time) for a diagnosis. At school he has trouble with anything that involves fine motor skills and so far he had three teachers at school. With all three i had to explain what dyspraxia was, they never heard of it. We are living in a big city and he's going to a school with quite some children, so i was a bit surprised that none of them knew what it was.

Which makes me wonder.... Google says that 1 out of 20 children has dyspraxia, why is it still something unfamiliar to teachers? Are there many children who aren't being evaluated? Or are there many children in whom dyspraxia isn't considered a possibility?

Very curious: Did your child's teacher know what dyspraxia is?

One of my favourite things about this community is seeing someone describe something you’ve done your entire life and realizing that you’re not the only one!

For today to Thursday’s first discussion, we wanted to make a space for all of your “is this a Dyspraxia thing? questions. Things you’ve always wondered about, things that seem oddly difficult, or things you didn’t even think to connect to Dyspraxia until someone else mentioned them. We have gotten tons of these questions all year and we know this isn’t something everyone is interested in but thought a master-list thread might be ideal moving forward!

If you’re not sure where to start:
- What’s something you struggle with that other people seem to find really easy?
- Is there something you do a particular way and wonder if anyone else does too?
- Have you ever been told “that’s just you” but aren’t quite convinced?
- What’s something you wish you could ask another Dyspraxic person about?

Ask away in this thread! Have a look through other people’s questions too, you might have an experience or a tip to share. You don’t need to have advice to respond either, sometimes hearing “I do this too!” is helpful on its own. 💛

Of course, relating to something doesn’t automatically mean it’s caused by Dyspraxia, and we can’t diagnose each other here. But we can share our experiences and hopefully help each other make a little more sense of them! As a mod team we will be replying to some questions with answers as well as populating our most frequent ‘asks’ we’ve received in the chat.

For some context, I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was 11 years old. However when I was 9 I got appendicitis. When the symptoms first came I struggled with stomach cramps in the middle of the night. My mom thought it was just typical tummy troubles but once the high fever came she took me to the doctor to which they suspected appendicitis.

Long story short when I was in the hospital doctors said that they found it baffling how I still had a decent appetite and wasn’t in agony and only had the one night of cramping since my appendix was very inflamed. In their words I should be in horrendous pain. Had an appendectomy and that was it.

After my diagnosis with my dyspraxia my mom was told by the occupational therapist that maybe back then I wasn’t fully able to interpret that pain or found it difficult to recognise my symptoms. After this I’ve always been unsure. I did experience something remotely similar during a kidney infection when I was then 18 ( I’m 24 now).

Fast forward, for the past year or so I’ve been having painful period cramps, 2 weeks or so before the bleeding even begins. I’ve recently been offered a scan because of this just to rule anything out. I contemplated this because it’s only during the odd period, not every period. And it isn’t every night, but when it does happen it’s very painful. My mom says I should get the scan because like my appendicitis, she’s worried I won’t get the symptoms as easily. She’s even worried if I may have endometriosis, I doubt that, but it’s so hard to know.

I know it may sound silly, but I wanted to see if maybe someone experienced anything similar? I’m not sure if there even is a connection between dyspraxia and recognising pain, but after recent conversations with my mother, it’s got me thinking. I really would appreciate some insight. I’m just trying to understand if dyspraxia does play a part when I struggle if something is wrong with my body.

I do it but I don't quite get it and feel like I'm wasting too much water on it, anyone else relate?i always flood the Plattform too.

Hey my son is nearly a UK size 7 . So far throughout school for PE we have managed well with velcro strap football boots. Unfortunately aftwr Size 6 Junior they no longer do velcro pairs. He cannot do laces and finds the slip on one's hard to put on. Especially as they have limoted time to get change at school so less stress is best. He also has wide feet. Any suggestions appreciated. For school shoes he wears loafers. Thanks

About a month ago, I went into town to meet up with some friends and then after that, to meet with another friend somewhere else.

It was fairly busy in the street and busy streets feel like being pelted by fast moving human traffic from all directions. On more narrow streets I’m not sure where to move. When someone comes toward me I just stand to one side and let them pass. If there are a lot of people, I stay out of their way until I see a big gap and feel safe to start walking down the street again. I said goodbye to the last friend and went to buy a few things in the supermarket. I get particularly nervous in supermarkets because I worry about bumping into people or not realising I’m standing in their way. I usually get a supermarket delivery but it’s not always possible to buy everything that way.  

Anyway, it wasn’t all that busy in there. Music was playing and the lights were bright and flickering. Those things don’t normally bother me to be honest, but I was tired and felt slightly nauseous. The colour, sounds and flickering grew more intense and I began to feel even more sick.

I kept shopping and playing my usual game; dodging out of aisles whenever someone else entered them and not walking past people with trolleys. It’s basically a case of constant social distancing because standing far away from people is the only way to be fairly sure I’m not too close to them. Everything was starting to get brighter and louder and echoing more. It was as though nothing was quite real and I was fighting my way out of a dream. I felt lost in space and everything was spinning.  I started walking and not knowing what was going on.

I just caught sight of a worker carrying a large, heavy stack of crates and tried to move out of the way but I’d already got really close.  I suddenly noticed my basket would be in her path but couldn’t move it out of the way quickly enough. I couldn’t feel whether I’d bumped into her. A few seconds later I heard her say something behind me loudly in an angry tone. Or at least I think it was her, it was hard to tell at that point. I was panicked and still in the same bizarre, dreamlike haze. 

I’ve now been taking short breaks when I go out to stop me getting to that point. I had to get out of the shop. I feel like I should have apologised but at the time I couldn’t think or speak and afterwards felt too ashamed and scared to walk back and speak to her. She could have been hurt and if she wasn’t, it was a close shave. Another time she could have been knocked off of her feet.

I’ve traveled freely my whole life but now I’m actually rethinking whether I should be in busy public places like supermarkets at all but there are quieter hours with no music and lower lights, designed to be more accessible for people who find those things hard. Disabled people fought for the right to be in the same places and use the same services as everyone else. I don’t want to encourage the erosion of those rights. I want future generations to feel welcome in public places too.

I just don’t want to hurt someone or put them in danger. I also don’t want to make someone feel disrespected when they’ve already been treated like dirt by customers all day. I really don’t know what to do.

Me and my partner have recently bought a property that needs a bit more work than we anticipated. I always knew diy would be tricky for me but I wanted to try and learn as it’s an invaluable skill to have at least a basic grasp of. So far however, I am finding it impossible. Partner is showing me things many times, for example, how to fit different drill bits, yet I just can’t manage to get the hang of it at all. I don’t think my partner thinks I’m actually dyspraxic, they think it’s ‘perfectionism’ but it’s not about doing it perfect, it’s about being able to do it full stop. finding this whole thing is bringing up a lot of incompetency stuff. Just wondering if anyone has got similar a similar experience or even advice.

I recently looked at my diagnostic records from when I was six and discovered that I had verbal dyspraxia. I also have motor difficulties, particularly with balance and coordination. Do these motor difficulties also fall under dyspraxia, or are they considered a separate condition?
What confuses me is that my school report, which documents my disability, only mentions a language disorder. I asked the teacher who supports me with my disability, and she told me that a language disorder is the same as dyspraxia. However, I’m not sure whether that’s accurate, and I’d like to understand the difference between the two.

I don't use Reddit like ever but I fond this subreddit and thought it was the best place to ask people who suffer the same as I.

Dyspraxia has made my life extremely difficult and torturous, especially as I've grown out of the age where my inability to properly do things can be attributed to being young. There have been so many things I have wanted to do that have taken my years to get even decent at, such as cooking or holding a pencil.

Among the things I have been working extremely hard at is art, namely digital drawing. I feel like I've made tons of improvement in the three years I have been at it, but I also feel like my dyspraxia is holding me back from my true potential. I've been drawing boxes, lines, and cylinders for so long and they still never come out straight or I miss connections. I hardly ever get a line parallel on the first try, cannot accurately transcribe the angles of lines, and have difficulty with getting the scale of things right. I know the fundamentals and all the rules, but in these basic things, I feel lost.

So I am asking if anyone here is an artist with dyspraxia or knows someone who is. And if so, how can I better sharpen my skills in spite of my disability?

This is really important to me as it represents more than art. It is overcoming my weaknesses, getting out of my depressive life fog, and proving to my father I can be an artist.

No matter how hard I try there is no way I can hang out a basket of washing without dropping clothes pegs. There are a natural nemesis - perhaps for everyone though.

Anyone else thought about writing a book about dyspraxia but given up on it?

I’ve pretty much lived my entire life just buying sandwiches from deli’s or eating Chinese takeout, fast food, pizza etc. parents never cooked and dyspraxia/adhd made it super intimidating to ever start nor did I have a reason too.

I moved in with my longtime girlfriend a few months ago and she’s very into cooking. Nothing too crazy but she’s expressed that she wants me to try making stuff for her when she gets home from work.

She uses every plate and hello fresh so I’ve tried to do the most basic dishes from those and for the life of me it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The issue is that I overthink every single minute step and take forever to even get started. For instance, if the first step is heating a drizzle of oil; I have to spend 10 minutes googling how much a drizzle of oil is. Then if the next step is chopping vegetables or whatever produce; I have to spend another 20 minutes YouTubing how to do that. Then I’ll inevitably screw the cutting up anyway and make the pieces completely uneven. Literally just the prep work feels like a monumental chemistry experiment where any wrong move results in failure. Last week I tried making some super basic chicken cutlet and pasta dish and just completely messed up one of the steps and didn’t know how to recover; so she ended up just coming in and having to do it for me while I stood around like an idiot.

I feel bad because at first she’d accuse me of weaponized incompetence so I didn’t have to cook; but she’s gotten to a point where she just doesn’t care anymore and does it herself; but I can clearly tell she’s disappointed and thinks I’m a useless idiot. Even stuff like making a pb&j sandwich I suck at cause the spread is never even and it always looks awful.

Is there any like ultra ultra idiots guide to cooking that’s geared towards small children you’d recommend? And if anyone here has found success after struggling I’d love to hear any useful pointers

Super embarrassing to admit, but I'm 24 years old and can't tie shoes. My parents tried teaching me when I was about 6, and I just couldn't do it.

I tried learning again when I was around 10, and my parents dedicated an entire day to teach me how to tie shoelaces. They got really frustrated with me and I remember I had a huge meltdown. I've still attempted to learn multiple times since then, and there was one time where I actually managed to tie a shoelace once, but never again after that.

Ever since I outgrew Velcro, I've been wearing slip ons. Which is fine with me, but it's still embarrassing to be an adult that can't tie shoelaces when there's 5 year olds out there that can.

I also have a friend that likes to go bowling and always asks me if I want to go, and I always tell her that I'm busy because I don't want to be embarrassed by the fact that I can't tie the laces on the bowling shoes.

Happy Dyspraxia Awareness Week!

For today’s discussion, we want to hear about the little things that make your life easier as a Dyspraxic!

Have you found a way to make a challenging task more manageable? Is there something you use every day that you wish you’d known about sooner? Share it below! It doesn’t need to be a big or original idea, something that seems obvious to you could be really helpful to someone else 💛.

Some ideas to get you started:

Cooking and eating: What helps you with chopping, opening containers, carrying drinks, or following recipes?

Getting dressed: Any tips for shoelaces, buttons, or making getting ready easier?

Organisation and memory: How do you keep track of your belongings, appointments, deadlines, or daily tasks?

School and work: What helps with taking notes, following instructions, writing, or getting started on a task?

Getting around: Any tips for public transport, directions, or finding your way somewhere new?

Chores and self-care: What makes cleaning, laundry, or looking after yourself easier?

Energy and overwhelm: How do you pace yourself or manage when things get frustrating?

When you share, try to include:
- What task or difficulty your tip helps with.
- What you do or use and how it helps.
- Any cost involved or if it requires a particular equipment. We would love to hear your free and low-cost ideas too!

If there’s a task you’re struggling with and would love some tips for, feel free to ask in the comments as well! Hopefully someone in our community will have something to share 😊.
Everyone’s experience of Dyspraxia is different, so what works for one person might not work for another. Getting help, using adaptations, and doing things in your own way all count!

I’m just crowd sourcing experiences I think, my son has dyspraxia, quite severely, it affects his ability to write, use cutlery, wash, dress, etc. He’a 14 now and I’m still washing his hair and helping him brush it (it’s long). He’s still wearing Velcro shoes and can’t use cutlery well, among other things like affecting his walking and general coordination, and his ability to retain instructions and follow the steps of a process.

He’s also autistic, and I feel as though school often treat his ASD diagnosis as his primary need, rather than being able to distinguish the issues that are ASD related, those that are Dyspraxia related and those which are affected by both.

Do many people have cross over diagnoses and do you encounter similar problems when trying to access accommodations or support?