ABSTRACT

Many of the pupils had experienced failure from an early age. Delayed language development, poor social skills and a lack of co-ordination had forced isolation within their peer group. Many had become the victims of more assertive pupils. There are occasions when environmental factors form the sole basis for explanations about a child’s behaviour. Some had suffered extreme emotional and material deprivation, others had presented as extremely difficult youngsters from birth with parents resorting to respite care and/or medication to enable them to cope. The assessment techniques developed for use by teachers to identify dyspraxic youngsters in school were tested between 1988 and September 1993. As more research evidence becomes available the term dyspraxia becomes more complex.