Dyspraxia is difficulty with thinking out, planning, and carrying out sensory/motor tasks. It is sometimes called “clumsy child syndrome.” Your child with dyspraxia may have difficulty coordinating small-motor functions, such as learning to tie her shoes or button her clothes. There may be difficulties with balance and large-motor coordination, such as difficulty learning to ride a bicycle or catching a ball. Your child may seem particularly clumsy or accident-prone, always breaking, tripping over, or bumping into things.

Some of these issues may also be related to cerebellar or vestibular problems. The cerebellum is a section of the brain located toward the back, behind and below the cerebrum. The cerebellum is largely involved in coordination and in bodily, kinesthetic memory, which is involved in learning a new physical skill such as roller-skating. There is some research indicating the cerebellum tends to be smaller and more symmetric in children with dyslexia, who also show evidence of reduced activation of the cerebellum in small-motor tasks, such as learning and practicing a sequence of finger movements.

The vestibular system is governed by the inner ear. Its purpose is to keep tabs on the position and motion of a person's head in space. A vestibular disorder can result in dizziness, unsteadiness or imbalance when walking, vertigo, and nausea.

A child with verbal dyspraxia may have difficulty coordinating speech, which may result in stammering or garbled speech. Essentially, the brain is not sending the correct signals to the muscles to produce cognitive speech.

Verbal dyspraxia is extremely frustrating, because the child knows in her mind what she wants to say, but the sounds do not come out of her mouth correctly when she tries to speak. This is different from word retrieval issues commonly associated with dyslexia, which occur when the child has an idea of what she wants to say but cannot think of the correct word. With dyspraxia, the child has the word in mind, but can't seem to get her lips and tongue to cooperate.