Developmental coordination disorder - Causes of dyspraxia

Little is known about the cause of dyspraxia, a type of developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD).

Performing smooth, planned movements involves a number of different processes, including using your senses to plan movements. All the information is then processed by the wiring in your central nervous system (brain, nerves and spinal cord).

Dyspraxia is a disability that affects movement and co-ordination. People with the condition have a problem with the processes in the brain that help co-ordinate movement. This means they are unable to perform movements in a smooth, co-ordinated way.

Developments in the brain

Dyspraxia may be caused by motor neurones in the brain not developing properly. Motor neurones are specialised nerve cells that pass signals from your brain to your muscles, allowing you to move them.

It is thought that motor neurones in people with dyspraxia fail to form proper connections and are less effective at transmitting electrical signals from the brain to the muscles.

Sometimes, the electrical signal from the brain does not reach the muscle at all and your muscles fail to respond to requests from your brain to move.

Risk factors

Although it is not known what causes dyspraxia, there may be a link between dyspraxia and:

• being born prematurely (before week 37 of pregnancy)
• being born with a low birth weight
• having a family history of dyspraxia
• the mother drinking alcohol, smoking or taking illegal drugs while pregnant, which is increasingly being reported