Developmental Coordination Disorder: Does linguistic impairment require consideration?

Developmental coordination disorder (DCD or dyspraxia) is a disorder that leads to the significant disruption of the ‘acquisition and execution’ of fine and gross motor skills (APA, 2013: 74) ‘out of line with those expected for a child’s age and IQ’ (Hulme & Snowling, 2009: 211). Incidence is approximately 5%-6% within the population of age five to eleven year olds (APA, 2013: 75). The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) dictates that, in criterion B, for a successful diagnosis of DCD, the difficulties experienced must ‘significantly and persistently interfere [...] with activities of daily living [...] and [...] academic/school productivity’ (APA, 2013: 74). In the interference with academia there is, however, no specificity regarding areas of deficit within academic performance. Therefore, this is the basis of this research. The Dyspraxia Foundation state that ‘children with dyspraxia may have difficulties with reading and spelling’. These difficulties derive from deficits in areas of ‘concentration [...] listening skills [... and] a literal use of language’ (Dyspraxia Foundation, 2017). Therefore, for example, spelling ability may suffer due to the application of existing phonetic knowledge, rather than the understanding, translation and application of spelling through the knowledge of phoneme/grapheme correspondence. ‘Children with DCD also [...] have difficulties with executive function” (Maleki & Alizadeh Zarei, 2016: 1). In regards to spelling, during the construction of an extensive written piece, there is high demand upon a “complex hierarchal structure that requires shifting between lower levels of processing [...] and higher levels of activity” (Maleki & Alizadeh Zarei, 2016: 6). Comprehension, written expression and other linguistic features requiring the use and integration of multi-level processing may also be subject to considerable deficit due to cognitive overload whereas, for linguistic features requiring fewer levels of processing, for example, oral expression, less deficit may occur. This research, a case study of a twenty-one-year- old woman, enables the following questions to be explored: How is linguistic performance effected by Developmental Coordination Disorder?
What weaknesses can be identified within the individual’s linguistic performance? How has the individual’s language profile altered?
Can potential causes of linguistic deficit be pinpointed? The data set under analysis includes: School/Special Educational Needs reports; results from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Intelligence Scale (WPPSI), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT), York Assessment of Reading Comprehension (YARC) and narrative data. This research is essential in the understanding of the disorder and the initiation, application, and success of appropriate support services in academic and support environments, so that individuals with DCD can achieve their full potential.