Geoffrey Platt - Beating Dyspraxia with a Hop, Skip and a Jump: A Simple Exercise Program for Home and School

Acknowledgements

I would like to start by thanking the man who has done the most to make this work happen, Dr John Sproule.

The research would not have been possible without the support of a number of schools in Croydon and I would like to express my appreciation for their support and assistance.

Gresham Primary School

Keston Primary School

Oval Primary School

Rowdown Primary School

Wolsey Primary School

I would also like to thank Dr Nikos Papadakis, who collaborated on the entropy research, Professor Mohsen Shafizadeh, who collaborated with the movement skills research and Mrs Signa Ashdown who came to my assistance on several cold winter days when there were just too many children for me alone!

Finally, to my family, for their love and support and their understanding for those times during my research when I was not around. To my wife, Annette and my daughters, Jennifer, Laura and Eleanor.

Author Index

American Psychiatric Association

Arnheim, D.D.

Ayres, A.J.

Baden-Powell, Robert

Baechle, T.R.

Bairstow, P.J.

Bayley, N.

BBC

Behm, D.G.

Berkey, C.S.

Biddle, S.J.H.

Biggs, Victoria

Blythe, P.

Boon, M.

Booth, S.L.

Bouchard, C.

Branta, C.

Brierley, J.

British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences (BASES)

British Medical Journal

Brookes, G.

Bruininks, R.H.

Burton, A.W.

Chandler, T.J.

Christina, R.W.

Colley, Mary

Cooper, R.A.

Coster, W.

Crawford, S.

Crippen, K.J.

Croisier, J.-L.

Davis, W.E.

Department for Education

Department for Education and Science

Dewey, D.

Dick, F.W.

Dodds, J.B.

Drew, S.

Dyson, Geoff

Earle, R.W.

Ellingsen, O.

Enoka, R.M.

Ersing, W.F.

Faigenbaum, A.D.

FarnhamDiggory, S.

Fewell, R.R.

Fleck, S.J.

Folio, M.R.

Fountain, C.

Frankenburg, W.K.

FSA

Gallahue, D.L.

Gervis, M.

Getchell, N.

Geuze, R.

Griffiths, R.

HaddersAlgra, M.

Haley, S.M.

Hamill, B.P.

Hartley, K.

Harvey, J.S.

Haubenstricker, J.

Haywood, K.M.

Heiser, T.M.

Henderson, S.E.

Hippocrates

Huntington, G.S.

Kemi, O.

Kennedy, J.F.

Keogh, J.F.

Kephart, N.C.

Kirby, A.

Kolata, G.

Kraemer, W.J.

Kurtz, L.A.

Lazlo, J.I.

Lee, M.

Lehmkuhle, K.

Livingstone, M.S.

Loovis, E.M.

McClenaghan, B.A.

McCreight, B.

Macintyre, C.

McMillen, J.S.

Magill, R.A.

Martens, R.

Nordau, Max

Oliveira, M.A.

Orton, Samuel

Ozmun, J.C.

Pearson, D.

Piaget, J.

Platt, G.K.

Pollard, I.

Pomeroy, S.B.

Raff, H.

Raynor, Annette

Roach, E.G.

Rowland, T.W.

Sandercock, G.

Sands, W.A.

Sapp, M.

Schmidt, R.A.

Schraw, G.

Seefeldt, V.

Sharkey, B.J.

Simeonsson, R.J.

Sinclair, W.A.

Smith, A.

Smith, Graham

State, Oscar

Steele, C.A.

Stein, J.

Stone, M.

Strang, K.

Stratton, G.

Sugden, D.A.

Touwen, B.C.L.

Tucker, L.

Ulrich, D.A.

US Department of Health and Human Services

van der Ploeg, H.P.

Victor, J.D.

Walker, B.

Washington, R.L.

Westcott, W.L.

Widmaier, E.

Williams, M.

Wilson, B.N.

Wislett, U.

World Health Organization

Wright, H.C.

Wrisberg, C.A.

Zatsiorsky, V.M.

Extracts from Kirby and Drew 2003 on p.1819, 24 and 2627 are reproduced by permission of David Fulton DSM material on p.2122 is reproduced by permission of American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. drawn by Jenni Platt

First published in 2011

by Jessica Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.jkp.com

Copyright Geoff Platt 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Platt, Geoff, 1955

Beating dyspraxia with a hop, skip, and a jump: a simple exercise program for home and school / Geoff Platt.

p. ; cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-84905-171-2

1. Apraxia--Exercise therapy. 2. Motor ability in children. 3. Movement disorders in children. I. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Apraxias--therapy. 2. Child. 3. Exercise Therapy-- methods. 4. Motor Skills Disorders--therapy. WL 340]

RJ496.A63P53 2011

618.928552--dc22

2010042008

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84905 171 2

eISBN 978 0 85700 416 1

Beating Dyspraxia with a
Hop, Skip and a Jump

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Understanding Dyspraxia

A Guide for Parents and Teachers

2nd edition

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ISBN 978 1 84905 069 2

JKP Essentials Series

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ISBN 978 1 84310 865 8

JKP Essentials Series

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ISBN 978 1 84310 754 5

Part I

The Background

Part II

The Exercise Program

Preface

A number of observers have identified that children with dyspraxia have weak muscles, particularly in their fingers, hands and wrists. Despite these observations, and the fact that strength has been identified as improving the symptoms of those with cerebral palsy, whilst dyspraxia has been referred to as minimal cerebral palsy, only four pieces of research into the effects of strength and strength training on dyspraxia appear to have been published.

Between 1989 and 2001, an Australian sports physiologist by the name of Annette Raynor researched strength as an issue for children with dyspraxia and published two papers on the results of her research. She showed that there was a correlation between children with dyspraxia and children with poor isometric leg strength and showed that this was linked to poor muscle activation and co-activation.