Motor coordination difficulties affect up to 80% of autistic people. Understanding whether dyspraxia is part of your picture can change how you approach everything from driving to daily tasks.
You know what you want your body to do. The intention is clear. But somewhere between the thought and the action, something gets lost.
Maybe you’ve always been the clumsy one. The person who bumps into door frames, drops things, struggles to catch a ball. Maybe learning to drive took far longer than it should have, or you still avoid it entirely. Maybe your handwriting has never improved no matter how much you practised, and you’ve quietly arranged your life to minimise situations where people might notice.
If you’re autistic and this resonates, you may also have dyspraxia. It’s remarkably common, affecting the majority of autistic people to some degree, yet it often goes unrecognised. The difficulties get folded into the autism diagnosis or dismissed as clumsiness that you should have grown out of by now.
Understanding whether dyspraxia is part of your experience matters. It affects which strategies actually help, and it can explain why certain everyday tasks have always felt inexplicably hard. A comprehensive autism assessment can identify whether motor coordination difficulties are part of your profile and what support might help.
What is Dyspraxia?
Dyspraxia, also known as Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects the planning and execution of physical movements. The brain has difficulty coordinating the body to carry out intended actions smoothly and accurately.
This isn’t about muscle weakness or paralysis. The muscles work fine. The problem lies in motor planning: the ability to sequence movements, judge spatial relationships, and coordinate different body parts to achieve a goal. Simple actions that most people perform automatically require conscious effort and attention for someone with dyspraxia.
The condition is estimated to affect roughly 5 to 6 percent of the general population, with symptoms typically appearing in childhood and persisting into adulthood. It runs in families and often co-occurs with other neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly autism and ADHD.
What Dyspraxia Affects
Dyspraxia can affect gross motor skills like walking, running, and balance, as well as fine motor skills like writing, using cutlery, or fastening buttons. It can also affect speech production when the muscles involved in articulation are affected, sometimes called verbal dyspraxia or apraxia of speech.
The impact varies from person to person. Some people have mild difficulties that are mainly noticeable in specific tasks. Others experience more pervasive challenges that affect multiple areas of daily life.
What Does Science Say?
The overlap between autism and dyspraxia is substantial, and research over the past decade has begun to quantify just how common it is.
Co-occurrence Rates
A 2016 study by Cassidy and colleagues, published in Molecular Autism, found that autistic adults were significantly more likely to report a dyspraxia diagnosis than non-autistic adults. The study also found something striking: even among people without an autism diagnosis, those with dyspraxia showed higher levels of autistic traits and lower empathy scores. This suggests the two conditions share more than a surface connection.
More recent research has put clearer numbers to the overlap. A 2021 study by Miller and colleagues assessed 43 autistic children and adolescents using standardised motor coordination measures. The findings were remarkable: 97 percent scored below the 16th percentile on motor assessment, 92 percent met functional impact criteria for coordination difficulties, and over 90 percent met full diagnostic criteria for co-occurring DCD.
Other studies have reported that 50 to 80 percent of autistic people show clinically significant motor coordination difficulties. The exact figure varies depending on how both conditions are measured, but the pattern is clear: if you’re autistic, there’s a strong chance that motor coordination is affected too.
Neurological Differences
A 2018 study by Hannant and colleagues examined the sensory and motor profiles of autistic children compared to those with DCD. They found meaningful differences that could help distinguish between the conditions, with good diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.87).
The key finding was that autism-related motor difficulties tend to involve visual and auditory processing differences, while dyspraxia relates more to spatial and proprioceptive processing. In practical terms, autistic movement may be fluid but slow due to sensory processing latency, while dyspraxic movement lacks fluidity and depends heavily on conscious feedback.
Motor Skills and Social Functioning
Research has also revealed surprising connections between motor coordination and social abilities. Dziuk and colleagues found correlations between motor impairment severity and autism symptom severity, suggesting the two are linked at some level. MacDonald and colleagues showed that gesture and motor deficits predict social outcomes in autistic children.
The Cassidy study proposed that motor coordination skills may be important for effective social interaction in ways we don’t fully understand. Gesture, body language, and motor imitation all contribute to non-verbal communication. When these physical aspects of social interaction are affected, social functioning may be impacted beyond what core autism symptoms alone would predict.
Practical Impact Research
Research by Bar-On and colleagues in 2022 examined how motor coordination difficulties affect daily life in autistic adults. They found significant impacts on handwriting, driving ability, self-care tasks, and overall quality of life. The study confirmed that these difficulties persist into adulthood and continue to affect functioning long after childhood.
Why Dyspraxia Gets Overlooked in Autism
Given how common the overlap is, you might expect routine screening for motor difficulties in anyone receiving an autism diagnosis. In practice, this rarely happens.
Part of the problem is historical. For years, diagnostic systems didn’t allow for co-diagnosis of autism and DCD. Motor difficulties were seen as part of autism rather than a separate condition requiring its own recognition and support. This changed with DSM-5 in 2013, but clinical practice has been slow to catch up.
The Focus Problem
There’s also the issue of what clinicians focus on. Autism assessments typically emphasise social communication, restricted interests, and sensory processing. Motor coordination may be noted in passing but is rarely assessed systematically. The assumption is often that clumsiness is just part of being autistic rather than a distinct difficulty with its own implications for support.
Motor difficulties are often noticed in childhood, particularly during PE lessons or when learning to write. But unless a child receives a formal dyspraxia assessment, these difficulties may simply be attributed to the autism diagnosis or to the child “not trying hard enough.” By adulthood, the person has often developed extensive avoidance strategies that mask the extent of their motor challenges.
Diagnostic Overshadowing
This is an example of diagnostic overshadowing, where one diagnosis attracts all the clinical attention while other conditions go unrecognised. When someone is autistic, their motor difficulties may be attributed to sensory issues, anxiety, or simply not paying attention, rather than being recognised as dyspraxia.
The Cassidy research found that even among autistic adults with significant motor coordination problems, many had never received a formal dyspraxia diagnosis. The difficulties were there, affecting daily life, but had never been named or addressed specifically.
Masking Through Avoidance
Many autistic adults have learned to work around their motor difficulties rather than address them directly. They avoid sports, choose careers that don’t require fine motor precision, type instead of handwriting, and quietly opt out of activities where coordination matters.
This avoidance is often so thorough that neither the person nor those around them recognise the extent of the underlying difficulty. It just becomes part of how they live, an invisible constraint on choices and opportunities that’s never been properly understood.
How Autism and Dyspraxia Overlap
Both conditions are neurodevelopmental, present from early life, and persistent into adulthood. Both can affect movement, though the mechanisms differ. Both are associated with executive function difficulties, sensory processing differences, and challenges with tasks that require sequencing and planning.
Dyspraxia often appears alongside other neurodevelopmental conditions too. Just as autism and dyslexia frequently co-occur, and autism and ADHD overlap significantly, dyspraxia is part of a broader pattern where neurodevelopmental differences cluster together.
Sensory Processing
Sensory differences are common in both conditions. Autistic people often experience heightened or reduced sensitivity to sensory input. People with dyspraxia frequently have difficulties with proprioception, the sense of where your body is in space, and vestibular processing, the sense of balance and movement.
When both conditions are present, sensory challenges can compound. Someone might struggle with motor coordination partly because their sensory feedback systems aren’t providing accurate information about body position and movement.
Executive Function
Both conditions affect executive function, the cognitive processes involved in planning, organising, and executing goal-directed behaviour. In autism, this often shows up as difficulty with transitions, flexible thinking, and managing complex multi-step tasks. In dyspraxia, it manifests as difficulty planning and sequencing movements, organising physical tasks, and judging time and space.
The overlap means that someone with both conditions may find it particularly hard to plan and execute physical tasks in an organised way, especially under time pressure or in unfamiliar environments.
How Dyspraxia and Autism Differ
Despite the overlap, these are distinct conditions with different core features. Understanding the differences helps clarify which difficulties come from where and what kinds of support might help.
The following table summarises the key distinctions based on the Hannant research:
| Feature | Dyspraxia (DCD) | Autism-Related Motor Difficulties |
| Core mechanism | Spatial and proprioceptive processing | Visual and auditory processing |
| Motor planning | Primary difficulty with sequencing movements | Secondary to sensory or attention factors |
| Movement quality | Lacks fluidity, feedback-dependent | May be fluid but slow (sensory latency) |
| Proprioception | Typically reduced awareness | Variable, may be heightened or reduced |
| Coordination type | Affects both gross and fine motor | Often more variable across domains |
| Response to practice | Improves with extensive repetition | May improve with sensory accommodations |
| Diagnostic validity | Good distinction possible (AUC = 0.87) | Requires specialist assessment |
When both conditions are present, you typically see elements of both profiles. Motor difficulties that stem from spatial processing problems alongside sensory sensitivities that affect movement differently depending on the environment.
Dyspraxia and Driving
Learning to drive is often particularly challenging for people with dyspraxia, and this difficulty persists for many autistic adults with motor coordination problems.
Why Driving is Hard
Driving requires integrating multiple motor skills simultaneously: steering, pedal control, gear changes (in manual vehicles), mirror checks, and responding to road conditions. Each of these involves motor planning and execution. For someone with dyspraxia, the cognitive load of coordinating all these elements can be overwhelming.
The Bar-On research found that motor coordination difficulties in autistic adults significantly affected driving ability, alongside other daily living skills. Many reported either not driving at all or finding driving extremely stressful and effortful compared to peers.
Left and Right Confusion
One common difficulty that affects driving is trouble distinguishing left from right. This is frequently reported by people with dyspraxia and relates to the spatial processing difficulties at the core of the condition. When an instructor or sat-nav says “turn left,” the person may need to consciously work out which way that is rather than responding automatically.
This isn’t about not knowing the difference intellectually. It’s about the automatic, embodied sense of directionality that most people take for granted. Under pressure, such as when navigating unfamiliar roads or responding to sudden instructions, left-right confusion can become more pronounced and create real safety concerns.
What Helps
If you’ve struggled with learning to drive or find driving exhausting in ways others don’t seem to experience, dyspraxia may be a factor. This doesn’t mean driving is impossible, but it may require more lessons, adapted learning approaches, and possibly an automatic vehicle to reduce the coordination demands.
Some driving instructors specialise in teaching learners with additional needs. Finding the right instructor can make a significant difference. For left-right difficulties, some people find it helpful to wear a ring or bracelet on one hand as a physical reference point, or to use a sat-nav that shows visual arrows rather than relying on verbal left-right instructions.
Dyspraxia and Handwriting
Handwriting difficulties are one of the most common and persistent features of dyspraxia. The fine motor control required to form letters consistently, write at speed, and maintain legibility over time is exactly what dyspraxia affects.
The Daily Impact
For autistic adults with dyspraxia, this often means handwriting that is slow, effortful, and tiring. The quality may deteriorate as fatigue sets in. Many people describe their hand cramping or aching after relatively brief periods of writing.
The Bar-On study found that handwriting difficulties in autistic adults with motor coordination problems were associated with lower quality of life, particularly in physical domains. This makes sense: when a basic skill like writing requires enormous effort, it drains resources that could be used elsewhere.
Workplace Considerations
In modern workplaces, typing has become an acceptable alternative to handwriting for most purposes. But situations still arise where handwriting matters: forms, signatures, quick notes in meetings, exams. For someone with dyspraxia, these moments can be unexpectedly stressful.
Workplace accommodations under the Equality Act can include permission to type rather than handwrite, use of voice-to-text software, or extra time for written tasks. Having a formal identification of dyspraxia makes these accommodations easier to request and justify.
Dyspraxia and Sport
Physical education was often difficult for people with dyspraxia, and this can shape attitudes toward exercise and sport throughout life.
The PE Problem
Team sports that require catching, throwing, and coordinated movement with others are particularly challenging. The motor planning demands are high, and the social pressure of performing in front of peers adds another layer of difficulty. Many autistic people with dyspraxia describe PE lessons as some of their worst school memories.
Research has shown that people with DCD are more likely to avoid physical activity, which has knock-on effects for fitness, health, and social participation. The avoidance is understandable given past experiences, but it creates a cycle where less practice leads to less improvement, which reinforces the avoidance.
Finding What Works
Finding forms of movement that work is important for physical and mental health. Swimming, cycling, walking, yoga, and gym-based exercise may be more accessible than team sports. Activities that allow for individual pacing, don’t require rapid reactions to unpredictable stimuli, and can be practised repeatedly tend to work better.
The key is finding movement that feels achievable rather than forcing participation in activities that highlight coordination difficulties.
Dyspraxia and Social Skills
One of the more surprising findings from research is that motor coordination difficulties appear to affect social functioning, even beyond what would be expected from autism alone.
The Research Findings
The Cassidy study found that in the general population, people with dyspraxia showed higher autistic traits and lower empathy, even when they didn’t have an autism diagnosis. The researchers proposed that motor coordination skills may be important for effective social interaction in ways we don’t fully understand.
Possible Mechanisms
There are several possible mechanisms. Gesture and body language are forms of motor expression. If producing smooth, well-timed movements is difficult, non-verbal communication may be affected. Difficulty with motor imitation could affect the unconscious mirroring that contributes to social rapport. Physical clumsiness can also lead to social embarrassment and withdrawal, reducing opportunities to develop social skills.
This doesn’t mean improving motor skills will transform social abilities. But it does suggest that dyspraxia may contribute to social challenges in ways that go beyond the obvious physical symptoms, and that addressing motor difficulties might have broader benefits.
Dyspraxia and Fatigue
One aspect of dyspraxia that often goes unrecognised is the cognitive and physical fatigue it generates. When movements that should be automatic require conscious planning and attention, the energy cost is substantial.
The Hidden Effort
Consider what it takes to write a paragraph if each letter formation requires thought. Or to navigate a crowded space when judging distances and timing movements around others demands constant attention. Or to get ready in the morning when sequencing the steps of showering, dressing, and preparing food involves active problem-solving rather than automatic routine.
This effort is invisible to others. The task gets done, so it doesn’t look difficult from the outside. But the internal cost accumulates. By the end of a day filled with motor tasks that neurotypical people handle automatically, someone with dyspraxia may be exhausted in ways that seem disproportionate to what they’ve actually done.
Cumulative Demands
This fatigue compounds with the demands of masking autism and managing sensory input. For autistic adults with dyspraxia, the combination can lead to burnout if the cumulative demands aren’t recognised and managed.
Understanding that motor tasks drain energy can help with pacing and planning. It’s not laziness or poor time management if physical tasks take longer and tire you out more than they seem to affect others.
Related Conditions to Consider
Dyspraxia rarely occurs in isolation. If you’re exploring whether motor coordination difficulties are part of your experience, it may be worth considering other conditions that commonly co-occur.
Dyslexia affects reading and written language processing. Like dyspraxia, it’s more common in autistic people than in the general population, and the two conditions often appear together.
Dyscalculia affects mathematical processing and number sense. Research suggests links between motor coordination, spatial processing, and numerical abilities, meaning dyscalculia may also be worth considering if maths has always felt unusually difficult.
ADHD frequently co-occurs with both autism and dyspraxia. The executive function difficulties in ADHD can compound the motor planning challenges of dyspraxia, making sequenced tasks even harder.
Getting Assessed for Dyspraxia
In the UK, dyspraxia can be formally assessed by occupational therapists, physiotherapists with relevant training, or clinical psychologists. Occupational therapists are often the key professionals for adult assessment, as they can evaluate both motor coordination and functional impact on daily living.
The assessment typically involves standardised motor coordination tests, questionnaires about functional impact, and a developmental history.
Adult Assessment Options
For adults, assessment options are more limited than for children. The NHS rarely provides adult dyspraxia assessments, so most people access them privately. Some occupational therapy services offer assessment, as do some specialist clinics.
If you’re pursuing assessment, look for a professional who has experience with neurodevelopmental conditions in adults. If you already have an autism diagnosis, mention this upfront. The assessor should understand how autism might affect test performance and interpret results in that context.
Why Formal Diagnosis Helps
A formal dyspraxia diagnosis can be helpful for accessing workplace accommodations, explaining difficulties to others, and understanding your own experience. It can also guide intervention, though options for adults are more limited than for children.
Even without formal diagnosis, understanding that motor coordination difficulties are part of your profile can help you make sense of longstanding challenges and develop more effective strategies for managing them.
How We Can Help
If you’re an autistic adult who recognises yourself in this article, or if you suspect motor coordination difficulties are affecting your daily life, we can help you understand what’s going on.
The Private Therapy Clinic offers comprehensive autism assessments that consider the full range of neurodevelopmental differences, including motor coordination. We can help identify whether dyspraxia is part of your profile and discuss what support options might be relevant.
If you’re unsure where to start, you can book a free 15-minute consultation to talk through your situation and explore your options.
