title: Sequencing deficits in subjects with developmental dyspraxia and adult onset apraxia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the performance of children with developmental dyspraxia and adults with apraxia to learn and retain two sequencing tasks.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three groups of subjects with dyspraxia and apraxia (children and young adults with both dyspraxia and learning disabilities and older adults with apraxia and left hemisphere strokes) and three groups of age-matched control subjects learned one-handed shoe tying and a hand sequence task. Retention was assessed after a 5-min delay. Performance was scored as the number of trials needed to perform each task and the types of errors that were made.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For both the tasks, the control groups performed better than the groups with dyspraxia/apraxia and performance during the retention trials was better than performance during the learning trials. On the hand sequence task, the children and young adult groups performed better than the older adult groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Subjects with dyspraxia and apraxia have difficulty with similar sequencing tasks. However, the poorer performance by the older adult group with apraxia suggests that the underlying mechanisms for sequencing may be different for apraxia than for dyspraxia.
authors: Departments of Orthopaedics and Family and Community Medicine, Occupational Therapy Program, Room 215, University of New Mexico Health Sciences and Services Building, Albuquerque, NM 87131-5641, USA.
authors: J L
authors: JL
authors: Poole
keywords: Apraxia; Developmental dyspraxia; Learning disabilities; Motor learning; Stroke