Dyspraxia and ADHD and Time
Punctuality
Drawing upon Dr Ayres’ ground-breaking work, dyspraxia is
‘seen most frequently as causally related to underlying dysfunction of the tactile and proprioceptive systems in particular, which in combination is called the somatosensory system, involving the input received from touch/skin receptors (tactile) and the position/movement receptors in and around the joints and muscles (proprioception). The vestibular system (movement and gravitational receptors in the inner ear) may also be involved is these processing limitations’.
Leaps and Bound Occupational Therapy (2023)
I’ve known some of the above for quite a while as to do so is part of my job; I knew dyspraxia can affect students’ organisation of their time. But I didn’t really know why. It turns out I needed more than empathy to underpin a change in my practice. I needed some knowledge.
Struggling to understand the link between time perception and the proprioceptive system, I researched a bit into it on the National Library of Medicine and came across full access to Fontes et al.’s (2016) neurological explanation which outlines:
‘The cerebellum and BG [basal ganglia] integrate proprioceptive informations during the motor task and the time perception mechanisms.86 The processes of time synchronization seem to be related with the lateral cerebellum, while the mechanisms of time acceleration with the BG’ (Fontes et al., 2015).
This helped me understand that somewhere in the brain, that our bodies’ movements are connected to our consciousness of time perception. The article later on, tries to demonstrate that altered regions of the brain related to time perception will alter our perception of time, stating ‘diseases evoke distortions on time perception’ (Fontes et al., 2015, p.18). That is a very medical model statement of disability, rather than a social one, nonetheless, descriptive (Incidentally, I would never say to a student or participant, that I think they have problems with their cerebellum and basal ganglia, and that’s why they might have time managment challenges).
Following on from reading this journal article, I could confidently conclude that organising tasks in a timely manner can be challenging for some dyspraxic students that I support, who often request help with doing time management. I had hard medical, scientific evidence! With big complicated words!
So, I can see the challenge isn’t procrastination, distraction or even disinterest. It’s around an anxiety over how long things take to do, how much time is available, and punctuality. The student isn’t non punctual due to carelessness or disorganisation. It’s uncertainty over how long things take to do or to travel. (I’m returning to this blog paragraph on October 10th. I can see here is the rationale for me deciding to develop the time managment quadrant to better accommodate neurodiverse students)
‘Time is subjectively estimated by a subject and involves the participation of an internal clock responsible for measuring the objective time without the influence of externa stimuli’ (Fontes et al., 2016).
We all have an inner clock and some clocks keep time differently. I was gaining clarity on how students I support perceive time differently at last.
References
Leaps and Bounds Therapy Occupational Therapy (2023) Dyspraxia: A Sensory-Based Motor Disorder. Available at: https://www.lbtherapies.com/dyspraxia [accessed 3/10/23]
Fontes, R., Ribeiro, J., Gupta, D. S., Machado, D., Lopes-Júnior, F., Magalhães, F., Bastos, V. H., Rocha, K., Marinho, V., Lima, G., Velasques, B., Ribeiro, P., Orsini, M., Pessoa, B., Leite, M. A., & Teixeira, S. (2016). Time Perception Mechanisms at Central Nervous System. Neurology international, 8(1), 5939. https://doi.org/10.4081/ni.2016.5939