The brain sends messages to the nerves and muscles in order to successfully bring about the organisation of movement in the body. But, in someone with dyspraxia some part of that process does not function as it should and even simple motor skills become a problem.

Actor Daniel Radcliffe recently revealed he suffers from the neurological condition, and says he was encouraged into acting by his mother because he was struggling at school and needed a confidence boost.

Daniel, 19, admits he still finds it hard to tie his shoelaces and has poor handwriting.

Holmfirth teaching assistant Hazel Carr has been helping children with dyspraxia for a number of years and has even designed her own exercise programme, which she says is having amazing results. She has written a book, Dancing with Dyspraxia which is a humorous look at her work with special needs children.

When her eldest son was statemented at the age of six for dyslexia, Hazel volunteered to support him in class. As she worked with other children with similar difficulties she found a new interest in special needs education.

In 2002, she attended a course on dyspraxia and, following this course, with the support of the school at which she works she started the exercise programme.

More than 90 children later, Hazel has had the satisfaction of watching the youngsters she has helped move on in school .

"Many of these children are diagnosed with dyslexia and other special needs, but more often than not, the underlying cause is dyspraxia," she says.

She carries out her half-hour exercise course everyday and it has seen the number of children with special educational needs in her school drop from 60 to 20.

"The exercises I use are all based on dealing with all the difficulties at the same time. Children start jumping feet together, hopping on the left and right foot. We walk along lines and in and out of hoops for balance, direction and listening. We use skateboards and skipping ropes, and for tracking difficulties we use bean bags. The parts of the body that are weak are strengthened from the upper/lower body to the arms, wrists and hands.

"When the children did the exercises I noticed how one side was much weaker than expected in most children. Once their body was balanced and stronger their brain was kick-started. As neural pathways strengthened, processing increased."

Hazel's screening and programme are free and she says that children can need to do it from six weeks to a year, although she has a couple of children who have been on it longer.

"It is amazing to see how it works," she says. "Children who were struggling and years behind in education can catch up with their peers."

Up to 10 per cent of people in Britain show signs of the condition. Of those, about two per cent are severely affected and men are more likely to be sufferers than women. Hazel believes that one of the reasons there are so many people with the condition in Britain is because the Government wants children to start education at three.

"A child's motor skills are not fully developed until they are seven, and because they are starting to use their brains at three it is affecting development of their motor skills. In parts of Europe where children don't start formal education until they are seven they only have a fraction of the number of cases of dyspraxia."

She hopes that Daniel Radcliffe's revelation will raise awareness.

"It is very frustrating to see older children with dyspraxia when I know that if they had been caught earlier they would be fine," says Hazel.

Dr Amanda Kirby, spokesman for the Dyspraxia Foundation and medical director of specialist clinic the Dyscovery Centre, says: "It can be a real problem for people. If you think about what you do from when you get up in the morning, everything entails co-ordination from getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing your teeth. Even into adulthood, dyspraxics find things like handwriting and driving more difficult."

Dr Kirby says both adults and children will be judged as a result of their condition.

"Clumsy children are often labelled stupid or kept out of team games which can lead to bullying and isolation. Adults can find themselves discriminated against in the search for employment as bad handwriting to some may indicate a poor employee."

For Hazel Carr the frustrations at getting her message across continue. She has tried to contact Schools Secretary Ed Balls whose department is carrying out a survey of dyslexia, which is linked to dyspraxia, but she has had no reply.

HOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DYSPRAXIA

For more information on Hazel Carr's exercise programme visit www.discuss-dyspraxia.co.uk.

Dancing with Dyspraxia by Hazel Carr is published by Woodfield Publishing (£15.99). Log on to www.woodfieldpubli
shing.co.uk

For more advice on dyspraxia visit www.expertparent.info and www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk

You can find out more about The Dyscovery Centre and contact specialists at www.dyscovery.co.uk