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Ask a parent of a child with dyspraxia what happens around 4 p.m., and many describe the same scene. Their child has spent a whole school day gripping pencils, fastening buttons and keeping up on the playground. By the time they get home, they are exhausted.

That exhaustion can easily be mistaken for bad behavior or laziness. But we conducted a national survey of 241 parents of children ages 5 to 18, and our results may help explain why some children struggle so much at the end of the day.

Dyspraxia, also known as developmental coordination disorder (DCD), affects around two children in every class of 30. It makes movements that most children learn almost automatically slower, more demanding and less reliable.

Families can spend years looking for answers. Our survey found that the average wait between first seeking help and receiving a diagnosis was 2.8 years. During that time, a child may be seen as unmotivated rather than as someone for whom everyday movement requires considerable effort.

In the survey, 98% of parents said everyday movements took their child longer than they took other children. Another 92% said their child was more fatigued by them, while 82% said their child was more tired at the end of the day.

Parents identified eating, dressing, writing, drawing, personal care and cutting with scissors as among the hardest tasks.

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