Developmental differences in praxis in learning-disabled and normal children and adults.

Gestures made on tasks in response to verbal command or to imitation and on tasks involving axial and distal movements were compared for groups of learning-disabled and normal children and adults. The 15 learning-disabled children and 15 adults scored lower than the 15 normal children and 15 adults on all tasks. All groups scored higher on imitation than on verbal command and scored similarly on the axial and distal tasks. The findings from this study suggest that it would be worthwhile to test the hypothesis that dyspraxic behaviors may persist into adulthood.