What does it feel like to have dyslexia or dyspraxia? Frustration, rage, anxiety, protectiveness: it is a curious emotional cocktail for parents when they have a child who has dyslexia or dyspraxia. The children are bright, intelligent and creative - they can paint wonderful pictures, make music or be the world's expert at a computer game - but there are things that they just can't do. There seems to be a gulf between their ability and their performance. Perhaps they struggle with basics such as knowing their times tables or tying up shoelaces, or their difficulties might be more momentous, such as not being able to read at all or walk downstairs, or being prone to sensory overload and becoming so overwhelmed by noise and lights that they cannot cross a road safely. A word of warning here: a book like this cannot help you to diagnose you child. Only an expert can do that, but you need to learn more about dyslexia, dyspraxia and other related conditions so you can see where you child's problems might lie. Dyslexia and dyspraxia are part of a family of specific learning difficulty affect different functions. - Dyslexia: problems with acquisition and processing of language and linking sound with letters.

- Dyscalculia: a difficulty with numbers and mathematics - Dysgraphia: a difficulty with writing - both handwriting and composing coherent sentences. It may appear in children who read quite well. - Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCC): problems with fine and gross motor skills. It is what used to be called 'clumsy child syndrome'. - Dyspraxia: the brain has problems organising movement so children may have problems with motor skills, with language or with organising their thoughts. - Attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD or ADHD): concentration difficulties with heightened activity levels and implusiveness. - Asperger's Syndrome and autism: issues with communication, imagination and social interaction. It is sometimes characterised by rigid, repetitive behaviours.

- Tourette's Syndrome: tics - involuntary and uncontrollable sounds and movements.