Personal story time. Hopefully this might be helpful to someone else.

Often, when I'm asked about my dyspraxia I say that computer games saved me.

I was very lucky in a lot of ways; my learning difficulty was discovered early on, I got help at school right from primary one, my family were supportive. Unfortunately that isn't always enough.

I don't say that to be ungrateful, it's just that with something like dyspraxia, at the end of the day, you have to work on it yourself, support is invaluable but even with all the support in the world it can feel lonely.

At school you are constantly seeing kids zoom ahead of you at things you are struggling with, it's demoralising. That coupled with bullying for being generally sensitive and different means that insecurity is hard to avoid.

One of the things I really needed was the space to develop at my own pace, on my own terms, safely without constantly comparing myself with others.

This is where computer games come in, they gave me exactly that.

To play most games well, you need good fine motor skills and reaction time. You need to be able to press the right buttons exactly at the right moment without looking at them.

If that was just an exercise to help my dyspraxia it would be boring as hell. Fortunately games are, usually, fun. They have inbuilt reward systems, they hold your attention and most importantly for me, you can play them alone.

I could sit in my room and have a whole system of effort and reward based on building up my motor skills which didn't involve a single other person having to be there. Not feeling self-conscious, learning through play, it was a safe place for me to make mistakes.

tl;dr games are helpful for dyspraxic kids.

But more broadly, kids with learning difficulties/disabilities need spaces to learn and develop in their own way, free from judgement and harsh comparisons, free to make mistakes.