Dyspraxia

Legacy_user

ive got a meeting at school on Monday and i suspect im about to be told my DD has Dyspraxia, she has been assessed by a pshcologist [sp ?]. they have invited her epilepsy nurse to the meeting as well. anyone have any experience of dyspraxia ? when ive looked it up most of the symptoms describe her to a t .

dollydoodah

My 10yr old son is dyspraxic - we got a diagnosis when he was in reception year at school. We have never seen a psychologist but he has regular appointments with the peadeatrician to see how he is going on.

The main problem he has is with his motor skills - still can't ride a bike, and not for lack of trying - but we are at a very supportive school who provide writing slopes, special pens etc for him and make allowances during PE.

If you need to ask anything, I'll try my best to help from my own experiences.

System

thanks for your reply, my DD is 12 yrs old and its the comprehensive school who have picked up on it, she has never been able to ride a bike and struggles with shoe laces, they asked for permission for her to be seen by the education psycologist and i will find out Monday what the findings are , i was a bit concerned when i found out the nurse was also going to be there so ive spent ages on the net and Dyspraxia seems to be the answer to a lot of issues we have had, if it is the case i will be making my feelings known to the previous junior school because every parents evening they told me how she couldnt do this + that which turn out to be classic signs.

cellblockpch

hi, dyspraxia is often referred to as clumsy child syndrome,i don't know why the educational psychologist was involved unless the school are thinking along the dyslexia route as they are closely linked.
when my son was diagnosed he was sent for sessions with the occupational therapists at the local hospital.we also took him to the DDAT centre (dyslexia dyspraxia attention treatment) where he was given 10 minute exercises to do twice a day for several months, this was expensive treatment but it certainly worked for us.
good luck with the fight with the school

System

i dont believe dyslexia is an issue , she has no difficulty in writing [except the tidyness of her writing] she can write stories/plays for england. i assumed the fact she has epilepsy was the reason they got the psycologist in .no doubt i will find out exactly whats going o tomorrow.

myrnahaz

It's awful when yet another health problem is discovered, especially when your child already has enough to contend with. The good thing is that, once diagnosed, your little girl will be able to get help with dealing with her condition, and will certainly benefit, so don't be too downhearted at what seems to be yet another problem heaped onto your lives.

myrnahaz

CHRISSYG wrote: »

i assumed the fact she has epilepsy was the reason they got the psycologist in ..

You may not be far off, actually; epilepsy is linked with loads of other conditions, including dyspraxia (my DD has PCOS, migraines, depression etc, which are all are linked to her epilepsy), so the fact that your DD is epileptic might have made them suspect dyspraxia in the first place.

mspig

My 6 year old has dyspraxia and it was picked up by his paediatrician that hes under for other things - like said above he has problems holding a pen/pencil so we have the triangle pencil(can be bought from wh smiths) and a triangle holder thing that can go onto a pen to help him write and it has improved his writing. He has trouble putting and taking his clothes off so when they do PE at school hes allowed to leave his school polo shirt on and just change into his shorts.
He has shoes with velcro on them to help him but he still can put them on without help. He does ride a bike but only with stabilisers and he also has a scooter(the ones with four wheels for better stability.

We have been told he will need some classes with the Occupational therapists but in our area there is an 18mth waiting list at the moment.

dollydoodah

My son finally managed to do shoelaces 2mths ago - he was so pleased that we went and bought him a pair of trainers with laces...the first he has ever had since he was a toddler! :j

We have been down the OT route and were recommended that we went for special 'lessons' on co-ordination. It involves stuff like throwing a ball against a wall and catching it, throwing beanbags into buckets, walking in a straight line that sort of thing. However, the sessions that they wanted to run would have involved him coming out of school in the middle of the day for 1.5hrs for 12 weeks. :mad: That was not an ideal situation so we didn't attend and we do the excercises at home instead.

There are some things that he has improved in with age but there are some things that stay the same - falling over nothing, constant spills... :rolleyes: It is also really hard as you forget sometimes that they have dyspraxia - in our case he is a lovely, well mannered, intelligent boy but thinks nothing of interrupting you mid conversation. Drives me mad but it is really common with dyspraxics, I just forget.

Hopefully your daughter will now get the help that she needs. Dyspraxia is becoming more known about now so if you get an understanding SENCO and school she should benefit enormously.

Purpleclutterbuck

My daughter was diagnosed with Dyspraxia and learning difficulties and over the years she has struggled with various problems such as bike riding, and lack of coordination and lots of the things everyone has written about.
I wanted to say that we took her swimmimg every week with a special needs teacher and this has really helped with the problems -certain exercises can work wonders but never give up with pushing them (gently!!) to have just one more go -she has just done her GCSE exams -they were a struggle - but she wants to be a car mechanic and I know she'll succeed eventually ! The interviewer at the college asked "what happens if you drop the nuts and bolts due to the Dyspraxia?" and she smiled and said "I PICK THEM UP LIKE ANYONE ELSE!! but it may take me a little longer at least I'll try!" I was very proud of her:T:T

Lady_Fluff

My dyspraxia was diagnosed at the start of my Masters degree, when I was 25. After reading up about it as my partner has it, I discovered that most of the symptoms also apply to me (between the two of us we tick almost every box, although with her it manifests itself more internally, whereas I have more of the physical issues that it presents). Both of us are Masters students, she was only diagnosed during A-Levels. Diagnosis has been a boon, as it enables you to get the help you need. I have always struggled with writing, holding a pen and speed of writing are a nightmare for me and writing in exams has always been a problem - I've always struggled to write more than a side or two, and have never needed to stick my hand up for extra paper. However, I've always been quick at typing - I now have a laptop I use for lectures (and also when I do the minutes for meetigns in work) - my spelling has always been good (dylexia has never been on the cars for me!), though this isn't always reflected when typing - the co-ordination thing means I know what I'm spelling but have a tendency to bash the keys in the wrong order, or hit the wrong ones by accident!
I still can't ride a bike, though my partner can. Neither of us can drive, but the location of where we live means the trains are so easy it wouldn't be worth driving anyway. Couldn't tie my shoelaces til I was in double figures, and swimming's a pain in the backside, trying to move all my limbs at once. I have been known to fall over whilst standing still, and have a few scars on my legs from falling over whilst walking along (completely soberly - I may as well drink more!). I'm very sensitive to sound, and have troubel hearing people in a pub with background music on a bad day, and a ticking clock in a quiet room can drive me insane, but I like to listen to music whilst I'm working as it's controlled by me and cuts out unexpected distraction noise, if that makes sense...
I knwo there is a 'dyspraxic teens' website for your children (I belong to Dyspraxic Adults forum myself), not sure of the URL, but I'm sure google can bring it up for you. There's a fab book by Vicky Biggs, called 'Caged In Chaos' - the first book for dyspraxic young people written by someone with the condition. I read it recently, despite being out of the age range by a few years, but it's a wonderfully thoughtful and insightful book, filled with humour from someone who lives with this every day. Really recommended, good for parents too, if you want an insight into how someone with the condition can feel, as dyspraxics aren't always the most verbally articulate of sorts, so it may not be easy for your child to communicate everythign they want to say to you in conversation.

Hope this all makes sense and I haven't waffled on too much! Feel free to PM me - dyspraxics have a notoriously bad memory in a lot fo cases, and I'll probably forget about this thread if I'm not careful! :rotfl:

Helen x