Dyspraxia moneysaving and support thread.

emsywoo123

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

I found this useful thread about cutlery. It does sound like it depends where you live as to what help is available.

OMG that was my thread from about 2 years ago LOL

is it for you or a child?

julie03

do any of you have problems with your children and still wetting the bed and soiling themselves, my DS is nearly 8 and still wears nappies at night plus he goes through phases of soiling himself even though he is a few yards from a toilet, costs for replacement pants are getting silly as he hides them then i cant get them clean, he only has mild dyspraxia but is going to be reassesed for ASD as well.

doctor put him on lactolose(not sure of spelling ) but he just did it more often

bestpud

Thanks for starting this thread GR. :T

I am just looking into all this after it being suggested to me because I struggle terribly with organising myself and my thoughts. I have things in my head ok but it all goes wrong when I try and do anything with it!

I initially said 'no way' as I don't have problems with motor skills as such - I can drive fine and actually have quite good hand-eye coordination when it comes to things like threading needles.

But on further thought, I have never been able to catch or throw balls, can't dance to save my life, can ride a bike but have never felt comfortable doing so (it feels as though I have no control over my arms somehow and has always frightened me), can't swim properly as I can't seem to make my legs and arms work together, can't change direction suddenly without wobbling and I am always knocking myself.

Further, I can do up shoelaces but in the oddest way and I let my OH teach our children to do theirs because I didn't want to confuse them! I am also the messiest eater I have every come across and we are always saying I need a bib!

There are other things that match too, like noise sensitivity, but I really don't know what to think when it comes to me tbh.

However, I'm glad it was mentioned because, reading up on it, I can see my dd, aged 8, staring back at me!

I have spoken to her HT and she's not standing out as such, but she is struggling and is starting to notice she just can't grasp some things and hard work isn't making any difference.

For example, she can ride a bike, but she falls off pretty much every time she gets on it! In fact, she permanently looks as though she is beaten black and blue - to the point I've sometimes thought it a good thing she wears trousers to school as I may otherwise have SS knocking on my door!!

What she struggles with is handwriting, jigsaws, using a knife mainly (she can but it's not natural for her iyswim and she can't deal with anything tough), attention, carrying out instructions, organisation, spelling, getting her thoughts into order - I could go on but you get the picture.

Does anyone else have a child who so clearly has pretty much every indicator to some degree but not enough, or not enough in the right areas, to sound alarm bells at school?

Basically, she is hanging on in there but is exhausting herself every day and just about holding her own near the bottom of the class! She keeps going, bless her, and looks happy so they think all is well, but then she gets in the car to come home and often cries with sheer exhaustion and frustration.

Her reading is actually ok which I think helps her keep up tbh - if she didn't have that, I think she'd be in big trouble by now.

They are going to start her with some movement classes and keep an eye on her but said they have a list of referrals as long as my arm so getting her assessed would take forever.

That was so long - sorry! As I said, I'm just looking into it and so I'm still at the prattling stage!

My maternal grandmother, my mum and my sister have/had very similar problems and so has my ex (dd's dad) so there is definitely a family history for her.

There had been lots of things niggling me about dd but nothing specific enough to follow up iyswim, but now it's all falling into place.

But I'm going to shut up now.

Looking forward to hearing how others manage.

cazziebo

Is there any advantage in getting a diagnosis in your late forties? Only advantage I could see is that at last I would realise I'm not thick. I've always seemed to have "something missing" and reading on here and other places about dyspraxia I think that might be it.

Academically and career wise, I've done very well. However, I can't tell my left from my right, I have never learned to tie my shoelaces, I struggle badly with numbers.(I can understand balance sheets/P&L accs etc but can't do the simplest arithmentic). I learned to drive - found it very difficult- and I think I drive well if a bit overly cautious. I cannot park at all, and have gone places and returned because there has only been on street parking. I just don't understand how parking works. I am dangerously clumsy - always covered in bruises from walking into chairs, tables etc and burns from cooking. A friend suggested I be tested for MS because I stumble and fall often. (My parents were champion ball room dancers - I was a huge disappointment to them!) Useless useless at directions - one of the most confident people you'll meet yet this reduces me to tears!

The left and right thing is interesting. When I was married I knew my left hand had a wedding ring on it. Other rings just don't seem to convey the same message, so even putting a ring on the same finger I'd still stare at my hands wondering which one was left and which was right! Maybe I should get married again :rotfl:

If I do have this then it's obviously very mild. My heart goes out to people with more severe forms - I'd believe it can be quite debilitating.

Scone_2

Hi Everyone

Sorry if this turns out to be a long post but thanks Gingham Ribbon for bringing it up.

My six year old son is dyspraxic. When he was in foundation class his nursery teacher approached me about it and said she was concerned and to go to my GP. I went to my GP who did some "on the spot" co-ordination tests with him and immediately referred him to a specialist. The specialist saw him, did some movement and co ordination tests with him and referred him to the occupational therapist. I felt quite lucky because this process took about six months. The OT did a few days worth of assessment and told me he was what they called "typically dyspraxic".When I got her report it suggested he had 20 hours of support at school per week and had a lot of coping strategies for me.

I always knew my son was different - I'd often taken him to football training and he kept "losing sight" of the ball and people used to laugh because he hopped about the pitch like a happy little lamb with no regard for the ball at all. He struggles with swimming but I put it down to his age. He's always eager to please and actually helps me and himself more than his two older sisters do.

He's a very tall boy, well off the chart actually and even though he's only six he has the body of a 9 year old but with a face and maturity level of a six year old, maybe younger

Sadly he is still wet in the night and I have to restrict his fluid intake after 6pm and wake him in the middle of the night to prevent him from having an accident. We use huggies bed mats under his sheets to try and make life a bit more normal for him. Quite frequently he has a number two accident but this usually happens during the day not when he's asleep. He needs to go to the loo immediately that he realises which has resulted in us pulling the car over in some strange places!

His handwriting is poor and despite me buying him those banana shaped handwriting pens he refuses to use them and insists on the handwriting pens that the other kids in his class use. He's also had grips from the OT but won't use those either. He can't do laces and comes home after PE with his velcro shoes on wrong feet and clothes on back to front or in wrong order i.e. polo shirt under vest.

I made an application for support funding for him in October last year and despite many attempts to contact her the SENCO hasn't bothered to get in touch with me yet. I know there is another child with dyspraxia in his class and he's sharing his assistant at the moment and I'm not sure if I'm happy with that.

In short I feel the NHS did well by him but his school is letting him down - I'm seriously thinking of changing it

By the way I'm also dyspraxic but never been diagnosed. I'm left handed and do everything awkwardly (peeling veg for instance) my handwriting is terrible, I'm forgetful, I'ma terrible driver always struggling to judge distances and I'm so clumsy especially when eating that my family make a joke of it. I've learned to live with it but I wish it was spotted when I was a kid as I would have done a lot better academically.

Also I forgot to mention, I claim DLA for my son and get lower mobility and middle care. my OT told me to do it but I'm sure there might be people coping with this that don't claim so I just thought I'd mention it

Sorry for the long post, subject is a "raw nerve" with me at the moment.

Scone_2

oh sorry just one more thing, I forgot to mention that non slip mat material on the dining table really helps my son with his cutting etc and keeps his plate and cup still. Electric toothbrushes are also a good idea to ensure teeth are cleaned properly

peachyprice

Scone wrote: »

Also I forgot to mention, I claim DLA for my son and get lower mobility and middle care. my OT told me to do it but I'm sure there might be people coping with this that don't claim so I just thought I'd mention it

.

No-one ever told me this, I guess it's a bit late now that he's 15 but i really could have done with it when he was getting through trousers at a rate of knots with all the falling over, and for all the school bags, equipment and pe kits he's lost, hey ho.

julie03

mspig wrote: »

I'm actually home educating my son at the moment due to lack of help in school, and the problems we had with them.
I got called in because my son had 13 lates on his attendance, when i spoke to the it turned out that he was in school but was taking too long to take his coat off, so between me and the headteacher we decided that i would help him with his coat and to hang it up(which the pegs were up high and the kids had to stand on the bench to reach them).
After around 4 weeks of doing it i was told that they had new rules which meant that parents weren't allowed into the building so i couldn't help him with his coat again and for him to take it off before he entered the building. So that meant he would have to carry his coat, his P.E bag(they didn't allow them to be kept on the premises overnight), his school bag and his packlunch box.
I was then told that he required 6 hrs of 1 to 1 help but because they were under staffed they couldn't do it.(it was wrote on his IEP)
We were then told that they didn't actually know about dyspraxia and that they would get the senco to tell them about it, which they never did, and they wouldn't listen to advice i had for my son such as longer to get changed at P.E time etc.
He would often come out of school with shoes on the wrong feet even when he had had P.E first lesson.
In the end i tackled the situation with the head mistress who actually had the nerve to say to me "oh your one of those mother's who complains about every little thing", lets say i was livid.
So between the above and a few other things such as the kids safety i de-registered him that very day and have been home educating him since December and he loves it.

Funny thing was whilst i was stood in the foyer waiting for the headmistress to photocopy the letter the fire alarm went off, the head mistress told the caretaker who was at the office to switch it off as it will be nothing, without even checking, and to phone the fire brigade and tell them its nothing just a false alarm, now seen as this building was a two storey building how she could know for certain that it was a false alarm. I am just glad i took him out of this school.

this sounds terrible,:eek: how old is your son. i feel quite lucky in the respect that my son goes to a school that mixes mild disabilities with "normal " kids, in his year alone there is one with cerebral palsy and another in a wheel chair, the SEN lady is fantastic and helped get my son rerefered for some other problems he had and is extremely approachable as is the head teacher. some people just shouldnt work in schools!

only in year 3 at the moment, dreading high school, have no idea what i should be looking for

Swampmonster

peachyprice wrote: »

No-one ever told me this, I guess it's a bit late now that he's 15 but i really could have done with it when he was getting through trousers at a rate of knots with all the falling over, and for all the school bags, equipment and pe kits he's lost, hey ho.

It's never too late!

Seek some advice from a disability charity such as ABLE. It would help if you keep a diary for around a month detailing any symtoms and ANYTHING you think makes him different to a ' normal ' child of HIS age. Take any professionals letters with you.

Hope this helps:)

emsywoo123

Scone wrote: »

Also I forgot to mention, I claim DLA for my son and get lower mobility and middle care. my OT told me to do it but I'm sure there might be people coping with this that don't claim so I just thought I'd mention it

.

I totally did not know this either, how difficult was it? To claim I mean