Dyspraxia moneysaving and support thread.

csh_2

Swampmonster wrote: »

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:)

Thats the thing, whats normal and whats not?! I have a 13.5yr old and a baby so nothing to compare the older one too!

I've said since playschool that there was something not quite right with her and every single parents night I've voiced concerns over her abilities/behavior etc.

Shes now in 2nd yr at academy (scottish) and huge problems with her at the minute.
I've finally lost the plot with the school and am demanding every test known to man until I get to the route of her problems.
I am 99.9% convinced she is dyspraxic with dyslexic tendancies.

Since I spat the dummy at the school 2 weeks ago as she was getting excluded for forgetting her PE kit, she has been retested for dyslexia as these tests were inconclusive last time round and has also been tested with the coloured overlays. They have now decided that she responded really well to the double pink overlays so they will re-run the previous tests to see where that gets us.
The main problem with getting them to do anything is that she is not bad enough at anyone thing for them to make an effort with her IYKWIM?

Shes actually quite clever but struggles to form thoughts into words and cannot process spoken instructions etc.
Her ears are actually painted on. She eats with her hands and cannot swim after 5 yrs of lessons.
She has no concept of time and has no control over the volume of her voice and constantly interrupts when people are talking.

Anyway that was just a general rant, I posted on one of the other threads too!

I have a meeting with the Educational Pyschologist and the head of Pupil Support (I'm guessing thats our SENCO) on the 16th June and I'll know more then.


ETA: she wet the bed regularly until about 7yrs. She also couldn't tie laces til she was about ten and she doesn't tie them the 'normal' way but a very strange way that we came up with together!


Another mini-rant: I went to the GP and was dismissed as it being an education issue! How on earth can they define it as such?!!! It affects every area of her life and always will grrrrrr! (Didn't leave the room until she referred me to the OT tho, still waiting for app!)

bestpud

Reading a similar thread on this board, it seems private assessment results may be viewed with caution by teachers.

I know someone who had one done for her dd and the school refused to acknowledge it.

I understand LEA assessments are often not conclusive so I wonder why they are perceived as better? It's no different to seeing a private doctor to avoid NHS waiting lists really, is it?

It's a difficult one as testing is very expensive but imo it is probably worth it for parents who are getting nowhere.

Scone_2

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.

you should check the dla rules maybe you would be able to claim it until he's 18 or something and then he could claim in his own right ? there are other benefits of a child getting DLA at the moment which won't apply to you, but it does to younger children - I got a letter from the child trust fund the other day saying that because my son has DLA he will have extra £100 per year paid into his CTF from now on

Scone_2

emsywoo123 wrote: »

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

Really easy - they send you out the forms and you'd be suprised of the little things that you can put on like constant bed wetting, waking in the night, night terrors, needing extra support with homework,. Tiredness and exhaustion when coming home from school so problems keeping up with homework, falling over constantly (you wouldnt believe the trousers and shoes I got through for my lad).....they are just examples but you know your own child intricately so there will be things unique to your child that I've not mentioned.

My son got the lower mobility component and middle rate care as he does need a lot of care. He can't dress himself that well and simple things for him can be a nightmare. But he soldiers on my little angel and I love his "differences" and he seems not to notice too much just yet.

Gingham_Ribbon

Thanks to everyone who is joining in this thread. I've had a rough couple of days with DS's school and have not been in the best frame of mind. He was diagnosed privately as having asynchronous development and probably dyspraxia but the dyspraxia wasn't a firm diagnosis because of his asynchronous development (high giftedness.)

The school were supposed to refer him for further help with an occupational therapist and various other professionals months ago and when I chased it up with the SENco a month ago I was told that the OTs were very busy and it would take a while to come through. Eventually, I phoned them myself only to find that the referal was never done. Although they're apologetic, it still means that my son is STILL getting no support after 2 school years of being thoroughly miserable.

So yes, a private ed psych report was worth the money for us as it allowed US to help our child, but it hasn't helped as much as we hoped as far as school is concerned. I think this is partly because dyspraxia is misunderstood, but partly because asynchronous development is woefully misunderstood too and the attitude of most schools is if a child is doing well they're 'gifted', and there is no support for those who are struggling because of the problems associated with it.

pavlovs_dog

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

How do you deal with shocking memory and make sure you turn up for appointments on time, on the right day? Or even remember to look at the calendar you wrote the appointment on?

would a mobile phone/electronic orgniser work for you? you can set alarms to go off with reminders etc.

catflea

Personally, I am mildly dyslexic/dyspraxic - diagnosed when 6/7ish. (for reference, I am 25) I REALLY sympathise with those parents who have kids who sound like they have it very severely.

I was a stubborn little so and so when at school and a lot of the things that my folks tried to implement, including me going to "special needs" classes fell on stoney ground as I refused to even entertain them.

The thing that REALLY helped me, and I mean REALLY REALLY helped was the use of a laptop in classes. I only had a very basic filing structure i.e files saved in folders for subjects but it meant that nothing was ever lost - if I did notes on paper they would dissapear in 5 mins flat - never to be seen again!

These days, I am still horrific at organisation and a great procastinator (which is linked) but find that if I program my mobile with the things I need to do/appointments to attend with an alarm then I generally do better at being places when I should.

By the way, for the purposes of essay writing etc there is a fantastic piece of software which proved invaluable to me during my uni career, called inspiration. Essentially speaking, you wrote the document as and how it came to mind and THEN organised it into the correct order so that it makes sense - sounds simple - but by god, it worked

I have found that actually doing things that require motor skills has helped to improve my co-ordination but I am still perfectly capable of falling A-Over-T on level ground and walking into tables etc.

bestpud

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

would a mobile phone/electronic orgniser work for you? you can set alarms to go off with reminders etc.

I have a shocking memory too and use my phone to
remind me to take tablets, put the bins out, pack certain things for dd, go to work etc etc.

Trouble is the alarm will go off and I think I will go and get my tablets and take them ( I have them in a weekly organiser thingie) but between
switching off the alarm and taking the tablets, I still frequently get distracted and forget all about them! It sounds bizarre but I do!!

That's the worst thing for me - I have trouble remembering in the first place but also retaining the memory once I have it! I'd literally need to have alarms going all day lol!

Gingham_Ribbon

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

would a mobile phone/electronic orgniser work for you? you can set alarms to go off with reminders etc.

I keep losing or dropping and breaking things like that, including my satnav which I couldn't work anyway. I can't go anywhere without my husband without getting very, very lost before i find it.

I have a calendar by my desk and I do try to write appointments in there when I remember to, but I often forget to look at it. I would love an electronic organiser but I fear it's just one more thing to lose/break.

bestpud

Do you write the same info in every calendar mspig?

Also, I think it does run in families but then I suppose it could be argued our children have learnt to be disorganised because we are!

That said dd1 is not at all like me or dd2 and their dad has very similar problems so it can't all be nuture!