Anyone know about dyspraxia?

[CookiecutterShark]

My dd is 3.5 and I'm starting to think that she might be dyspraxic. I thought it was a possibility a while ago, but looked at online information and decided it wasn't really describing how she is. Then today her childminder mentioned it as a possibility, so I'm thinking about it again. I'm not sure what difference it would make to be able to label some of her behaviours, but am just a bit about it now and would like to find out whether it's worth looking in to.

Anyway this is what makes me think she might be:

• she's really clumsy and always falling over - even from standing still on occasion!
  
• her legs are covered in bruises because she walks into things left right and centre - though she rushes and doesn't look where she's going half the time
  
• she walks on her tiptoes 99% of the time (could also be why she's always falling over...)
  
• she can't pronounce some letters in words - she says bomato (tomato) and blamingo (flamingo) for example even though her name begins with 't' and she has a friend called 'Freddy' and she can say those words without a problem. She hardly ever pronounces an initial 's' particularly if followed by a consonant though again she can make a 's' sound.
  

But...

• she is very articulate
  
• she loves doing detailed pictures, colouring, play doh etc
  
• she loves 'writing' and can write her name quite well
  
• she can do her shoes and put her coat on and off fairly well
  
• she is a chatterbox and can communicate really well
  

So, what do you think? Does anyone have experience of dyspraxia?

She also has a new(ish) younger brother who's now 7 months old, often has tantrums when she doesn't get her own way (most recently lashing out with this) and is currently occasionally 'forgetting' to get to the loo on time. Not sure if any of these things are anything to do with her other behaviours or if it all just means she's 3 and/or wants more attention, but any help would be much appreciated.

TIA

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

Dyspraxia isn't the only cause of children falling a lot....many, many 3 year olds get the starts of words wrong...my friends DS is 3 great on his feet but instead od "The Bingly Bongly" song from Peppa...he sings "The Mingly Mongly" song...he just can't get B correct....

Her tiptoe walking could be due to tight muscles there was a thread on here recently with a woman whose 8 year old son walked on tiptoes and he needed an op to correct his calves.....I would visit the GP and have a list of your concerns written down.

Your CM isn't qualified to suggest conditions...no matter how experienced as a CM she is, it's just not her job to worry people like this. Very unprofessional....she could suggest a trip to the GP because of the falling but that's it.

[Clare123]

I would suggest posting this on special needs boards - there are lots of mum who have children with dyspraxia. Also agree with Neo - the next person to talk to is your GP.

[Shannaratiger]

Me and my daughter have dyspraxia. Most people will say that dyspraxia can't be diagnosed until 4/5 because there is alot of overlap of symptons with normal age related development before that age. The dyspraxia foundation website is the best place to go though as they have symptons for younger children. Agree with Neo, speak to your GP and also discuss it with her playschool teachers to get their opinion.

[bettyboop29]

hi my son is 6 and been diagnosed with developmental co-ordination disorder!he has issues with balance and stairs he wld crawl dwn stairs right up until he was bt 4 n half his ot got a another hand rail in! he has speech problems and best thing is to get her referrd to a speech therapist and take it from there! his speech thera[ist said he was dyspraxic with verbal dyspraxic signs too! he was only diagnosed about a month ago!

[bettyboop29]

i meant he sit on his bum goin dwn stairs and crawl up them was writin tht too fast!