Can dyspraxia affect gross motor coordination only?

[BuffyFairy]

Hi,

My DD (3.9) has been seeing a paediatrician for the last few months following concerns over her balance and coordination difficulties.

She's always been clumsy, can fall over nothing, trips all the time, falls off her chair and knocks cups over. She started preschool at nursery in January and they flagged up that she falls a lot more than the other children.

DD rarely participates in any of the ball sports they play at preschool and hated playball. She cannot ride a trike, balance bike or bike with stabilisers.

She struggles to walk long distances. A 20 minute walk to the shop can take an hour! If she has a good day and runs around she'll spend the next couple of days saying her legs hurt and insists on going in the pushchair.

Her hearing test came back clear and her vision is good. A vestibular test has been ruled out and we're seeing a neurologist next week.

Her paediatrician mentioned possible dyspraxia and ADHD. He also said she's showing soft signs of a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I'm not too sure what he meant by that.

However her fine motor skills seem quite good. She can play with lego, write her name, her drawing is good.

Does anyone here have any experience of dyspraxia affecting gross motor skills only? Is that possible?

Thanks

[bitbap18]

Hi, I'm not sure about dyspraxia but has she been checked for hypermobility? Is she very flexible? What age did she walk?

[BuffyFairy]

She hasn't been checked for hypermobility. I'm hoping we'll get a referral to OT sometime soon.

She seems quite flexible but not overly so. She was quite stretched out as a newborn rather than curled up. I have a photo of her at 3 days old with her arms and outer thighs touching the sides - if that makes sense?

She can bend back her thumb to her arm, her finger joints bend back and when she sits cross legged her knees are almost on the floor. Most 3 year olds are pretty flexible though so I'm not sure what's normal and what isn't!

She started walking at 15months, crawling at 11 months so later than lots but still within the normal range.

[McFarts]

My DD2 has Dyspraxia and at 3 she too was very good at drawing, writing ect. She couldn't use scissors and using cutlery was almost impossible for for her.

DD1 is more severely Dyspraxic (and also has ASD) and she was very reluctant to draw, write ect, we didn't actually realise she was left handed until she was 5!

[2boysnamedR]

I think bending your thumb back to reach your arm is a test for being hyper mobile. A lot of kids are hyper mobile your right on that.

I could be wrong but to be dyspraxic you must have hyper mobility and low musle tone. My ds is dyspraxic

[youarekiddingme]

My ds is described by the physio as having a dyspraxia symptomology. He has ASD.
His fine motor (Lego and pincer etc) are fine. The use of his hands and hand grip are not. Writing is barely legible (he's about to start secondary). His balance is fabulous and he rode a bike without stabilisers at 3yo. Walking he fell over and up curbs constantly at that age and until about 7yo! He walked at 9.5 months but didn't crawl until nearly a year old.
He's slow to 'get' swimming strokes and struggled with both sides of his body doing butterfly being coordinated - but has just been spotted during lessons by a swim club and asked to join.
His arms don't straighten fully and he thinks they are straight

I think they no hard and fast rule and dyslexia is often called, and also dx as, developmental coordination disorder. Therefore like other neuro developmental disabilities it varies person to person, they'll be strengths and weaknesses, but there's criteria that need to be met for a diagnosis.

There are other things that go along with dyspraxia such as the hyper mobility and hypotonia. This can also affect the bowel and cause chronic constipation. There can be sensory reactions too caused by the reflexes children with dyspraxia often retain. (Look at retained primary reflexes). Again they are retained as its a neuro developmental disorder so some will retain permanently and compensate and some will be able to gain the ability to control the reflexes through inout from professionals.

My advice to any parent is to look at this stage as assessment. Try not to fit things into boxes but rather make a list of your concerns and examples. Maybe keep a diary?

[BuffyFairy]

Sorry for taking so long to come back to my thread and thank you all for the responses.

We had a big family wedding at the weekend and DD was a flower girl. She agreed to walk down the aisle after only a small tantrum and made it down without tripping over, bless her

Youarekiddingme, that was a really helpful post thank you. I looked up retained primary reflexes and some of those do stand out as her issues. You're right about not looking to fit her in a box.