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Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

SEN

Concerns about Dyslexia and or Dyspraxia.

17 replies

deemented · 02/04/2011 07:38

Bit of background first.

DS2 is six, an early September birthday - so the oldest in his class - although he was born 12 weeks prematurely. He went to a SN nursery as he had mild to moderate developmental delay, and by the time he left there to go to nursery in the school he's now in we were told he'd caught up to where he should be and was on a level with his peers. After a shaky start, he settled in well to nursery and is now happy and settled in year 1.

I've noticed a few things lately, and on their own it's nothing, but added together, i think perhaps they are indicators that DS may be dyspraxic. We recently had parents evening in school and i planned to bring it up with his teacher, but in fact she got there before me - she mentioned dyspraxia and said also he may well be dyslexic. She said he's a very bright and articulate boy, and is fairly confident in class, but when it comes to written work you can literally see him shrivelling up in front of you. His handwriting is appalling, and he's having lots of trouble with his reading - he's only just moved onto level 2 on the ORT.

He has been having extra reading support anyway, but since our conversation at parents evening, the teacher has spoken to the school SENCO and they agree that he may have issues and have agreed to an Ed Psych consultation for him. In the meantime they aill also work with him an extra 15 mins a day concentrating on his fine motor skills.

His teacher has advised me to see his doctor and see if they can push it from there end.

Is there anything else i can be doing with him? I'm really concerned about him being 'left behind' although i can't fault his teacher/school - they have been absolutely excellent.

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deemented · 02/04/2011 13:59

.

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NoSleepTonight · 02/04/2011 14:22

Nothing to really add apart from you could be writing about my son (also 6 in year one).
He has just been seen by an OT & I'll get the report back in a couple of weeks, we're still waiting for the ed psych to see him.

I'll keep an eye on this thread.

deemented · 02/04/2011 17:48

ThanksNoSleepTonight - it's good to know that there's someone who's going through this too

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bigTillyMint · 02/04/2011 17:50

It's great that the teacher has picked up on it!

Does he have co-ordination problems with physical activities? Like can he ride a bike / throw and catch a ball / play footie?

deemented · 02/04/2011 17:54

He does indeed bigTilyMint - he's been learning to ride his bike for the past two and a half years, bless him, but he just can't get there. And he can't catch a ball either, though he does have a good go. And his running... his teacher actually said every time she watches him run she expects him to go flat on his face every time he puts a foot down, he has no... grace... he's really untidy, iyswim?

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deemented · 04/04/2011 07:50

bump.

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bigTillyMint · 04/04/2011 10:11

Definitely go and see the GP and push as much as you can from your end - sounds like the school are onto it, but keep checking what assessments they are chasing up. It does sound like he could be dyspraxic.

An OT assessment would be good - it's not just help with fine-motor skills that he needs!

I am very interested in the fact that he was born prematurely - I am working with increasing numbers of children who were born prematurely and who have all sorts of difficulties which obviously couldn't have been picked up on at birth.

If you are able to get him the right support now, he should flourish

3rdnparty · 04/04/2011 10:25

deemented - we are just going through this with ds - does sound similar traits on your discription of untidy so strikes a cord...

Process here was school senco wrote letter to gp who referred to NHS peadeatric ot - we have had report from them that bit v quick- diagnosed dyspraxia- awaiting further ot support - have been advised this could be 3/4 months though so would push to get into the process

school also doing the fine motor skills bit - but thats just the tip of the iceberg...got advised a really good book on here and some other fab advice on mnet will try and find my earlier thread as really helping us ....

deemented · 04/04/2011 13:09

Thanks both

have Drs appointment for this afternoon (would you take him to it, btw? I'd rather not as i'd hate to be talking about him and have him then have a million questions which i may not be able to answer, but wdyt?)

Tilly - i know it may sound daft but no one ever told us he could have problems as he was growing up. When he left his SN nursery we were told - 'Oh he's fine now' and that was that. So this has come as a bit of a shock tbh.

Would be very interested in any books or threads, 3rdnparty.

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bigTillyMint · 04/04/2011 13:42

Would the GP need to see him?

Deemented, that is hard - not being warned that he might have difficulties. However, I think it could be because there hasn't been much research into following prem babies into adulthood. I guess as there are probably increasing numbers of increasingly prem babies, there will be more research into it.

Also, I would think a SN nursery's view of "fine" and a mainstream schools view of "fine" might be quite different, hence why this a shock now to you.

MadameSin · 05/04/2011 11:39

How did the GP appointment go?

deemented · 05/04/2011 16:47

Sorry - meant to update.

GP, although lovely said that Dyspraxia/dyslexia is not usually an area that they would get involved in - i've to go completely through the school - but because DS2 was premature then she would refer him to a peadiatric developmental consultant for an assessment and see where we go from there.

I spoke to the school and they are waiting to hear from Ed Psych to see how long it's likely to be.

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bigTillyMint · 06/04/2011 06:27

That would be good to get a paeadriatric development assessment - it should show if there are dyspraxia-type difficulties and would be needed in the full assessment if you ever decided to go for a statement.

Where I work, EP's are famously over-stretched and so it could be a while before the EP can do an assessment, but definitely keep pushing for it.

Good Luck

deemented · 06/04/2011 07:34

Thanks Tilly

Can you suggest any good books or resources i can access at all?

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3rdnparty · 06/04/2011 12:18

Deemented

Our senco at school wrote to the gp who just processed the ot referral as it falls under nhs - maybe worth checking with the school - we are still waiting to hear about our ep referral - think they are harder to get here as well....
I have linked to the thread I started which has got the good advice in ...
forgot to the other day...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/1172419-Not-sure-what-to-do-next-long

we have got the Madeline Portwood book and its very clear think may lend to the school as they don't seem to have much of a clue- I couldn't wait to see if could get through the library just bought from amazon....

deemented · 06/04/2011 13:48

Thanks 3rd - that's really interesting.

Off to have a good read now.

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deemented · 25/06/2011 11:12

Just wanted to update a little.

DS2 had an appointment the other day with the pead development consultant, and he said that he's almost certain that DS does indeed have dyspraxia. He thinks that it's more than likely a direct result of his prematurity.

At the moment DS is going through a ten week assessment within the school, and after that a report will be sent to the Ed Psych. The consultant we saw will also write to the school to detail his findings, and will send a report to go to the Ed Pasych too. He is also going to send DS to a dyspraxia clinic.

He mentioned that DS will probably need a 1:1 and that he will support us as we go through the process of getting DS statemented - but that could take the best part of a year as things don't move very quickly down here.

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