Dyspraxia and my 7 yr old son and schooling experiences

[MeeseyM]

Hi I have a 7 yr old son who has recently been diagnosed with dyspraxia. He is a very sociable and spirited boy but has found school very difficult and is at least 2 yrs behind other children of a similar age. We have been searching for the right school to send him to. We sent him to a small independent school believing that a small class size would enable him to get more 1:1 help that he needed. This helped initially but as he is now in yr 3 the gap in reading and writing skills between him and his peers is very great and this affected his confidence and belief in himself. He now attends a new school specialist school in East Finchley called Limespring School which is for children with Learning differences - Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and dyscalculia . This opened in Jan 2012. The teaching staff are fantastic and have given him the specialist support he needs with his reading and writing difficulties. He also gets daily Occupational Therapy support to help with strengthening his gross and fine motor skills and is also learning touch typing. I feel that one of the most important things the school offers is to boost his confidence and to make him feel he can achieve. He is a very bright boy and I was frustrated and upset with the negativity he felt about himself before finding the right place for him to learn. The school is holding a dyspraxia support group tomorrow (Fri 26th april from 9.30 onwards) for parents of dyspraxic children. Its important to feel there is support around dyspraxia as it can make parenting really difficult and stressful well that has been my experience anyway.

[jumpupanddown]

Great to hear - thanks for posting. I'm going to look at it for my boy next week.

Wish it started earlier then Year 3, though we might do a split placement before then. Any other suggestions for earlier then Year 3 in the area for these kinds of difficulties (private, sn or mainstream)? Thanks loads

[yuckie]

Hi don't know if this is an old message and I don't know whether you are in London even but you could try Emerson House in Hammersmith - They take Year 2 children (maybe year 1 too , not sure) and the children can stay in their own school if they like and go there two mornings a week. The woman who owns it is brilliant. Our little boy is dyspraxic/dyslexic - he was getting sad and starting to lose confidence in himself before he started there but for us it's been a huge success. He is with other kids who are bright like him and he really needed to see that with the right teaching and support and encouragement he can learn as much as any of his friends at school, he just learns differently. He has made lots of progress and is improving steadily all the time and most importantly his confidence is returning. I cant say enough good things about it . I have to admit it was a big decision to take but once we all did it together he hasn't looked back and for us as a family it's been great. To see him coming home proud of what he has done is like a miracle. Hope this helps.

[MsDrinkwater]

Limespring School does this too. The child can attend their mainstream school and attend for morning sessions for specialist teaching. In fact Jane Emerson of Emerson House went to visit the school yesterday and was very impressed!

[Paula1974]

Could anyone please offer some help and advice, i am at my wits end! My son is 7 years old, he is loving and caring and very highly spirited. I have been aware since reception year that he may have problems. I self referred to speech and language therapist and audiology, we are still under these professionals. Each time we go for a hearing test there has been some loss, when asked what they are going to do about it, we are told they they will monitor it (how many years do they need to monitor it for???). My husband and i offer extra support at home to try and push him, he is around 18 mths- 2 yrs behind his classmates.

I had a meeting last week with the SENCo, she advised me that they would be applying for a statement in September for him, however i had an appointment with his class teacher yesterday, i was informed that because he had improved in certain areas of his work, he was now not considered as having SEN.

Whilst i am very pleased that he is improving i still can't help thinking that he does need more support, i can't stand by and watch him fall behind even further, and why should i? What can i do? do i start screaming and shouting now?

[bettington]

Be very careful with Emerson House. Check the qualifications of the staff and ask a lot of questions about what your child is learning, and what progress is being made for the money they are charging.