Hi, apologies about the long post...but here goes!!
my DSD is 16 years old and doesn't come across as your normal teenager.
as she is getting older, her "symptoms" are more noticeable - here's the list:
- she has to be reminded to do everything, clean her teeth, brush her hair, what time to go bed, to wake up in the morning. her personal hygiene is very poor, if we didn't tell her to shower, she would go days and days without washing! she has no ability to remember instructions, basic or otherwise at all.
- looks clumsy and heavy footed when walking. has poor co-ordination and still can't handle a knife and fork properly. her handwriting is very untidy, and at times illegible. she struggles very hard with writing words down in an order that makes sense
- getting dressed - it can take her half hour just to put a top on and putting shoes can take up to 15 mins, tying shoe laces is an experience in itself.
- eating food, she is soooo slow at eating food, she could have her food put down in front of a good 5 mins before anyone else, and will still be the last one eating with loads of food on her plate when everyone else has finished. i asked her to wash the dishes once, there was about 3 plates and a few knives and forks - 10 mins later she had washed 2 plates and that was it!
- she has one or two friends, but very very rarely does anything with them or bothers with them. she is quite immature in a social setting, can be very inappropriate and can very often say the wrong thing. she has no grasp of sarcasm or irony and is very literal with how she takes things and how she says them. she struggles with speech, finds it very hard to get across what she means.
- she can be very dramatic if something happens. she had a little cut on her toe and wanted to take the day off school, she was limping everywhere, saying "ow" "ow" "ow" on literally every step on the stairs. where as somone might have a headache take a couple of pills and get on with it, she will tell you every 5 minutes how much it hurts, will cry, will not be able to do anything and will say 2-3 days later how much it still hurts etc, this is not just with a headache, i mean literally with everything, even a small thing like bumping her arm on a chair or something.
- she is very immature, she will sit and watch programmes aimed at 8-12 years old all the time.
- she has no sense of timing or anything. i wake her up at 6.45am and say we have to be leaving the house at 7.30 so you need to get ready. i will go in her room at 7.25am and she will be sat in her bed with just her shirt on, its literally taking her over 30 minutes just to put a shirt on.
ON THE PLUS SIDE lol
she is so very caring, loving and such a sweet darling girl. when talking about a subject she is keen on, she is so animated and excited and its just so lovely to see her getting excited about something. she has the patience of a saint, and is beautiful with the biggest most wonderful smile. she is loyal, passionate and a joy to be around.
to see her with animals and young children is just wonderful - her face lights up and she just looks like a different person. she has no fear with them and its hard to describe but she just looks so happy and peaceful with the - it really is lovely to see her like this
so anyway, by chance i came across an article on Dyspraxia and so many of the "symptoms" seem to describe my DsD.
i know that no one can give a diagnosis over the 'net, i'm just looking for people's views more than anything.
xx
Sounds very stressful for you. I find it a lot easier if I put ds's clothes on his bed when I wake him up so that he doesn't have to find them himself. If she's struggling to fasten buttons then you could half fasten them in advance so she can put the shirt on like a jumper. She may be zombiefied when she wakes up so are you able to take her a drink before she gets dressed? The school should be able to help with the social side of things, I bought ds a social skills book from Amazon which has helped. I'd have a chat with your GP and get a referral to the community paediatrician.