Child’s lack of co ordination

[AIMD]

I wondered if anyone had suggestions on this...

My 6 year old really struggles with some activities, seemingly because of a lack of co ordination. For example he cannot ride a bike or swing himself on a swing. We have tried helping with both but when I watch him he looks as though he just doesn’t get the natural feel for how to move his body. He’s never managed to speed along on his scooter or balance bike.

However his fine gross skills (if that’s even the right word) are really good. So his drawing and writing are very good.

Any suggestion on either some reasons he might struggle with things like bike riding or b how best to support him. He really wants to be able to ride but gets easily frustrated.

Could be a few things - an issue with his vestibular (balance) or proprioceptive (your body’s understanding of where all the bits of your body is in space, basically) senses, could be dyspraxia.

Would be good to see an occupational therapist although getting to see one isn’t the easiest thing on the NHS unless things are very bad.

If you could afford a private OT assessment then that would really help you to understand what’s going on, and if needed push for an NHS referral.

Very possible to have good fine motor skills but poor gross motor skills - that’s why they are separate skill sets :)

He sounds aloy like my son who has Developmental Coordination Disorder or Dyspaxia. Diagnosed age 9. There are many organisations who can help with diagnosis but they're expensive. Ask your GP for referral to OT. My son had to have speech and language therapy before OT, but we're in Scotland and it may be different route for you. DCD is different for each child and they each will have their own strengths and issues. Good luck with your journey.

Bike riding takes a lot of effort ie an hour every day for a week before it is mastered. Have you put in the terribly boring hours?

Your Gp may be able to refer you for occupational therapy which may well help. That said, after a long and fruitless road with the NHS, I would say if you can find the £500-800 for a clinical psychologist, do it.

Probably not helpful but my 6yo can't do either of those things either. Doesn't have great coordination. But otherwise a happy and pretty typical year1 child.
I'm not worried (yet).

Dyspraxia? My son has this and I didnt even know what it was until he got the diagnosis

@SinkGirl

Could be a few things - an issue with his vestibular (balance) or proprioceptive (your body’s understanding of where all the bits of your body is in space, basically) senses, could be dyspraxia.

Would be good to see an occupational therapist although getting to see one isn’t the easiest thing on the NHS unless things are very bad.

If you could afford a private OT assessment then that would really help you to understand what’s going on, and if needed push for an NHS referral.

Very possible to have good fine motor skills but poor gross motor skills - that’s why they are separate skill sets :)

Absolutely agree with this 100%.

Dyspraxia can affect all sort of different abilities, like throwing/catching or batting, or tying shoelaces, handwriting, hopping or skipping, sense of direction, judging distances, all sorts of things.

For example, a child can have dyspraxia and be able to tie their laces but not be able to catch an thrown object. Or can ride a bike, but not write legibly. Or be unable to picture or imagine where their hand is if they hold it behind their back. Or be able to walk through a doorway without bouncing off one of the sides, or steer a boat using the tiller, or calculate how much pressure is needed when picking up an object.

Occupational Therapy is strongly recommended, and they will give you exercises to do at home. The more practice the child gets, the better the outcome.

Agree with possibly dyspraxia. I’m moderately-severely dyspraxic; have some level of difficulty with all aspects of daily living .

Eg fine motor - so buttons, zips, drawing, writing, typing, threading a needle, laces ... Gross motor so walking, running, catching and throwing all a bit off .
Balance/procipreation (can’t remember the word) - judging where I am in space, which has given me a bit of vertigo and difficulty with wide open spaces and heights - probably the worst affected .

OTOH I’m very good at reading, writing (well - knowing what to write, sometimes the execution is terrible) and my memory is weirdly good (can accurately recall dates of holidays and events back in 1995 for instance) .

OT can be v v v helpful - I used to love my sessions . They know so much more now (I was diagnosed 22 years ago) which makes a huge difference . A lot have FB pages with advice/hints which might help .

GP also suggested focusing on things like video games, musical instruments, art/craft etc . Said a musical instrument especially is great for hand/eye coordination . I’ve never tried it so can’t comment !

Thank you everyone. It’s interesting to hear people’s own experiences. He also finds throwing and catching difficult.

Yes we have put in many hours of practice with things like bike riding and swinging. I can see from watching him though that he isn’t moving his body in a way than many people would naturally (eg as you swing you naturally lean in the direction that helps you swing more) so I’m not sure he feels the movement the same.

I think when things calm a bit covid wise I might try for an OT referral through GP. We probably could stretch to afford a private OT but it’s not causing him massive issues so not sure stretching for it would be worth that use of the money for us.

It’s useful to be aware while I see what happens for him.