Dyspraxia? How to go about getting child assessed?

[Taq]

I’m 99% certain my 7 year old has dyspraxia.
She has been incredibly clumsy since she was a baby. Struggled with all the developmental stuff. She has a mild neurological condition which can affect balance so we put it down to that, but I really think it’s more than that.
Signs I’m seeing:

• she is incredibly clumsy and can fall over nothing. She falls over multiple times each day, and has done since being a baby. She has always been a frequent flyer at A&E
• she has very poor cause and consequence visualisation (if that’s a thing). Eg she will do the most daft things that will obviously end in disaster, like climb up something ridiculous only to fall down before you can get to her
• Handwriting is dreadful
• cant use a knife and fork for love nor money
• She is a hilarious, bright and absolutely lovely child. I can only sum it up as like living with Mr Blobby

What’s the best way to go about getting her assessed? I’ve waited it out until age 7 but if anything it’s getting worse. I’ve just watched her reach into the fridge for grapes, only to inexplicably next moment be upside down with grapes everywhere, poor little sausage.

Any advice much appreciated please

gp as the starting point- it is a medical diagnosis not an educational one

Request a referral to a paediatric OT. The school SENCo may be able to refer.

Sounds like my son! Wait till you get on to bike riding......Go to GP and ask for a referral, mine was diagnosed at the same time as ASD. Could be a long wait though.

School or gp can refer to Occupational Therapy who will do an assessment and then refer onto a paediatrician to confirm diagnosis.

Thank you very much. School won’t do anything they are useless and don’t have a SENCO. I’ll go to the GP as a starting point 👍
She can ride a bike but it took a lot longer than the other children and is scary to watch. Often ends in a crash but she loves it and wants to be like her siblings so it’s difficult.
Swimming has been a trial. After two years she still can’t swim, but can paddle about. But again, has no sense of danger so it’s a constant worry, her teacher has had to jump in and rescue her twice (in the baby pool!) because once she’s upside down she can’t seem to right herself.

Typing all this out now I feel bad that I haven’t taken her before.

In Cornwall where I am there is an Earkt Help hub. They are amazing for signposting to the right place.

My dd has dyspraxia. I started by contacting the Early Help hub. They sent me forms to fill out with all the places to send them to. I did that and was then contacted by the occupational therapy department at the hospital.
The appointment took 2 hours and included a medical exam to rule out any underlying health conditions (to ensure her issues were due to dyspraxia and not something else.)
It included gross motor skills like balancing on a beam, throwing a catching a ball and hopping in a hula hoop, and fine motor skills like threading a lace and drawing over a dotted line.
DD came out really low.
You can get special cutlery which is grooved and curved - it’s more comfortable to hold and helps them be sure how to hold it.
The thing that still causes us issues is clothing - sometimes I watch her getting dressed and it’s like the clothes are fighting back. They do improve but it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience!

I got referral from the gp but that was about 7 years ago.

School won’t do anything they are useless and don’t have a SENCO

Off topic, but every mainstream school is required to have a SENCo by law

Both mine have dyspraxia. What I hadn't realised was how non motor skills issues can be linked, such as executive function.
We went via GP for OT assessment.