Dyspraxia

[freespirit333]

What sports do your DC with Dyspraxia (DCD) do?

DS9 has tried a lot, and he really isn’t any good at ball sports. He’s on a nice, inclusive football team but I don’t think he loves it (he never practices kicking a ball around outside of it, unless with a friend who wants to and even then it’s short lived) and I’ve noticed this term (just started Y5) that some of the more talented boys are getting really frustrated when they lose, and he’s definitely the weakest player on their team so I’m concerned their anger is directed towards him, and he’ll start to be really disliked.

I’m thinking of gently suggesting this is his last season. He does swimming lessons which he’s fine at but nothing amazing, and I can occasionally drag him to Junior Park run. He also goes to a gymnastics club once a week, he’s pretty rubbish but it can only be a positive thing for his strength and core, and due to the nature of it I don’t worry about him getting targeted for letting the team down.

Mine was very similar at that age and he slowly withdrew from most team sports, apart from Basketball by the age of 11. He did Jujitzu which was great for balance and got several belts and also indoor climbing. My advice is to talk honestly to him about his coordination difficulties so it doesn’t affect his self esteem. When he finds something he’s good at or enjoys, run with that.

Horse riding and musical theatre but both was very, very understanding

Dd1 liked swimming, ice skating and rock climbing.
Dd2 liked swimming (until anxiety took over).
All non competitive but good for fitness
(Both have dyspraxia).

With swimming I’d enrol him in a junior squad before writing that off, it’s usually a lot better than lessons and they come on quickly. I can’t see why dyspraxia should be a hindrance, a relative has it and is a good swimmer. Martial arts sound good for promoting balance and coordination as a pp said.

My ds did Karate for a few years and got a few badges.
The only sports I was good at were Rounders and Long Jump. I tried High Jump but brought the metal bar down on my ankle and that put me off.

I looked after a child with dyspraxia and we did lots of ball games. It got to the point her was miles better than the other children!

Grab some balls and go and play catch. He can improve.

Skiing and biking, but it took a lot of perseverance on our side to get him there. Ditto swimming. He goes to an inclusive basketball group once a week, but refuses to even try to play with DC2 so I've no idea what he actually does there! No matches. We had exactly the same issues with team sports and him being the weakest player, so he avoids any kind of team sport. He has asked about athletics but only one event, I've yet to find a casual club that would take him as they're all expected to go 3-4 times a week.
Individual sports like boxing, climbing. His physio suggested skateboarding but that was not a success! The son of a friend of mine likes tennis but DS wouldn't try it. It's very dependent on the teacher, I think.

Unfortunately no interest in singing/musical theatre/drama, as he actually has a nice voice! His idea of hell though.

Haven’t tried climbing, so expensive but it’s worth a try.

He did karate when he was younger and didn’t enjoy it - he also has ADHD so I think the discipline involved was very challenging. DH is keen for him to do jujitsu so if we sack off football I might leave that to him to find a club!

Swimming wise, I think you have to be a certain level to join a squad, a level he didn’t reach. I will check though, it would be great for his fitness.

I’m pretty sure I have dyspraxia and running has saved me fitness wise as I’m pretty rubbish at anything else!

Mine swims but isn't very good at it. He has issues with "bilateral coordination" so I think he just can't sink himself up

Our DC did Kung Fu and liked swimming. OK at cricket but not keen on tennis, football or anything else.

Has he tried trampolining? That can be helpful for working on co-ordination, core strength etc. Cycling is also helpful if he could try that, plus indoor climbing as a PP suggested

I should have mentioned he’s also tried tennis and a very brief rugby stint!

I hadn’t thought about trampolining, thank you. Worth researching!

He’s decent on his bike but isn’t keen on the idea of cyclo cross which is what the clubs locally seem to be.

Climbing was excellent for mine, really helped with upper body and hand/finger strength.

Re. Trampolining. If there's any hint of poor core strength or hyper mobility there is quite a high risk of injury. DS's physio didn't advise it, might be worth getting medical advice on that one.

Definitely poor core, don’t think he’s hyper mobile though. Strangely, DH (and I’m sure his own DF) both have weak core as their postures are awful, DH has spent £££ on chiropractors and works hard on his but his DF has a full hunchback. DH doesn’t have dyspraxia though strangely. But is ND.

We suspect DS(9) is dyspraxic (awaiting assessment from OT service) and he asked to try rugby and hasn't looked back. He is also learning how to swim and going up to the next level quickly. I am amazed at how well he has taken to sport, as before he would actively avoid doing anything. Only just learned to ride a bike aged 8!

I would say all these things you're doing are really good.
My 7yo suspected dyspraxic is really struggling with swimming and can't ride a bike yet...

That’s great! DS was too scared of the ball in rugby. Strangely he nailed bike riding very quickly, age 4. Straight from balance bike to pedals, no stabilisers. It’s not consistent is it!

So true lol, they are all so different. How about your DS trying a musical instrument?

DS asked months ago if he could learn one particular instrument, so I put his name on the waiting list and he goes next week to try it out. His older siblings both play instruments so I think this is why he wants to try out an instrument himself. The noise can be deafening sometimes in the home😬

Fencing, golf, archery, martial arts.

Anything where they are taught how to stand and move - so they are shown that stance and the moves are broken down for them.
There's no relying on instinct so it doesn't matter if it doesn't come naturally :)

Things like foot ball which involve running while looking at a ball and trying to predict where either DS or the ball would end up were virtually impossible, but he really enjoyed fencing and golf.

I have a dyspraxic DS - now grown - and it is a real challenge to stop them getting switched off re anything sporty. We had a v v similar experience w/football that the good players were getting frustrated with the weaker ones and didn’t quite have the social skills at ages 9 - 13 to disguise it. We also had a few frankly vile ‘old school’ coaches who thought shouting would make him better. Football and hockey were pretty bad experiences all round.

I would definitely push things that work on an individual basis rather than needing to slot into a team and needing to cope with multiple simultaneous “inputs”. When younger Ds did well at judo - he got a lot of belts (although never did well in competitions/bouts). But most junior judo is drills (katas?) so it was fine for him. Being a brown belt was great as it gave him a bit of swagger against the young Jack Grealishes 😊. Climbing was also successful (but we were lucky that we had a council run wall quite close to us and DH enjoyed doing it with him). Have you tried water sports? Kayaking and paddleboarding went well. Skateboarding also.

DS is now early 20s and pretty fit. He actually got a kayaking instructor qualification and taught it as a summer job through uni. He cycles (as transport, not lycra-style) and does spin and weights for fitness. So don’t be put off. School team sports were awful and upsetting for us but it all worked out in the end.

I would like him to try piano, although practicing would be another thing to fight about…!

Thanks @HerculesMulligannn , really good to hear from a now grown DS too! I’m definitely not admitting defeat as I’m a pretty decent runner now despite being so unsporty when I was younger.

His football coaches are lovely and encouraging which is why I think we’ve stuck at it despite how useless he is. He has improved too (he used to not get near the ball, now he gets plenty of kicks, unfortunately mainly passes to the opposition!) but just nowhere near in line with the others, both on his team and opposition teams. It’s not a passion either otherwise I’d encourage it.

He was better than me on a hire paddle board this summer actually! Although he mainly wanted to jump off into the water…!

My DS is 11, he loves playing football and basketball but with his friends and cousins I don't think he would be able to be on a team. He can't really tackle other people and he trips over everyone.

He loves swimming and is quite good at it, but it took alot of practice to coordinate his breathing, strokes and rhythm, he still struggles a bit with flip turns.

He likes running and does it a bit for the school, but again I don't think he would be interested in joining a club.

He's main interest is drama, he is in a club, and initially hated all the dancing that came with the shows, he persistented though as he wanted the better parts and obviously that meant dancing, it took a few years but you can't really tell him apart from the others in the dances anymore (he was pretty horrendous to start with!). I'm sure it's done him so much good in terms of his coordination, it's also taught him that his dyspraxia won't stop him from doing anything, it just means he has to work harder. He would definitely drop the dancing side of it given the choice though, the acting is his passion. 🤣

It's different with team sports as I think they get disheartened before they have enough time to practice and improve, but otherwise I think if your son really loves something, he can get good at it, it just takes alot more repetition and practice for them.

That’s lovely to hear!

Yes I think you’re right. He just hasn’t found what he loves yet unfortunately, other than screens!