I am hoping if someone has a child with Dyspraxia and has similar confidence issues could give some advice please.
DS(11) has recently been diagnosed with Dyspraxia, which was first given as a possibility after an EP assessment two years ago. He is affected academically with SPAG, handwriting, fine motor with cutlery (can be a messy eater), often clumsy/drops things, disorganised getting ready for school sometimes, and coordination in PE/sports.
We have an OT appointment in a couple of weeks to discuss techniques to help him.
However, this post is about his confidence and self-esteem which I understand can take a hit with Dyspraxia when kids realise they are a bit different. He is finishing Year 6 and in the past couple of years some of his classmates (3-form entry) have been awful to him - he has been repeatedly shamed for his messy handwriting, SPAG (they often work in pairs, change regularly, and most kids have made nasty comments), lower ability in PE, and his artwork does look quite basic for his age. The other kids just can’t help them themselves with their nasty comments, which when DS has told us I have often spoken to the teacher and they have addressed it every time and whichever child made the comment has not done it again. But then another one comments and it’s like whackamole. We’ve tried so hard to give DS a few stock phrases to stand up for himself and develop resilience but he just won’t most of the time as he says he is worried the teacher will tell him off.
So, DS’ self-esteem and confidence has been gradually eroded and now he is really stressed about moving to secondary school. He is the only one going to his school so we are hoping for a fresh start and the school pride themselves on their pastoral support. He is worried - as are we but we haven’t let on to him - that he is going to be a similar target for comments.
But, what else can we do to help re-build DS’s confidence in himself? No matter what we say doesn’t seem to help and he is so down on himself and his ability both in and out of the classroom. Over the last few years as his confidence has plummeted so has his number of friends and he has just two friends at school now. He often says he is lonely, particularly in the school holidays. He does clubs outside of school but has not really made friends from them. He doesn’t do team sports anymore which you might be more likely to make friends at, because honestly, he is really not good at all at sports like basketball and football (we’ve tried and it was an awful experience for him). He does tennis, swimming, Scouts and Street Dance, and over the years has also tried karate and kickboxing too (he hated these).
I am hoping someone with a child with dyspraxia might be able to offer what has helped their DC if they have had a similar experience at school.