… to think there's something wrong with me? :(

[Dieu]

No piss taking please, as I feel genuinely, irrationally upset at this moment!
My 10 year old daughter just asked if I would plait her hair. My heart sunk, as I am completely rubbish at doing hair. I tried and failed, so we looked up THE most simple hair braiding youtube tutorial. I still couldn't get it, or what my hands were supposed to do. Teenage daughter (girls are wasted on me, with my poor hairdressing skills!) came into the room, and did her hair in two seconds flat. I also couldn't get my head around it when she showed me. Than it struck me that I have failed 8 driving tests (the theory was aced first time). Could it be linked? Academically I am bright; I have a first class degree and can speak several languages. However, my practical/manual/co-ordination skills completely suck! I actually felt embarrassed just there in front of my daughters, and pretty fucking ineffectual. Is anyone else like this? Can't help but feel that I'd be diagnosed with something, if still in childhood (I should add that I possess good writing skills, etc). Of course it could be that I'm over thinking this, being too hard on myself, and that I just happen to be shite at practical driving tests and hair!

Inability to follow verbal instructions - too much detail floors me...
Took many many many lessons to learn how to drive...
Really poor motor planning skills I reckon
Can't do anything practical like wiring a plug, or just fix anything whatsoever
Constantly tripping over :(
Hypermobile...
Definitely couldn't plait hair
Cannot do some maths, other maths I find straightforward.
Appalling memory for detail.
Number sequences can literally fall out of my head!
Hugely variable with any ball games...!
Pretty organised but I use every hack in the book.
I also struggle to finish anything! Which makes me frustrated :(

So what's the answer then?! Someone tell me where I'm going wrong!

No lazy eyes her but definitely don't possess any 3D vision... At least that would explain my parking fuckups.

MrsDV - 2 words; wide screen! DS1 oftenworks with documents side by side and DH works with his laptop and an extra screen, so he can jump between code and the documentation he's working on, or other stuff he's using for reference. 2 things side by side is a normal way of working. Remember in the olden days when we used paper and took notes with a textbook or two open on the desk? Well it's just like that!

I have a late diagnosed lazy eye. It's a properly lazy one in that, if my vision is unbalanced, it stops seeing properly. I can never get the vision perfect in it, anyhow and I see double when I'm tired because it stops cooperating.

I am not alone !
Today I couldn't put the ironing board away as I didn't know how to, it is a new one that I managed to put up but cannot for the life of me work out how to put down. It will stay up as I'm too embarrassed to admit I can't work the fecker out.
I can't parallel park and have had an argument with DP as he cannot understand how it is possible to not be able to park in the same place on a regular basis...I am still amazed I passed my driving test and am convinced the test guy was having a strange day.
I have no spatial awareness, I trip up, drop things and cannot follow instructions, I have no short term memory and have a notebook open that I have to write down everything that needs to be done, problem is, I often forget before I get to notebook.
I cannot real timetables of any sort, they make no sense to me, same goes for recipes or instructions.
I too am educated to degree level and can draw, write and spell well.
I managed a basic plait for dd's hair but no way could I manage anything else, a pony tail was a struggle of epic proportions.
I regularity go upstairs and can't remember why.
There are lots more but I can't remember !!

I have also been embarrassed on several occasions because I couldn't put the pushchair down to go in my car or get on a bus etc. I remember shoving the damn thing in sideways.

I can't walk downstairs when holding things (such as washing) without holding on to the bannister. Can't go down escalators either without holding on. And I can't walk downhill very easily!!
Educated to postgrad level, can spell and write well. Can bake well but not decorate. Can do a simple plait, but no more. Can speak several languages well.
Sewing patterns are like a foreign language to me (one I can't speak!) I just can't see how the bits should fit together!

My ds was diagnosed with severe dyspraxia at uni. The test that proved it is easy to try at home. Read out an unseen piece of A4 length and answer questions on it. His brain couldn't manage to read and take in what he was reading at the same time. His symptoms do sound similar. Stay strong. You sound like a fantastic person and capable in other areas.

So what's the opposite of all this? Terrible at languages, but can French plait and bake?

Another one here. Masters degree but gave up on learning to drive, utterly disorganised and clumsy. Can do a simple plait but I do remember struggling to learn to on my dolls as a kid, struggled to learn to tie a bow, late to learn to ride a bike. Other people just seem to have a co-ordination, ease and speed I don't.

Also no sense of direction. I turn the map the way I'm facing - love the Google maps thing that shows you moving as you go. Before that I wanted to stand in the map as did Joey from Friends.

I can relate to this completely! Difficulty with driving, riding a bike, keys etc. Never been diagnosed for dyspraxia but pretty sure that's what it is. As a child my gym teacher advised I was tested but DM chose not to in case a diagnosis would hold me back. Still not sure if she was right or not!

Yup. I knew it

I want to join in too! Can't drive, can't dance, can't hold a pen properly, can't style my hair, don't know left from right, no sense of direction, not at all sporty, brilliant at dropping, losing and knocking things.

Swissy, yes I had a lazy eye and had it operated on. I have no 3D vision though, because if it.

But that doesnt explain why I hold a pen weirdly, tie my laces weirdly, can't follow verbal instructions or know left from right

However, I know east/west instinctively, if someone says "it's to the right of you" I have to check which way is right but if they said "to the east of you" I would know straightaway!

Interesting that snow said upthread about face blindness being the opposite.

I learned to plait and french plait my own hair aged 8 as my DM couldn't do anything more complicated than a ponytail. I can drive, reverse park, read maps etc. so it seems my spacial awareness is pretty good. Also not bad at maths.

However, I am absolutely crap at social interaction as I am very face blind. I cannot tell people apart and often get half way through a conversation with someone only to see the confused expression on their face and realise they are not who I thought they were

Can I join in? It took me eight years to pass my driving test. I was told by five instructors that they did not think I would ever be able to drive.

My sense of direction is a complete joke. I need a Sat Nav for journeys I have been doing at least weekly for ten years.

I can do arithmetic but my maths is pretty poor. I do not have a daughter so I have never tried to braid hair. P.E lessons at school were completely humiliating.

Me too.

Can't do hair.
Can't tell left from right without checking. Can't reverse left and right either - all that 'my left or your left' bollocks just leaves me like this
Can't follow written or verbal instructions. I have to learn by doing it myself, it takes a while for processes to register.
Driving test passed on the sixth attempt.
Crap at maths.

I am really similar. Rubbish at hair and other similar tasks. Passed my driving test fourth time but it was a struggle.

Properly awful at sports involving a ball or any kind of co ordination.

Very clumsy and will drop things alot.

I can't tell left from right either, and have crappy sense of direction. Find it hard even to visualise which rooms are above with other rooms in the house.

I have some face blindness too.

Im good at maths though - someone up thread thought this was linked.

Oh God...this is me. Forever tripping over things as I just don't register what is below my eyes. I cannot read a map at all and hate it in the car if dh asks me for directions etc as the information just cannot penetrate my brain. It's like looking at hieroglyphics

I also cannot drive, follow aerobics/dance classes etc and get completely agitated and flustered by sensory overload...noise, movement etc. Crap at maths and have absolutly no sense of direction and when i try to think about it my head is just blank or full of fuzz. However I can tie shoelaces and do plaits and can sew

Dh gets frustrated with me as he thinks I'm putting it on but I'm not . I'm trying driving lessons again today as I NEED to get a job but live rurally with crap bus service but am shitting myself

First think I thought before I had even finished your post was dyspraxia! I have dyspraxia and you sound just like me! My eldest (also suspected dyspraxia she is showing signs and it can be hereditary) had an OT appointment last week and shoe laces were the order of the day and we were passing a shoe around to show different tying methods and I could not get my hands and brain to coordinate and tie them! I have spatial awareness issues, get lost easily (I can't do directions), struggle with left and right, I can't multitask, poor organisation , and list could keep going...I have just developed strategies that work for me but has been trial and error! Oh and I wasn't diagnosed until I was 30 and at university and a most amazing student advisor stopped me from quitting and I got an EP appointment - I was passed off growing up as the lazy, clumsy, can't be bothered child

Oh excuse any typos - on my phone

You are definitely my people!
It took so, so long and so many lessons to pass my driving test. I'm now a reluctant driver at best. My sense of direction is awful.
Despite one-to-one swimming lessons as a child I just never 'got it'.
I can do a single plait and have managed a French plait on occasion but it takes a couple of goes by which time my dd has lost interest or we are late leaving the house. They're never quite the perfect fancy plaits I see on other children. I am genuinely in awe of those!
I'm forgetful. I'm constantly losing things. I find it difficult to follow instructions. I just find it hard to hold them in my head long enough to process them.
Sometimes my brain just feels as if it's screaming "Stop! NO MORE!" and shuts down. Everything just feels as if it's more difficult than it needs to be.
I score well on verbal tests but struggle to articulate my thoughts. I'm good at spelling. My handwriting is awful. Maths is/was a struggle.
I could knit as a child and wanted to teach my daughter. However, I realised that my DM had always cast on for me and I had no idea how to do it. I looked at You Tube, read the written instructions but just could not do it much to my dd's disappointment. I will have another go though.

I have been assessed as being dyspraxic. OP when I read your post I thought that you sounded a bit like me. TBH at this point in my life the Dyspraxic 'label' is of no help to me so I just don't use it in RL. Anyway, you're definitely not alone which is how I've been feeling. It does eat away at your self-esteem.

I have been wondering whether my dd has dyspraxia. She is 7. She really struggles to work out which way round things go, often gets her letters and numbers the wrong way round, stubs her toe several times a day, can't get the hang of tying laces. Regularly puts her clothes on back to front. She is good at running and has fairly good balance, but rubbish at ball sports. Terrible sense of direction (as do I!).

Come to think of it, her dad (now ex) was incredibly impractical. Couldn't change a light bulb, broke several buggies whilst trying to fold them down, couldn't do flat pack. I used to think he was just being a twat, but now I'm not so sure! He has been learning to drive forever and is now attempting it in an automatic.

Interestingly, my dd did a really good job of putting a Lego thing together from instructions, but when she got stuck and asked me to help I realised the whole thing was completely in reverse! When she first started writing she wrote in mirror image.

Might it be worth getting her checked out?