To wonder if dyspraxia is the answer?

[Slavetotherave1]

Long post alert - sorry.

DS is 5.5

He was a bit on the late side with most major milestones - sat up at 8/9 months, crawled at 11 months, walked 17 months, pointed at 18 months, talking at 2 years plus. That said, his speech is excellent now and developed very quickly once it started. Now has perfect functional speech and holds excellent back and forth conversation. No real concerns there other than he does like to whisper to himself at times, although it doesn’t seem echolalic or anything like that, more like he’s thinking out loud at times/processing rather than communication.

He is resistant to physical activity, has to be pushed/encouraged to partake. That said, he can ride a bike and scooter fairly competently but he had his bike for over a year before he would get on the blooofy thing despite having mastered the skill. We were at the stage of telling him we’d get rid of it before he decided he wanted to ride it after all 🙈 He is really struggling with swimming and seems to be making VERY slow progress but he is making progress. Very reluctant to lose the armbands though. He was overly cautious as a child at things like soft play, very risk averse. He has no interest in drawing, colouring, craft but will do so if pushed. He is behind with his fine motor skills, particularly with handwriting and pencil grip - this has been highlighted by his reception teacher as he has large messy writing and struggles with using scissors etc. However he is good at Lego and can have fairly good dexterity with this. He is a very messy eater and struggles with using cutlery - he still uses only a fork and spoon and we cut up his food for him. He is left handed (we think) but there is ongoing uncertainty over his hand dominance. He has poor short term memory and lack of ability to follow instructions at times (very easily distracted) but his long term memory is amazing. He fidgets constantly (mostly jiggling his legs) and always seems to need to fiddle with something. He cannot resist picking something up if he’s sat down, even if told to leave it alone. He can be clumsy, often knocking over drinks/dropping things and I often notice bruises on his legs which he doesn’t know how he got. He is full of energy at times and runs and jumps and throws himself at the sofa, particularly when excited or watching tv - I don’t then this is a stim or a tic as he’s aware he’s doing it and is happy to converse with me while doing it and is easily distracted from it. But could perhaps be explainer as sensory seeking? He struggles a little socially, and seems better in smaller groups. That said, he loves going to parties etc but he does seem happier playing with 1 or 2 children than in large groups. He has a best friend at school and he can be a bit controlling/bossy over what they do/play. He is probably more confident talking to adults but he will chat happily to other kids once he’s warmed up a bit/given encouragement. There’s probably more but these are the things that spring to mind.

He is very happy though, he’s confident and he really enjoys school. Very kind and empathetic little boy. No issues with food (he’s an amazing eater and will tuck into all sorts), sleeps well, and doesn’t appear to have sensory issues with anything although he did like looking at lights as a baby/young toddler 🤷‍♀️ He’s fine with transitions and doesn’t have any difficulty around routines or repetitive behaviour etc. He enjoys parties, loud/busy places and doing new things/meeting people, nothing like that seems to phase him, in fact he embraces it. I wouldn’t say he has any obsessional interests although he likes trains, planes, cars and Spider-Man and likes reading books about them.

I’m so aware that a lot of these things can just be normal for a boy of his age but bearing in mind he had some delays in his early milestones does anyone think dyspraxia could be the answer? I would really appreciate any input or advice. TIA x

Oh, and I still drop and spill things all too often as well as possessing the ability to trip over nothing. Time management is something I have struggled with all my life, too.

I had to check the username as I thought I could’ve written this OP!

Identical to my DS age 8, the only differences are he pointed around the one year mark, and he’s always enjoyed climbing in softplay (albeit he was more cautious than some toddlers). He rode a 2 wheeled bike age 4 too and is great on a scooter. He’s also a good swimmer, I think because he’s always enjoyed it. He is terrible at ball sports, has no coordination whatsoever. He’s not unusually slow at running but has a funny little run and certainly isnt fast. He never started to enjoy colouring but he quite likes drawing now when he’s in the mood.

Diagnosed ADHD, no DCD diagnosis yes but very likely (he scored on the 2nd centile for motor).

It sounds very similar to my DC. He was referred to Occupational Therapy, who think that he has dyspraxia. They showed us very useful exercises, and we are seeing improvement

SEN teacher here.
Dyspraxia has 4 main areas of difficulty- gross motor skills (eg ball skills), fine motor skills, organisational skills and emotions/anxiety. Obviously, there are more detailed criteria within each area. Speak to GP or school for Occupational Therapy referral if you are concerned.

I could have written most of your post, very similar to my DS who at 12 years old has just been diagnosed with dyspraxia

You have nothing to lose by asking for him to be assessed. It may help, as there are things like wobble cushions, writing boards, ergonomic pens and later laptops etc.

The ABC assessment will look at fine motor skills, throwing and catching (hand/eye coordination) and gross motor / balance skills and give a score for each one. An average of under 5th centile indicates dyspraxia. My son was much better at balance and worse at fine motor. I have quite good fine motor skills, but trip over air and couldn't catch a ball to save my life. We both have dyspraxia.

DS was diagnosed with dyspraxia via his dyslexia assessment. He was later diagnosed with autism through a different route. ND conditions can stand alone, but they can frequently overlap too.

DS can scoot... but single sided. Things like galloping tend to be single sided. Skills like swimming and cycling he tends to match his younger sibling at. It was informative seeing the different rates of progress and the age gap closing. He's learned a lot through copying his younger sibling.

Having been beyond hopeless at sport myself (my PE teachers couldn't believe anyone could genuinely be so inept and therefore I was clearly stubbornly idle and must be regularly berated), I got my two into running at junior parkrun and solo sports (first gymnastics, then karate) at a young age so at least DS can run and isn't a total liability. I think it has helped his gross-motor skill. While he's no talented sportsman, he's not stand-out awful either, and critically he's fit and has activities he enjoys.

Cutlery is hopeless. At 13, he still has the skill of a pre-schooler. Every meal is eaten at the table, it's not lack of practice!

He has hypermobility in his hands so tires of writing quickly and often hurts. Writing is slow, inconsistent and hard to read. Ergonomic stationery helps and word processing longer texts.

Diagnosis helps so much with self esteem. It's better to know that your brain is wired differently and progress is at a different rate to average than have people thinking you have an attitude problem. It makes support easier to identify and implement too.

Dyspraxia and dyslexia also often affect executive function too. Again recognising the issue makes it easier to identify appropriate strategies.

It's well worth investigating.

From what people are saying, I’m wondering if the chances of dyspraxia occurring as a stand-alone condition are low and if there is always an associated problem or if it can be something that’s diagnosed as a single condition? Does anyone have any experience of dyspraxia being diagnosed for them or their DC without any other condition?

@Slavetotherave1 a relative has just a DCD diagnosis. Whether he does have a co-occurring condition I don’t know, but that’s all he’s diagnosed with, in his teens.

i suspect I have DCD. Not sure about anything else.

@Slavetotherave1

My DD was diagnosed with Dyspraxia at 6. At around 8 she had a multi assessment thing but not enough signals to refer to Cahms.

At 12 school are about to do a classroom assessment to hopefully get a referral for adhd diagnosis.

I have suspected for a couple of years she may have that as well but in the ages of 6-10 ish it was definitely not possible to say it wasn't just the dyspraxia as they cross over so much.