9yo hopeless at finding her way around

[SpeedData]

I've also posted in special educational needs, but maybe more traffic here?

Dd1 is in year 4, and I've only just realised how hard she finds it to navigate her way around the school. She is terribly worried about getting lost if she needs to find her way to another classroom. Since it isn't a vast building, I am worried about how she is going to cope in a few years with secondary transfer.

I think she is mildly dyspraxic, with some aspie traits, but she copes v well at school and has friends.

Does anyone have any tips on helping her develop an ability to navigate her way around the world? I think it affects her confidence.

I would be approaching school and asking them to work on this with her. The result of this will be that her need will b e recorded and they will be more likely to put appropriate support in place when she moves up.

If you help her yourself without involving the current school you'll need to do the same again when she starts High School and TBH it won't work so she'll be set up to fail from day one.

Thanks Goldmandra. I do plan to speak to the SENCO, who I'm in contact with anyway. But I imagine that in a practical sense all they can do is to support her in the school environment. I was thinking that perhaps there might be a way of helping her to develop those skills in a more general way.

I see what you mean Speed.

There's no harm in helping her to develop those skills at home but both aspects should also be worked on in school. You've got time on your side at the moment so they can introduce strategies, evaluate them and, if they are not successful, try different ones. That will give them a much deeper understanding of the support she will need on transition.

You could get her to make maps of other places, perhaps your home or a park, to help her to start to build those kinds of mental images. Making 3D models from playdough or junk modelling materials might help too.

I spent quite a while when DD2 was 9 helping her to understand which bits of our upstairs were on top of the rooms downstairs. For a very academically able child she took an awfully long time to get to grips with it!

Can you find out how she makes images in her mind? Does she have pictures of the individual places or a mental map with them marked on? Are there specific colours involved? Is it 3D or 2D? If you can tune into how her brain is already working you can fine tune your activities to develop that.

I am thinking of Temple Grandin's trick of looking back when she drives places, so that she knows what the way home will look like. I wonder if something similar would help your DD.

Thanks, some good ideas and helpful ways of thinking about it. I think it's dyspraxia, but she doesn't seem to know where she is in relation to the rest of the world iyswim. If you stand her on the end of a line of children and ask her afterwards which end of the line she was on (or which side of her the other children were standing) she is completely muddled and clueless.

I was and still am like your DD. It IS hard but you find strategies...in the 80s there were no SENCOs to assist me so thank goodness your DD will have help!

Not long ago, aged 30 odd I was working temporarily at the BBC...enormous building. I left the lifts with my editor and he saw that I didn't know which direction to turn in despite having spent a week in the place...he looked at me kindly and said "You don't know which way out is do you? That must be SO hard to live with."

He was the only person to ever say something kind instead of looking at me. My strategies are to find a very "stand out" feature...a clock, a funny shaped window...a big building.....start teaching DD this technique and she can refer to it.

AwfulMaureen, I don't know whether to be encouraged or discouraged by you I mean obviously it hasn't stopped you from working at the BBC, but on the other hand I was kind of hoping she might eventually get the hang of this!

Good idea to teach her that technique, thank you, I'll try that.

Out of interest, how much of a problem was this for you at school?

I think you can get the hang of strategies to help you but I don't think you can learn some of it.

If I hurt myself but the pain has gone, I never know which hand or foot it was. Even journeys I know really well can't be recalled in the correct order. I confuse my left and right all the time and have to give directions using my hands to indicate which way to turn.

My family know I get disorientated easily and accommodate it. I was embarrassed when DD was having an op and I nearly walked into the theatre instead of out into the corridor once she was under anaesthetic. The surgeon just grabbed me in time

DD attended a High School for four years and I went in for dozens of meetings there during that time to sort out her SEN provision but I still haven't a joined up mental map of most of the site.

It hasn't been that problematic. Just the odd embarrassment and some interesting detours in the car

Speed I can't lie it did cause me some anxiety...but I very quickly learned who was in the same classes as me and to follow them.....also to just ask! I got there in the end....I knew the building within a term or so. You could explain your situation and get a map....before she goes to big school. They would offer a plan I am sure.

I should add that I have no diagnoses but probably would be Dxd with Aspergers were I a child today.