Does your 5 year old still run into walls?

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DS is just 5 and incredibly clumsy. He just runs headlong into us, hits walls and doors, falls over randomly while running, moves suddenly while we are close and bangs heads .... It's a major miracle we've not had to go to a&e yet but I'm starting to worry if it's more than just normal clumsiness.
He's on the low end of normal I'd say for writing and drawing. His teacher has mentioned poor upper body strength but doesn't seem concerned.
Would be glad to hear from anyone with similar uncoordinated children.

No experience, but fwiw, I'd mention it to the school nurse/GP asap. It sounds more than just clumsiness tbh. Sorry. Does he have any S&L difficulties?

No, no other difficulties, speech really good.

Eyesight seems fine, better than mine. It's not a new thing, has always been like this, but we thought he'd have grown out of it by now.

My DS was/is like this, I was always up the school to deal with injuries in year R. He is now 7 and there has been a continuous slow improvement and he rarely has significant injuries now.

The school assessed him for any issues in year 1, initiated by them, not me, I think they may have suspected dyspraxia but they came back and said he was immature in certain areas. The way he has gradually improved supports this. We have tried to provide activities which would help him practice where he needs to.

FWIW his writing remains poor but he is doing well in all other areas of school. He can't ride a bike yet and his ball skills are poor. His swimming was poor but is now good after a lot of practice.

Mine just doesn't look tbh. He often walks into car wing mirrors and trees!

Petaunicorn, the school hasn't called me in yet - touch all wood in sight. Sounds very like him otherwise. He is poor on his bike (with stabilisers) and scooter but has made more effort recently and is a lot better, although still nowhere near the standard of a lot of his class.

DS had a teacher in year 1 that was very hot on identifying and supporting any additional needs. He had an OT do some stuff with him for a term.

Going to Beavers has been good, they do a lot of games that need co-ordination skills but in a supportive environment. Gym club after school has also been good and again a good, inclusive coach. I am trying to teach him to value sport for the joy of joining in and keeping healthy rather than to compete.......

We did a lot of craft last summer - sticking, hama beads, chalking, playdough, aqua beads, basic stitching, it did seem to help.

It might be worth talking to your school senco to get a second opinion just to rule out anything underlying, or get him some extra help, if even for a term of two.

Could he need glasses?

Had eyetest a year ago, all ok, and the one in school more recently didn't highlight any probs

Oh dear, DD1 ran smack into a very hard wall when she was 13 and broke her kneecap! Even more embarrassingly, she was playing 'catch' and the wall was 'it'.

We're thinking of applying to have a room at the local A+E named after her because she's among their best punters .

Yes my 6 yo is like this.

Also she's always hitting her head on things i.e. crawls under table and then tries to stand up and actually seems surprised that there's a table in the way

Also scoots into kerbs and wonders why she falls off.

Handwriting also appalling.

Oooh yes he does this voodoochimp - even with us stood there saying mind your head. Also walks through things on the floor or if theres a clothing or towel on the floor drags it around with her feet. (starting to wonder if we'd have less problems if it was more tidy). Keeps rolling out of bed too.

Is he tall for his age? DS and DD were like this (4 years apart) and their teacher maintained that they were both growing so fast that they didn't know where the ends of them were. They have both improved with age - handwriting still not great but definitely improving, both ride bikes fine now even though they were probably later learning than a lot of their peers, and DS is too good at ball sports for it to be classic dyspraxia (DD competent but not brilliant at ballet).

We just encouraged any activities which helped with strength and co ordination - trampolining is a good one, for example.

Thanks stealth - he's a bit short for his age but DH and I are both short. I'll look into trampolining, I can see him enjoying that

Don't expect it to go away any time soon, though, OP. DS memorably walked straight into a metal post when he was 8 - massive bump right between the eyes, FGS. The thing that amused me most about that incident is that the school nurse bandaged him up, and then sent him out to play football with strict Instructions not to head the ball . When he was in nursery he would come home with a head injury form at least once a week.

He is 11 now. I can't actually remember the last head injury.