Helping a dyspraxic child with speech development

[SarahMD]

My nephew has just been 'tentatively' diagnosed with dyspraxia pending an appointment with an 'expert'. He is 3 and a half and my sis has known that he is 'different' since he was about 18 months.

His speech is very delayed - he has about 10 words which only his mum can understand. He has problems playing with other children and cannot sit still at playgroup for stories etc. He also looks very clumsy when he runs and cannot kick or catch a ball.

My sis has been told it could be over a year before he sees an occupational therapist. Has anyone any experience with helping a dyspraxic child or any advice on where she can get more help?

Thanks

I posted on another thread about dyspraxia because my nephew(10) has also just been diagnosed with dyspraxia, you'll find it under Health if you click on Topics, above. There are a couple of good web addresses and one of them has a message board too.

My sister went to a support group meeting this week but this only confirmed what she already knew about dyspraxia being very low on the funding list for our local council. The hospital lists for treatment are also very long and have been closed to new additions because the waiting list reached 2 1/2 years. At 10 my nephew really needs some help fast because he will go to high school in another year and any help that he can get before then would be so beneficial.

I'd be interested to hear about any information or advice that you receive on the subject.

Your sis would probably find her local Portage group helpful. Portage is a home visiting service for pre-school children run by trained volunteers. It's a very structured, reputable organisation which puts emphasis on empowering the parents to help their children learn new skills through play. I think that her hv or gp should be able to put her in touch with her local group. Afraid that like everything else there's probably a long waiting list though.