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Original poster

Is it possible to be dyspraxic without having the most recognised symptons?

20 replies

harman · 12/10/2007 07:16

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charliecat · 12/10/2007 09:34

bump

Blandmum · 12/10/2007 09:37

ds has a dx of dyspraxia from an ed psych.

TBH he doesn't have many of the symptoms. His gross motor skills are good.

He does tend to be disorganed, and his short term memory is very poor. His fine motor co-ordination is also very poor. My feeling is that he tends more to dysgraphia, but them I'm not the Ed psuch, and I didn't get £350 for a mornings work diagnosing ds! I went into the wrong buisness!

Original poster
harman · 12/10/2007 10:02

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harman · 12/10/2007 10:06

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Blandmum · 12/10/2007 10:44

4,5,7,8,9 for ds

the scheme 'Wrte from the Start' has been good at his writing skills btw, and you can get it on Amazon.

Interestingly he is a real creature of habit, likes the structure of the school day and can concentrate quite well. the teachers always comment on how hard he works.

I'm seeing his senco today

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harman · 12/10/2007 10:48

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Blandmum · 12/10/2007 10:58

Ask his teacher. She will let you know if your son is suffieciently 'off the normal distribution' to need extra help.

TBH, if you look at most 7 year olds they will have some of these traits (goodness knows I have them! ) What you need to know is if the traits are proving to be a problem for him IYSWIM. And that would be when an ordinary childhood behaviour tips over into SEN.

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harman · 12/10/2007 11:13

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Blandmum · 12/10/2007 11:18

Sorry, mind like a sieve atm!

Camhs might be a good way in.

We paid for the assessment as the school were concerned (private school), if you are not going to pay, the waits to get an appointment are horrific.

I think that you need to ask the school if a formal dx is actually going to get your sone anything extra. I always remember the wise Gess saying that a dx was often only worth having because it got more help etc.

For ds it was, because now he has a formal dx of a specific learning disability, the RAF will fund 1 to 1 support for him.

If the school feels that a dx would be helpful, I'd start pressing for an assessment sooner rather than later, as it takes a bloody age.

RosaTransylvania · 12/10/2007 11:19

DD1 has got 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13 and 16.
So had I for that matter which I only realised as an adult.

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harman · 12/10/2007 11:20

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Blandmum · 12/10/2007 11:20

TBH rose, when I read ds's dx sheet I went, 'That is me, that is me, that is dh, that is me, that is me' and so on and so on.

Effectivly we had a dx that he was our son. which wasn't a

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harman · 12/10/2007 11:22

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charliecat · 12/10/2007 11:22
RosaTransylvania · 12/10/2007 11:31

No Harman, she hasn't got a DX as DH is adamant that she is NOT DYSPRAXIC despite that fact that until she was in year three I had to dress her every morning, she couldn't use a knife and fork properly until she was nine, or scissors either, and her handwriting at eight was worse than her five-year-old sister's. PE lessons reduced her to tears and my friend who is a gymnastics coach confirmed that her gross motor skills were very poor also.
The school gave her extra help with handwriting, which may have helped and I made sure she did ballet, swimming and gymnastics to help with gross motor and she also plays violin which IMO has transformed her fine motor skills.
However she is 10 now and in the past year something has clicked for her. Her handwriting is now acceptable for her age (though not as neat as her younger sisters). Her schoolwork is still untidy but not as bad as it used to be and she makes up for it by the brightness and originality of her work (though I say so myself as shouldn't).
A formal DX wouldn't have helped much anyway as the LEA wouldn't have given her any more help than the school was already giving (one to one handwriting sessions with a TA).
But it varies from county to county I know.

Blandmum · 12/10/2007 11:37

assistance for dyspraxia is shockingly poor.

A friend of mine, who's dd was quite severly dyspraxic ,(far worse than m son) had to wait over 2 years to see an OT

Original poster
harman · 12/10/2007 11:38

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RosaTransylvania · 12/10/2007 14:56

Harman - DH read an article in the newspaper about a severely dyspraxic child who had big difficulties with concentration and also had dyslexia and is adamant that as DD does not have have these issues she cannot be dyspraxic. She is good at spelling for instance which he believes proves she is not dyspraxic

alycat · 12/10/2007 15:18

I am watching this with interest, as my Yr 3 (nr 8 yr old) DD has problems with 1,2,3,6,8(one instruction!)9,12,13,14(difficulties -has been very bullied),15,16.

Like MB's dc my dd goes to independent school and they put her in 'gym for learning' in pre-prep. It is only now she is in the (very pushy sporty) prep school that it is showing up (at school) - before she was bright enough to blag it, now the volume of work/sports is too great.

The school is being really unhelpful and I am seriously considering moving her (to the independent school her younger DB goes to which is less pushy, more nurturing as he has SN)

I have her booked in for a private OT assessment (£400 gulp) but really don't know if Ed Psych would be better for assessing???

LIZS · 12/10/2007 15:50

ds ahs some of those in varying degrees.
No formal diagnosis but OT thought probable. There are varoious related conditions which can overlap but 1:20 kids have dyspraxia to an extent.

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