Could he be dyspraxic?

[Angel78]

My son has always been behind when it comes to speech but recently the occupational therapist at his nursery has voiced concerns about his coordination. He's my first child so I was blind to it in a way. He can't use scissors, pedal a bike, hold a pencil, do up a zip and the list goes on. My 11 month old daughter can also feed herself better then he can. Give him a yoghurt and a spoon and most will end up on the floor. He's just turned 4.
His speech is getting better but he finds it very difficult to pronounce sounds that he wants to.
No one has even mentioned dyspraxia to me but I'm sure this could be the problem. He's due to have some sessions with the occupational therapist at his nursery. Just wondering if anyone has any experience with dyspraxia and what help is out there. He also has a very distinctive walk and when he runs he is all arms and legs.

I would get your son referred to a paediatrician for an assessment, and based on what they think , ask for a referrel to a psychologist specialising in dyspraxia. We had to pay to go privately because it was hard to find an nhs one, but The Dyspraxia Foundation may be able to help you.

Good luck

Sounds like dyspraxia. The "main woman" in the country for dyspraxia is Madelaine Portwood who has written the book "developmental dyspraxia". There is also the dyscovery centre in cardiff- they will diagnose and offer help and accept referals from across the contry (not sure whether they do NHS - I think they do). They have a website- I don't have the url but you should find it via google.

My son is on the autistic spectrum but he has a fine motor dyspraxia or developmental delay. He'll be 4 in May and can;t use scissors, can only use a spoon (badly), can't hold a pencil, do zips etc etc - I rtoo was amazed when ds2 just picked up a beaker at 5 months and drank form it (with ds1 I was standing behind him at 17 months holding his hands on the beaker doing the action- it took about a week before he could do it by himself). We do simple puxxles and things to try and improve his coordination- there is a good company called the happy puzzle company which produce lots of products which are good for dyspraxia.

When there were concerns for my son(playgroup leader thought he had dyspraxia) I got in touch with HV. She came to see him, didn't think there wad anything wrong but to be on the safe side contacted a paeditrician(Can't spell it!!) and she came to see ds at home. She did various tests etc on him and asked some questions. She told me there and then that she thought he was fine. I know how worried you will be, so I would get in touch with your HV and she will contact the professionals for you. Take care.

Thank you for your advice. His speech therapist has offered to refer him to an occupational therapist through them so we should get some help soon. Can anyone tell me what kind of help he will get and how his schooling will be affected?
Abit worried about that as he starts in September.He was also offered the MMR booster on Wednesday.Have to admit I turned it down. He had the first one at 14 months, I'm really not sure if it could have caused anything but how can you be sure? The nurse seemed very unsure about it too.Not very reassuring.
Another question.Does anyone elses child have great difficulty counting?ds can't even manage to count to 3 sometimes.Is that another sign of the dyspraxia?

angel78- dyspraxics often have problems sequencing (putting things in the correct order) so I would guess that could include counting....

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How old is she ? ds at 5.5 still struggles with scissors and other fine motor skill activities including handwriting and can't/won't ride a bike. At one stage we had a speech assessment and the SALT put dyspraxia in our minds. However he too met the usual milestones as a baby, isn't overly clumsy and is gradually becoming more confident physically. What helped me was a website mentioned I think by Jimjams a few months ago which listed the most recognisable criteria for dyspraxia and he didn't match them. His teacher thinks he is just slower than some to develop and is reluctant to take the risks to build up his confidence.

hth

Have a look here dyspraxia site

I think the whole "is it worth going for a diagnosis" thing depends on how badly affected they are. If a child is so dyspraxic that it affects their schoolwork to a large degree then they do need a diagnosis in order to get the help they need. For example we do need ds1's dyspraxia to be recognised as at age 4 he can't pull up trousers, take off t-shirts, put on shoes, hold a pencil, use scissors, use a mouse etc etc.

the other thing to remember is that a "label" can be a lifesaver for preventing low self esteem- if a child is working really really hard, but is constantly struggling and producing work that isn't good enough then the explanation can work wonders for them.

You do need to be in a sympathetic environment though. I teach on a websote for channel 4 and I always remember the girl who came in with the nickname "I want to kill myself" she was dyspraxic- with a diagnosis- and was at a school that refused her any help. Without the label I suspect she would have been in a worse state.

It's really a question of degrees- if your child is slow to meet physical milestones- but does get there in the usual way then you probably don't need a diagnosis- they probably aren't dyspraxic anyway (just cack handed like me )but if your child actually doesn't learn motor movements without being taught them, and is clearly going to need access to specialist equipment then you do need the diagnosis. For example when ds1 gets to the stage that he is writing (which will be a while off!) OT have said they will provide a sloping desk for him. They have already given him special cutlery. Likewise his diagnosis means that the school can apply for specialist IT equipment for him (trackball rather than mouse for example). It also means that a lot of the dyspraxic things that need working on (like taking his coat off) go into his IEP and are recognised as an educational need iyswim.

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robinw- that's the sort of thing where it can become useful to have a diagnosis as arrangements can be made for exams. However they're still a long way off for the moment (I'm thinking about GCSE's etc) by which time she may have compensated for her problems iyswim.

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robinw- can I recommend "the out of synch child' (can't remember the author- carole something- but its widely available). I don't know whether your dd is dyspraxic or not but it certainly sounds as if she has sensory integration problems (which children with dyspraxia have as well- although you don't need to be dyspraxic to have them iyswim).

A daily desensitisation programme has really helped ds1.

You know you said your dd holds a pen strangely and was the last to use scissors? Does she have a very light grip? Apparently this is a sign of hypersensitivity to touch- so holding the pen etc is painful.

My 11 year old DD is dyspraxic. She was assesed by an ed-phsycolagist when she was 7. Ask her school if she can be assesed by one. She used to hold her pencil in a peculiar way but that has improved now, using a writing slope helped with this. She is on action plus at school. She did her SAT's in may and was allocated a scribe for Math and Science ( she got level 4 in both these) and an extra 15 mimutes for all of them.

I forgot to say have a look at www.matts-hideout.co.uk. He is dyspraxic and this is is own website. He & have just produced a leaflet about dyspraxia. I have given one to my DD's english teacher as he wanted to know how he could help her.

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I was thinking more about hypersensitivity- to noise to touch to sticky stuff. It doesn't have to lead to all sort of other problems- you can just be hypersensitive and escape the other issues that go with it (ds2 for example has no other problems but certainly has some hypersensitivities- although I probably wouldn't have noticed if I didn't have ds1) It's quite easy to desensitise to those sorts of things- you just need a regular programme set up. he problem is knowing where to start. Life is much easier for us now ds1 will tolerate belts, hats, dropping a bit of water on his clothes and walking on grass.

My DD has just started reception and is having a few problems with speech & writing we suspect she has dyspraxia, albeit mildly. I'm just at the beginning of sorting things out. I've found this website: www.educational-psychologist.co.uk/dyspraxiccklist.htm. If you then go into "seek advice from a psychologist" they say they will do email advice for no charge. I've only just found it so I don't know what they are like, but I am going to contact them & see if they can give me some advice.

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