can someone talk to me about dyspraxia please

[wintersdawn]

A bit of background my DD turns 5 next month, had a bad start to life with heart issues and was slow to talk and develop emotionally as a child. However since she started school last year the development has been brilliant and we've gone from being told at the first parents evening that they are looking at getting her SEN assessed in Feb to recently being told they don't think it's needed as she is catching up and constantly improving.

I'm really pleased with this and it's great to see how much she loves school and is now enjoying reading, writing etc. The only area that she still seems to have issues with is her spatial awareness. To watch her move through a crowded room is a bit like watching a human ten pin bowling ball some days. She has no concept of personal space, if she decides she wants to be close to you its standing on toes, leaning into you so hard you stumble kind of thing. The teachers have commented on this and I see it all the time. In researching it I keep coming across Dyspraxia as a condition but i don't know anyone in rl that has the condition.

There are a fair few things I can tick of from the condition that she does but on the flip side she has been doing gymnastics for two years now and can do star jumps, forward and backward rolls etc which I know a lot of the girls in her class can't, which seems to show a level of coordination/ awareness that you wouldn't associate with Dyspraxia from what I've read.

Guess what I'm asking is does is sound like Dyspraxia or just a really clumsy child? TIA

My DD was diagnosed with dyspraxia.

She always ran the wrong way in rounders, reversed letters and couldn't learn to tie shoes or ride a bike.

With DD, it was a developmental thing and she can now do all these things age 14. She is in top sets in high school and generally has no problems with motor skills anymore.

She learned a musical instrument and did karate, both things really helped with clumsiness and coordination...

It seems quite normal to grow up and out of it, with support.

My ds1 has it. Affecting his concentration, organisation of himself his things and learning, special awareness, spotting cars when near roads, following instructions, stamina, riding a bike, handwriting, personal hygiene like teeth cleaning...
There's a support group called The dyspraxia Foundation. Also they have a shop with special toothbrushes and handwriting pencils etc.

My ds has a diagnosis of dyspraxia. He enjoys sports always makes the team plays golf etc. But his fine motor skills are very poor. He has dreadful writing hated all art with a passion. He has never learnt to tie laces and just wears slip on things. He is in college. He struggled learning to swim big time. He had to have individual lessons and he struggled learning to cycle and still hates it. His biggest problem that led to his diagnosis was organisation. He lost stuff on a daily basis. He also lacks concentration. He is bright with a great memory for facts great interest in current affairs but can't remember where he left his coat. But he has improved and is coping very well with life at college.

My DS2 has it and I can echo everything above. I don't think there is really a "One size fits all" version of dyspraxia. Learning to read was tortuous, riding a bike terrible, even now he is disorganised, easily distracted and can be very immature BUT he is about to grade for his black belt and plays football well. His wasn't spotted until secondary school because he never really underperformed at school, just hovered around the middle so he was just pretty much written off as a lazy clumsy boy by his previous schools. He somehow managed to pull it out of the bag for his 11+ and got into a super-selective grammar school and things are looking good for GCSEs (crosses fingers) but we have had a shaky few years.

From what you say it could be a form of dyspraxia but I guess it is not easy to tell the difference at 5. That said, the fact it is on your radar is fantastic because the support you would give a dyspraxic child won't do a clumsy child any harm at all. We didn't find out until it was almost too late and hadn't realised how badly he was struggling for years because it wasn't apparent from school results and he was (and is) generally a happy chappy with a good group of friends. It is worth following up with a proper assessment later on if she doesn't "grow out" of it because my DS has got an extra time allowance for his GCSEs and is permitted to use a laptop for exams because he can type much quicker than he can write.

Spatial not special!

Thanks for all the comments. I'll keep a close eye on it and see if she improves. It's funny that you've all mentioned bike riding DD was brilliant on a balance bike but we tried to introduce a pedal bike last year and it was a disaster, she can scoot very well though but that's less coordination I guess.