Hyper mobility in a 7 year old

[Anon9898]

For a few years my son has struggled with hand writing. The teacher has suggested he might be hyper mobile. Can you be hyper mobile in one joint or can it be in the whole body.

It can affect different joints differently. Ask school to refer to OT for an assessment.

Can effect different joints. I'm hyper mobile in my whole body, however my son is only hypermobile in his legs.

I'd be surprised if it was hypermobility, though some children with hypermobility may benefit from a wider writing utensil. Also consider dyspraxia. If he's hypermobile I'd expect it to affect the whole body. Look up the signs of hypermobility and you'll know quickly.

Writing is not only from the wrist and fingers, but affected by core posture, shoulder etc. Hyper mobility may be more widespread than you assume.

Thanks this was thought about first but teacher has asked for a GP to see him

@autumnisthebestseason see comment above

@handmademitlove school have done an ot assessment which suggested dyspraxia but wants a gp to check

Both my DD & DS have hyper mobility in some joints. DD has it in her shoulders, elbows, wrists, & ankles.
DS only seems to have it in his elbows at present.
It's not an all or nothing thing; but I guess there is susceptibility in all joints.
Take him to the GP, they may refer to an OT.

Gp is the gatekeeper but can't diagnose dyspraxia or hypermobility... and if hypermobility is suspected or diagnosed, the dyspraxia assessment becomes harder as there is so much cross over!

If he's struggling with handwriting it's likely to be his shoulders, or hands/grip. Does he have looser joints in these areas?

If he's struggling though do t let school allow him to sit there and struggle. So much at that age is defined by handwriting but should not be. For example learning spellings should not be reliant on writing words down either to practice or to 'test' other forms of recording should be used to ensure he gets the spelling lesson even if he can't write it. E.g. a scribe, a computer, writing in sand, using scrabble letters...

A GP can refer you for an assessment but, in my experience, you need a rheumatologist, not a GP. If your son had something like hEDS then I've never got far with a GP.

Google the Beighton Score and run through the “test” with him. That will tell you if he’s hypermobile.

Google your area and paediatric OT. In our area there are specialist centres who will assess children properly - my DD had an OT come in to school to assess.

If school don't know this, sometimes you have to do the leg work for them and point them in the right direction! My GP knows even less about the options - again, I do the research, find the referral forms and take them to be filled in and sent off.

@handmademitlove

We have one through school. They just want a bit more help and guidance

Gp can refer to community paediatrician and ot. Dyspraxia Foundation website has great resources for support. Pencil grips, cushions, support for sitting, exercises etc.

Our Dr told me there is no such thing!! He said, "It's a made-up condition Dr's use to give you a diagnosis, " he was an asshole.
My point is, don't be fobbed by your Dr.
My son and I are both Hypermobile, and it definitely affects us, I can see in hindsight how I struggled as a child and how I've learnt to compensate over the years.

@Anon9898 are they actually a trained Occupational Therapist? It would be very unusual to have one in a school - that would be amazing! More often, a HLTA is trained to support where needed.

IME, GPs know very little about hypermobility - we were told "all kids are a bit hypermobile" and that if they weren't symptomatic nothing needed to be done. Despite regularly dislocating their thumb joints as a toddler.... They were symptomatic - but it took a long time to access a rheumatologist to diagnose.

OT advice to my hypermobile children was to use a laptop. Both my children struggled with handwriting for different reasons. One was due to very hypermobile shoulder joints which meant that they tensed their whole arm in order to write - which was exhausting and painful.
The other has sensory issues as well and would press too hard on the paper as they couldn't feel the feedback of how hard to press. Along with hypermobile shoulder joints.

Theraputty and exercises to strengthen the joints helped, as did the use of specialist pens and grips - both for grip and a pressure sensitive pen that lit up when you pressed too hard!

The schools toolkit may be useful for both OT and school staff - it is a resource to support staff working with children with EDS / hypermobility

https://theschooltoolkit.org/

@handmademitlove Def an ot. She sees a lot of the students for various things. My son currently sees her for his dyspraxia which who sees him more daily thinks it is hyper mobility.

We have tried lots of other things like games with teasers and things with his pincer grip but haven't had any luck so far.

Will look at the tool kit