Think child may have dyspraxia

[Worriedmum40]

Hi guys,
I’ve just been told by my 7 year olds teacher that they think they have dyspraxia. This may be over the top but I’m absolutely heartbroken, mainly because I haven’t noticed.
They are behind at school and have terrible handwriting. This is how it’s been picked up. Great at sport, learnt to ride a bike at 3 and using a balance bike at 1. Rolled over at 3/4 months. No real delays with walking ect that I can remember.
School work has always been a challenge but they hate school. They just want to be off with me.
Im so worried about their future. They want to be a police officer (I know most kids say that but seriously obsessed since a young age) and I’m so worried they might not be able to get a job. I’m also so worried about them struggling.
I just want them to be happy and so scared to be honest.
anyone been through similar or have any advice?
From a very worried and upset mum.

Being behind at school with terrible handwriting, but great at sport doesn't scream dyspraxia, tbh. You might need a professional opinion on this one.

You do - it could be fine motor is especially tricky not gross motor. OT can asses this relatively easily, are school referring or via GP?

don’t despair - my dc was diagnosed at oooh 6 and at 11 with good support they’re doing well.

That’s what we thought. Brilliant at football and running ect. It’s just blindsided me to be honest. I just feel awful that if they have got it they’ve been struggling. Any advise on where to start getting them assessed? Thanks so much for the reply.

You need to follow up with an assessment, by an OT and/or Educational Psychologist. It is way too early to feel his ambitions are likely to be unfulfilled. Having good gross motor skills is definitely positive (how is their spatial awareness?) and OT can support fine motor with gadgets and exercises if appropriate.

Depending on severity there are plenty of handwriting adjustments where dc talk and a programme converts it to text etc. try not to panic, agree, I don’t think it means his thin blue line dreams can’t become reality just yet!

Thank you so much everyone. I know it sounds silly being worried about a 7 year olds career but when something like this happens all sorts goes through your mind. I’m more upset that I haven’t noticed anything was wrong. I just don’t ever want them to struggle and just want to protect them I suppose.

Where I am there is something called an Early Help Hub which signposts to starting the assessment process. Ask school - they should know the first steps with who to
go to. Failing that, the GP to start the ball rolling.

In the assessment they will
assess gross motor skills, but they will also assess fine motor skills. If things like handwriting are an issue this is where it would show.

You will also see a doctor to
check that any concerns raised are due to dyspraxia and not cause by an underlying health concern.

DD is dyspraxic. Very very dyspraxic! Some things have taken her longer to learn (she needed help
getting dressed for a ridiculously
long time) but she got there. Some things she still hasn’t mastered (tying shoelaces) so we find work arounds. Handwriting is an issue - as she is now in secondary they are starting to do more on a laptop so they can read what she’s written! Some things (drawing and painting) you wouldn’t know coordination was a problem.

I can’t put my hand on my heart and say it doesn’t impact her - it does. Especially in terms of organising herself - it is something dyspraxic people struggle with. And she gets there (mostly). It takes longer - or we find alternatives. But there are ways to help and support - it really isn’t the end of the world.

Your DS can still do whatever he wants - he just may need to find ways to work around any problem areas.

And also - I didn’t realise for a while. I put her difficulties down to being young (despite having other children!) She was diagnosed at 7 too.

I’m dyspraxic and three things strike me here:

First off - it’s very common for dyspraxics to be average/good at some motor skills and terrible at others. In my case my gross motor skills (big movements) are terrible - I walk into stuff constantly - but my fine motor skills are great - I do embroidery and play piano.

Second - poor handwriting doesn’t necessarily mean dyspraxia - I have a son who had years of occupational therapy to be able to write legibly but there’s no indication of dyspraxia, the OT says he has some hyper mobility in his finger joints so just can’t hold a pencil properly. Realistically ability to hand write does not matter that much anymore! He now just uses a laptop for all school work so that problem has vanished and become irrelevant to everything else.

Third - I have had a very successful career as a lawyer, dyspraxia has been annoying at times (took a long time to learn to drive for example) but hasn’t really prevented me from doing anything!

Thank you all for your information. @Desmondhasabarrow its so lovely to hear you’ve had a very successful career. I know that’s a long way off and sounds silly when he’s so little but I suppose in the back of your mind as a parent you want to make sure they’re going to be ok when we are here anymore. I’ve woken up a little more positive, I think it was just the initial shock.

This isn’t the end of the world and there’s lots of help out there to help him lead a great life.

Could I ask if anyone has and advise or suggestions on ways I can help him with his writing and organisation ect? Any suggestions for equipment ect?

We are also going to look into him being assessed too.

Thanks so much.

Posture is key to good writing, so seated with feet flat on the floor, back against the seatback, an inclined surface (try a filled A4 folder on its side) . Check his pencil grip and the motion he uses from wrist, use squeezy ball and theraputty to strengthen fingers. Exercises to strengthen core like swimming, climbing, high kneeling can help. Also look into whether he may be hypermobile.

Information and ideas https://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/

I've got 2 DS 15 and 20 with this. Yes, first stop is OT assessment as previous posters suggest. This took a couple of years where I am, so get them on the list as soon as you can.

I taught my 2 to touch type: they can just about handwrite legibly, but it's not fair to insist on handwriting: they can never express themselves to the best of their ability that way. With typing, my older son got great GCSE results - grades 6-8. My younger HE DS already has 2 GCSEs at 6 and 7. There's no way round handwriting for maths though.

My older DC is now pursuing his life-long dream of being a baker at a hip artisan bakery near us. You would not believe the quality of his fancy piping work now! Because he is creative, imaginative and absolutely loves what he does, he can overcome his motor skills difficulties and his organisational challenges to do very high quality work, by constant practice. If they really want to do something, they can get there.

Something to be aware of is that dyspraxia can also come with sensory issues. Because they struggle to coordinate left and right brain, essentially they struggle to coordinate info coming from both eyes and ears. So, different cause from autism, but some similarities. Dyspraxia can present differently in different individuals, so being good at sport doesn't rule it out. My older DS is mostly terrible at sport, but surprisingly good at basketball!

DD is dyspraxic (and also has ASD and is hypermobile, in lots of ways the hypermobility is more of an issue than the dyspraxia because it impacts her writing etc- the two often go together though). She's an excellent artist though and does well academically. Just get him assessed though.

My Dbro is also dyspraxic (quite severely) and has a really excellent career. He's very clever and gets on with people well. It can mean you're really strong in other ways.

I think at 7, just bear in mind that there are some things he will find hard and don't give him a hard time about them- DDs handwriting is a mess, she sort of just shoves her books in her bag and they get all creased and she struggles to e.g. put her clothes away properly. We just have to help her more with that stuff. As she's got older routines have really helped as well- e.g. a specific time to do her school bag, and reduce stress with things like elastic laces, clipping her keys inside her bag. I'm probably a bit dyspraxic too and need to know everything is in its place and get cross if e.g. DP 'tidies' because it messes with the visual cue I need.

My 14 yo has bad handwriting, can’t ride a bike, can’t swim, can’t tie laces and I can’t get him assessed for love nor money. Not enough ‘evidence’ to warrant an assessment.

My DH and teenager are both dyspraxic (DS formally diagnosed, DH assumed from the similarities to DS). They are both a mass of contradictions. Both were early walkers (9 months and 10 months) but still can't walk across a room without bumping into something/ tripping over nothing. They have certain fine skills they are excellent at and others are terrible. Neither can write legibly, but it hasn't really held
DH back, he has a very successful engineering career, DS is on course for decent GCSEs, he does his exams on a computer and gets extra time.
Learning to swim and ride a bike took forever for DS but he did get there in the end. It is always difficult to find that the baby you cherish (and they are still your baby even when they are 7 or 17) is going to have challenges to face in life but it isn't something that can't be overcome.

I am severely dyspraxic and also hypermobile. It was mainly an issue because it wasn't diagnosed until I was in my 40s and I did struggle with not understanding why things that seemed easy for everyone else were so difficultforme. I am a secondary school teacher and I can honestly say it hasn't been an issue in my career - I actually consider it an asset because of the empathy I have with dyspraxic pupils. Quite often I am the first person to bring the issue up with parents and I feel grateful that I have the opportunity to support young people in this way. Both my own children are also dyspraxic and it hasn't held them back- they did have to work harder with sone motor skills but they have always been able to pursue the goals they wanted to and I make sure I support my pupils to do this too.

This thread is really informative can I just ask do people do exercises with their children in general to improve strength in certain areas or just practice, practice the skills that they find difficult?
I think I have dyspraxia, it was raised by a teacher at school but not formal diagnosis and no kind of help with the things I struggled with.
My two dd’s age two and four seem to show signs. Interestingly myself and youngest daughter both walked very early (her 8 months, me 10months) but at two my daughter is still tripping a lot- other motor skills are beyond her age though. My four year old has always been slightly delayed in all and gets very frustrated with being asked to try drawing or writing.