dyspraxia advice and help calm me down please!

[scorpio1]

i went along to ds1 parent/teacher catch up today, and she mentioned to me about this.i have had suspicions for about 8 months, but dismissed it.but today someone else has mentioned it out of the blue.

he has some symptoms she said and all i heard after that was special needs and paedatrician....i went blank.since reading about it, he has many of the symptoms, but could they be explained by other things?

i know what it is and the symptoms,(read the internet dyspraxia foundation page) i am just wondering how its diagnosed, what happens after, how it affects RL children.

DS is 4, nearly 5. feeling a bit odd.

oh and anyones experiences please.

bump

Scorpio, don't want you to feel ignored. If you would like, find the thread in education and read about dreamers of dreams - we are a collection of mums to some of whom the term dyspraxia has been mentioned - along with a lot of other potential dxes

It is horrid when someone independently voices their doubts, isn't it. Happened to us 3 years ago when ds was almost 6. Keep in mind that it doesn't change your little boy and it is very common but often not identified in which case the child's frustrations can appear later as behavioural problems. Occupational Therapy can help a lot but you'll need a referral either from the school or gp to get into the assessment process.

Good luck.

It is a really good think if he has got a problem to have it diagnosed sooner rather than later - the earlier the better. My ds is dyspraxic and a lovelier, cleverer, more gorgeous boy you could not find.

On the other side, I am annoyed that the school have never said anything to me about my child (she's 8) and it has now become clear to me that she's dyspraxic. The school just think she's irritating. I'm currently trying to work out what to do, but would have liked the school to be more proactive about suggesting a reason why she's how she is, and where we could go from here.

i am going to ring the GP surgery tomorrow, to hopefully get an appointment next week.

i am so worried.he will always be my little soldier though

It does feel horrible doesn't it, I approached DD's teacher after parent's evening in reception (she is year 3) as some of the things that she said made me realise something was going on that I had read about somewhere (on here actually). I approached her about it a couple of days later and she got the SENCO in, who referred her to the community paed, who then referred her onto the co-ordination clinic, at which point she got diagnosed. I had a small baby and kept on randomly bursting into tears for weeks.

But after a time a diagnosis felt a positive thing, it explained why things had never felt quite as they should be and opened the door to help for her. She has had two courses of OT & physio, gets help with her writing, speech therapy and is doing well. There have been highs and lows and I guess there always will be, but there is with any child.

Bear in mind that dyspraxia has only become a diagnosis fairly recently in the grand scheme of things. When DH & I were children it wasn't recognised and there a whole load of adults out there who if they were assessed would probably be diagnosed. DH is certainly one of them and he is doing fine. I think the help that DD gets would have made his school years a little easier though.

Sorry, I don't half go on !

sorry but what/who is SENCO?

Sorry, SENCO stands for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator.

Choc Teapot - It has made me feel better reading about the progress your dd has made. You got help very early on. My dd is already in Year 3 and we are only just starting to do something. I feel bad about that, but I hope we can do something positive now.

Babygrand, sorry you're having this. If you find you don't get anywhere with the school what about going to your GP and see if they will refer her for an assessment, both the school and the GP can do this. Is the SENCO involved with your DD at the moment ? A friend of mine has used IPSEA (google and it will come up, sorry too knackered to work out how to do a link at the moment !) and found they were really helpful when she had problems with her DS and school. Our DD's are the same age.

ds7 was assessed when 5, and he is not, but is hyper. He is so clumsy tho, and badley coordinated. Very noisy too. i try to keep him busy to use up his energy- karate is excellent for coordination (physio told me to send him), and dancing. He can't play football- falls over! His handwriting is awful and his pen control terrible.he has a lot of help at school tho & but gets his letters the wrong way round. But you just have to kepp at it! he is a lovely sweet cuddly boy though!

Hi, my eldest son has dyspraxia and I remember feeling hopeless when they told me that he had it and thought that the world was almost over for him. That was 7 years ago. I was told that he would never ride a bike, never be able write without help or be like a normal child. Today though he rides his bike, writes well and is a completely normal 11 year old kid who doesn't want to do his homework and wants to play on his computer and football. It has taken along time and patience for this all to happen and, yes he still struggles with his school work but he is getting there. Today he has come home with a test that he sat at high school and has acheived a whole level higher than was expected from him. I am a proud mummy today ! I know he is not going to be the brightest or the most able child in school but I know he has the determination to do the very best he can and that is all I can ask for. He is very lucky at his high school as they have set up a form for all the SN kids in the year and they have two teaching assistants in every lesson and he has really come on since joining in September. I honestly thought 7 years ago that he was not ever going to be able to do alot of the things that the doctors said he couldn't do but he has proved them wrong at every level. Feel free to ask any questions you want, I have been through the lot with him. Take care.