6yr old hyper mobility / dyspraxia, what can I do?

[1m2]

Son aged 6 - speech sound disorder, phonological disorder, adhd, asd, sensory processing disorder, afrid.
paediatrician and school both did referral to ot (paediatrician thinks dyspraxia) school sees fine snd gross motor skills concerns.
had his ot app today and she said his fingers & elbows have “increase range movement” and she thinks hyper mobility. She did the dyspraxia assessment and said she will calculate the school and write a report to me and paediatrician as she can’t diagnosed on her own and she will be seeing my child in school in the next few weeks.
I have googled hyper mobility as I don’t know anything about it and I actually feel awful that I didn’t realise this on my own accord. There has been time we have been out snd about snd he has complained about his legs hurting and I have just put it down to being lazy and not wanting to walk cause moments later he will be running etc. what do I do now? Do I have to go to the gp to mention it or wait until next paediatrician appointment? Is there anything I should do? I just don’t really know what to do with this information. Anyone else little ones have it?

Tia

Awwww OP, as parents we burden ourselves with constant guilt. I don’t know if it helps but DC2 is hypermobile and I only realised when they were being assessed for ADHD at age 20.

Have any of the doctors mentioned the possibility of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome? It usually involves hypermobility and is comorbid with ADHD and autism.

In general though it is important for anyone with hypermobility to be strong to reduce the chances of dislocations.

More or less exactly the same situation with my son.
I felt awful after the app too as I honestly had no idea!
he would complain writing hurts and I thought he was just wanting to get out of not doing it 😭

in his report the OT gave some recommendations, school and myself enforced these and he’s a lot more comfortable.

@dizzydizzydizzy i think as parents we just get constant guilt. No doctors have mentioned Ehlers Danlos Syndrome but I will have a look into it. He currently is doing swimming lessons once a week and then I also take him once a week separately as it is the only sport he really enjoys doing and he is constantly active too

@Sunshineclouds11 Yes! I left the appointment and I just had such bad mum guilt. My little one is the same with writing for example i was like let’s do some Xmas cards he wrote 2 and refused to do anymore saying it was hurting and I just thought he was being lazy, but in school he is using a pencil grips which I will need to get for home. I will just wait for the ot report and next paediatrician appointment just mentioned it if they don’t.

They recommended writing on a slant which has worked really well for his arm.

The OT shoukd be making suggestions. Move n sit cushion, writing slope, pen grips, fidget toys, exercises for posture and coordination, processing skills. Try looking up Dyspraxia Foundation (the phone advice line may have closed but the website exists)https://dyspraxiafoundation.co.uk/ . It has suggestions for fine and gross motor skills development at different stages of development.

I have hypermobility which was only diagnosed at 36! It explained so, so many things. I spent my entire life thinking pain is normal and just what everyone gets all the time. It never even occurred to me that my elbows and everything are a lot bendier than others 😅 or that it isn't normal to be in agonising pain after walking for half an hour. So it's a good thing you found this out now!

I would persevere with the swimming, the thing with hypermobility is there is no cure, the only thing that helps is to get stronger.

I would also look into a pediatric physio. They did wonders with my son (not for hypermobility but something else but i imagine they can help a lot).

Building muscle will help a lot but it’s a tricky balance between getting them to do exercise to build muscle vs causing more pain and tiredness. Swimming is brilliant as no weight on the joints.

I agree with asking to see a paediatric physio and ask for exercises that will strengthen but not hurt him. Even things that don’t look like exercise, for example a wobble cushion or sitting on an exercise ball to watch TV. A scooter might help with being out and about?