Is my son have dyspraxia ?

[lilminons]

My 9yr old son has always had little quirks and never seemed the same as other children. He is a very bright child and achieves well at school and is very talented at art but has some strange behaviours when he's excited he jumps up and down waving his arms. When you speak to him he listens then doesn't do what you ask he is also very forgetful and clumsy he doesn't do it on purpose and has problems at school for this . When trying to get him to do homework he cannot focus and will talk about what interests him not the subject at hand. He has suffered migraines from the age of 2yrs and now is lacking confidence and self loaves and puts himself down :( he shouts all the time and gets in people's personal space and cannot ride a bike yet. I haven't been to worried and thought he would grow out of it but now he still acts the same and seems different to his peers. He randomly has outbursts or makes strange noises for no reason. When he runs his arms flair out and he is not sporting at all. When he was younger he would struggle to sit n concentrate unless it was something he was interested in. I have noticed that many of these symptoms point to dyspraxia but so many other symptoms don't fit :/ help!

No professional advice, sorry, but my best friend is dyspraxic and she is the clumsiest person I know - think falling off stationary buses, problems throwing and catching if not prepared in advance etc. I think sudden outbursts are more likely to be a different problem, but bear in mind I could be completely off the mark.

(hope this helps)

Forgot to mention, she has no problems with anything other than physical activities, whereas it sounds like your DS has other symptoms.

A lot of conditions like dyspraxia or dyslexia don't just exist on their own. Its not uncommon for the child to have 2 issues together. I think you need to get him properly assessed because it looks like the problems he is having are affecting his self esteem.

Both of mine are dyslexic (DS1 has dysgraphia - his handwriting is not good) and they do get frustrated that things that "should" be easy are hard. They also get tired because they are having to work harder to get to the same place as the rest of the class as that does sometimes lead to meltdowns.

I would ask for a referral. He sounds similar to my son, who has developmental communication disorder - similar to dyspraxia. I would ask to see an OT for advice, and they may be able to help him. I am sorry he has such low self esteem, it's def worth trying to get him some support.

He sounds similar to my dd's, she has a diagnosis or Aspergers but I strongly suspect the has dyspraxia ( though because o f the AS diagnosis they don't seem keen in diagnosing anything else ), she's 10 and can't ride a bike, struggles to listen to instructions, is very careful on her feet because she doesn't want to fall over, she struggles with PE and swimming.

Please go to your GP and ask him/her to give you a referral for a proper assessment.

LILMINIONS - it sounds like your child may have a combination of dyspraxia and ASD. Your first port of call will be the GP, ask a for a Paediatrician referral. The school may be able to help your case by providing a letter outlining difficulties as they observe in the school setting.
It really is a good idea to get this started ASAP as you want to get some support in place before he goes to high school. Best of luck x

OP - I'm pretty sure this is Dyspraxia, NOT ASD, my DD has dyspraxia and emotional outbursts were a regular feature - slightly more under control now she is twelve. Part of that is because they become overloaded with stimuli, especially more than one person speaking at the same time, rapid fire instructions or multi tasks. The strange noises help them concentrate - very often they don't know they are doing it. Goats puts it perfectly above. Dyspraxia is a very misunderstood problem which many think is simply clumsy child syndrome when in fact it is a processing disorder. DD learned to die a bike at 11, and hit her first ever rounders ball last week! He does need to be assessed properly, but a GP may send him for occupational therapy (which helps a lot; DD has had this twice a week for several years at school) but for the impact in the classroom you may need an Ed. Psych report. Lot of help HERE

There's a lot of crossover between dyspraxia and ASD! The best thing would be to get him assessed if you think it's affecting his life and confidence. Then you can get him the targeted help he needs more easily.