Dyspraxia?

[Ickythumpego]

Please can anyone with experience of Dyspraxia offer me some advice?

We have an appointment with a neuropsycologist booked for March but my DS (11 years old) is having a hard time at school with some teachers who have done an armchair diagnoses. 3 teachers - Maths, Bioloogy and Chemistry have decided he can't write due to his (undiagnosed) Dyspraxia and have had other children do the writing in his books!

I agree his hand writing is awful. I think he does have SEN but I suspect it's ADD.

His two hobbies / obsessions are competitive skiing and playing the piano- he is grade 6 at age 11. Would this be possible for someone with Dyspraxia? From what I read it's not.

Frustratingly the teachers aren't interested in my opinion. They have decided, and I am just an interfering Mother....

Hello! I’m an SpLD specialist teacher so hopefully can be somewhat helpful... Sorry the school are being so uncooperative. It is awful that they are expecting other children to be writing his notes- once you have heard from the specialist then push for an alternative. Many schools have some form of handwriting intervention or you could look at getting a laptop.

It’s true that poor handwriting is one indicator of dyspraxia but also symptomatic of many other things. ADD/ dyslexia and dyspraxia can often cross over and a student may have aspects of all three. With dyspraxia, it is likely that other areas of coordination would be impacted so it would be interesting to find whether that was the root cause of the handwriting difficulties.

There’s a really good book we read before our training called ‘The parents guide to specific learning difficulties’ and it outlined how various SpLDs may present themselves at different stages of development- they have both ADD and dyspraxia in it so worth a look and highlighting specific areas of challenge your son has for your meeting with the specialist.

Perkyduck131.thanks so much for your time. I will order the book you mentioned.

I think I'm just pissed off because they don't want to see my DS as a whole. They have made their Dyspraxic diagnosis and are trying to paint me as the bad mum who is preventing their lovely student from achieving.
And I'm sure this has happened in the past with many kids.
X

No problem- sorry I wasn’t much help!

Subject teachers aren’t in the position to make a diagnosis, particularly in subjects that don’t require him to do lots of extended writing. Once you’ve had a meeting with the specialist then arrange a meeting with the SENCO and they will be able to clarify what support he should be receiving. If it’s just the handwriting that is this issue at school then there are a few handwriting ‘summer camps’ around (not sure where you’re based but I know London has some). Also definitely worth starting on some online touch typing bits at home.

Glad you’ve ordered the book, it’s a good one! Hope it all gets sorted and try not to worry, kids are resilient little things! Teachers are under a lot of pressure to meet targets and often need to justify why students haven’t achieved their target grade. Unfortunately sometimes this leads to labelling of students and putting the fear into parents x

Hi OP
I have a dyspraxic DC who used to ski race and has a senior school sports scholarship so quite possible, IMHO. You need an ed psych or qualified SEN assessor to diagnose your DS. My DC went to a specialist junior school where everyone had similar issues and they all used laptops - you need to get an ehcp or the schools agreement for him to use a laptop- may be he could learn to type during the joyous.weeks to come at home?
Pm me if you like?

Hi! I know all about DCD (Dypraxia) unfortunately as my son was diagnosed quite early with significant dyspraxia and I am dyspraxic myself. The only way to understand what is going on is to have a good educational psychologist diagnose him. You can then go back into school fully equipped with the facts . For my son dyspraxia would make the sports you describe hard but this is a spectrum disorder so you never know. The handwriting issue could simply be dysgraphia on its own or dyslexia but only a specialist can tell you. Find out and take on the teacher’s fully informed. I had problems with idiotic teachers diagnosing my son. The head was convinced he had Ehlers Danlos syndrome and the school nurse was very concerned about his teeth which had ridges and blamed me for it- the dentist said it was totally normal! They made me feel that by not accepting their diagnosis I was neglectful. However be prepared - as soon as I got the DCD diagnosis they couldn’t get him out of the school fast enough as their was no EHCP to support him. School is unfortunately not helpful for those with SPLD as the teachers often have very limited knowledge. My son is 11 with the comprehension and verbal skills of a 17 year old but is daydreamy and can’t write. They just don’t seem to be able to see that he can still be intelligent and worthwhile because he doesn’t tick all their boxes! Good luck with you journey xxx by the way I was put in a class for the educationally subnormal in the 1970s because of my DCD and my horrified parents removed me to a private school. I have two degrees, one in law and run my own legal consultancy. So have faith in yourself son and ignore the stupid school!