Could this be dyspraxia or ADHD?

[WireFan]

My 8 year old regularly pees everywhere when using the toilet. As in, the pee ends up all over the seat, under the seat, in between the hinge things and in the gap between the seat and the cistern, and all over the floor. Some pee definitely goes into the toilet too and stays there, unflushed. I usually find the mess a short while later. The cleaning and smell drive me mad but I try to be patient and keep reminding him to pee IN the toilet, clean up after himself and to flush! He does wash his hands at least.

But this, combined with him having quite untidy and large handwriting, being v sensitive to clothing fabrics and labels (we have to cut them all off), being a v messy eater (food all round his mouth as standard), struggling to use cutlery and to cut food (often uses his fingers instead), tending to talk and talk at length (monologuing?) and not allowing others much chance to reply and general issues with attention and needing to move a lot are making me wonder about dyspraxia and ADHD. Some things we put down to age initially when he was younger (e.g. being quite late to dress independently) but now he's older.....

He is very bright, draws very well, is very interested in learning generally, has a great imagination and concentrates well on things he likes (e.g. drawing).

My husband thinks it's purely a case of not concentrating and needing to focus, a discipline thing rather than a possible developmental/additional needs thing so is quite dismissive of the idea of ADHD or dyspraxia and a bit impatient about things.

School have consistently reported inattention and wandering around the class over the years but since starting juniors and gelling with his current teacher he has really improved in school in those terms.

Would really appreciate some help please!

Ping pong ball in bowl of toilet?

A number of the things you describe do overlap with my DD1 who has dyspraxia.

Can I ask how your daughter was diagnosed and at what age please?

An OT when she was 15. (And before anyone says OT can't diagnose, they wrote it in their report 'showing clear signs of' or something, and that was good enough for us).

We adopted her aged 8 and a lot of her difficulties were put down to her early experiences. By the time she was in y6 I wrote a long list of issues to primary school and they fobbed me off. Then she started struggling in Secondary (organisation, writing in detail). We sought the diagnosis to help with college and it uncovered things that were related that we didn't realise.

Dyspraxia, ADHD and ASD have overlapping symptoms. Personally I'd do some reading up on all of them, look at some online checklists and then approach school /GP. It took a long while for a referral to come through & probably waiting lists are longer right now.

You’re describing my son, he does all of those too!! School think it’s dyspraxia but I feel there’s more going on. He can confidently ride a bike (has done since he was 4) can do monkey bars etc and has good upper body strength but school feel his core is poor. He uses a slanted writing board, wobble cushion and resistance bands but still seeks more movement. He’ll often fall off his chair at school but doesn’t at home. He’s not overly clumsy at home and doesn’t bump into things. We’ve booked an assessment with a private OT, there’s no hope of having him assessed in school this year. He has started a climbing group in the hope it will improve his core, balance and focus. Reading your post is refreshing, someone who understands!!

@flipflump Have you looked up sensory processing disorder and sensory seeking? Might they be relevant?