Hello,
I wanted to ask advice about other people’s experience of dyspraxia.
Has anyone been diagnosed with dyspraxia but met the major baby milestones (sitting, crawling and walking) ?
I know my son was around 13 months when he walked and if I try to think back to his early motor skills - it was just jumping, threading and copying my lines that he couldn’t complete at the 2 year check. Everywhere you read about dyspraxia it says children usually don’t meet the milestones.
He used to be an excessive dribbler - he’d have a noticeable pool of dribble around his neck and didn’t really stop until 3 1/2 - 4 years old.
He’s 6 now and I just feel he’s really struggling with quite a few things with coordination and processing and I believe it’s making him sad and anxious to the point he sometimes says he hates himself 😔 which is so sad and I want to help him. We are trying our hardest to support him and value his effort and make him feel good - it doesn’t matter what he achieves. I just want to make sure we haven’t missed something.
He has always struggled with balance and coordination, much like his dad (who’s mum always thought was maybe dyspraxic - but my partner dismisses it now), he is very messy and fast when eating, gets very emotional and anxious , seems to seek unbalanced key friendships but is very liked by lots of people (every setting he’s been in he’s sought out the more ‘powerful’ friend that he is ultimately unsettled with iykwim), he often appears overwhelmed in busy/ noisy places and struggles to focus on his activity (e.g. riding a bike or he was invited to a climbing party and his eyes are on everything but ahead). He has a block with swimming and has been unable to lift his feet of the floor of the pool or put his head under (I believe he’s really scared) and we keep praising him on his effort and personal success but he sees all the other children moving up all the time and is sad (he’s been having weekly lessons for nearly a year).
He’s doing ‘ok’ at school so I know wouldn’t ring alarm bells but I know he’s a very able mathematician and just is very irregular with his recall of key facts and similarly his reading can be so inconsistent. I was a Primary teacher for years and if he was in my class I would be wondering how I can help him, why can he be so inconsistent. Something just puzzles me. I have tried to raise some concerns - particularly his self esteem and friendships but the school has been under enormous pressure with Covid and I know there are high needs in every class - every meeting disappears so quickly. He appears like he’s doing ok at school but we see so much more at home that I know school wouldn’t see. I’m going to make an appointment with the GP as I feel we need help with his anxiety and self esteem. He’s such a lovely, kind, empathetic six year old and I want him to feel that too.
I just wondered about other people’s experiences as I just want him to feel like he’s understood by all and not just us.