Normal 6 year old boy or do you think these could be symptoms of dyspraxia please give me some advice???

[NotInTheMood]

Ds is 6 years old and is currently having speech and language therapy. During my pregnancy with him I suffered from pre-eclampsia and he had to be resusitated when he was first born.Apart from his speech he did meet all of his milestones.

The thing is ds very often frustrates me he's forgetful, doesn't always follow simple or complex instructions, need's constant reminding and nagging to keep focused and can be a bit clumsy etc he just seems to struggle with alot of things.

Although he can dress himself he is very slow and often has things on back to front, inside out, shoe's on the wrong feet and yet he does'nt seem to notice.His pencil grip isn't brilliant but he is getting better with extra help at school as with his reading. He can't ride a bike on two wheels but with stabilisers, so I brought him a scooter to help with his balance as he just doesn't seem to have any.He also still tends to eat with his hands instead of his knife and fork. Part of me doesn't know if its him being lazy and a bit of a dreamer or whether theres something more to it. He's very quick to say he can't do it.When you ask a question sometimes he's just clueless you have to be very exact.However generally he is a polite, well behaved little boy with a big imagination.

SALT have been useless as when ive suggested could there be any other unlying things apart from speech and lang delay thats affecting his learning-she said there could be but too soon to say and seemed like she wouldn't say.She said a education psychologist could only make a diagnoses if there was something more. When I asked her if she would recommend it she said she couldn't make the referral herself so it was up to us and the school.

Is this normal for a little boy?? At home he is very hyper and doesn't sit still but in school he's alot more settled.

this sounds an awful lot like my dd who is dyspraxic. i suggest you try and get a referral to OT who can diagnose dyspraxia and offer help with issues.

google dyspraxia foundation for a really helpful description and checklist.

sounds very much like my son who has been diagnosed with dyspraxia, when he was younger his teacher called him lazy. thing is with dyspraxia it can be confusing because they have good and bad days where one day they can do something next they cant even hour to hour can make a difference. talk to the school see if you can get the EP involved, with my son it became more and more noticable as he got older.

Sounds like my son who has just got his diagnosis from pead of developmental co-ordination disorder and learning difficulties, in my area the term dyspraxia is not used anymore. My sons infant school were useless so I approached his gp who referred to a hospital pead, he then made the community pead referral, our pead has been great and referred him for physio, and ot support, his junior school then brought in the educational psychologist and other professionals.

Right so should i appraoch his teacher-is Dyspraxia common amongst children or do you think she will think im a loon and talking nonsense.Should I see the GP. I thought he ticked many of the boxe's for dyspraxia before but as a young baby he always reached his milestone's so there was nothing to suggest he was behind until when he was aged 2 and his speech was very slow to progress.

Dyspraxia is common AND she will probably think you are a loon and talking nonsense :)

You need to see the GP and ask for a referral to an OT or Pediatrician.

If you are very lucky and the teacher is experienced and the school has a good SENCO then she won't think you're a loon...

Good luck.

Go down the GP route. Even if the teacher does think there is a problem she can't diagnose it. The GP can refer you to the appropriate paediatrician.

Agree you need gp to refer to Paed and /or OT. If you had a paed referral for SALT then you may be able to go straight back tot he same one. Once you are waiting for the referral speak to the school and ask for the teacher's observations to help you discuss the problems he experiences on a day to day basis. Ed Psychs don't diagnose as such but an assessment if the OT thinks it is likely could reveal how much it interferes with hsi leanring potential.

ds is very similar, is now 12 and still can't ride a bike amongst other things. He is deemed functionally capable though so doesn't get OT sessions any more. The sooenr you can get referred the earlier he may receive help.

I have used theraputty with children with motor control issues. I thought it would be expensive but there is a recipe here

You can use it to do exercises, but just messing around with it is pretty good too because it strengthens the finger muscles. If nothing else, it might make a fun, messy, wet weekend activity!

Notinthemood - I was dx with Dyspraxia as an adult this year. I was very much like your DS at that age, forceps delivery and refused to latch on properly for first 5 days so I was bottle fed glucose plus what breast I would take. Apart from that initial problem at birth I was developmentally normal until around 2-3 when I started being slower than my peers to do things.

If you google 'dyspraxic adults forum' there is a developmental questionnaire on there which will help you think about all the little things you might miss which could point to Dyspraxia. here

For me there were little things like not being able to colour between the lines etc which I'd forgotten all about.

Hope that helps!

Thanks guys thankyou for the replie's. His teacher was quite nice and also thinks there maybe something there as theres definitely a processing problem. He is getting extra help at school and is making good progress which obviously show's he can learn.

She also thinks that he is very,very disorganised. But she doesn't feel it may be dyspraxia as she doesn't think he is clumsy as such. She did say though in her experience many children she has seen over the years similar to ds who are disorganised and have difficulties dressing amongst other symptoms have been dignosed dyslexic.So she said they are monitoring him but as he has just turned 6 they cannot test him for dyslexia.

I did not know about the other symptoms of this except that the have difficulties reading. But it does seem he ticks these boxes too, as he finds it difficult dresssing, putting shoes on the right feet, rhymming,sequences, forgetful etc

My son was and is not particularly clumsy, he trips sometimes, but because he tends to be so slow he doesn't appear to be clumsy. My eldest son is severly dyslexic and would not survive without a laptop and supporting software at school, however he only has issues with his memory occasionally and never had issues with being clumsy or dressing. He was identified and referred by his school at 6 and diagnosed at 7yrs 4mths, each area varies.
I would still make an appointment with your GP as my son was also 6 when I asked his teacher about dyspraxia and she gave me the line dyslexia as my eldest son has it. I trusted school up until the day they brought him home over a year later and told me they thought he had been having absences or seizures in class(he switches off under pressure) at this point I realised how useless they were or how little they knew my son. His diagnosis was formalised this week 3yrs after I asked his teacher when he was 6.

These things are often related but often only the more dominant conditions gets diagnosed so he might be dyslexic with dyspraxic traits or vice versa, for example. Disorganisation of thought, action and self, not knowing where to begin with a task such as dressing or drawing a picture, are all common symptoms of dyspraxia. Approx 1:20 kids have dyspraxia to one extent or another, more boys than girls, so worth pursuing as that could be diagnosed and helped by OT. At worst you eliminate it by having him asssessed. Good luck.