Can I pick your brains please? DS is worrying me.

[OracleInaCoracle]

ok, DS's speech and fine motor skills have never been great. his speech, we didnt really notice because we understood him perfectly and it was quite sweet, the way he said "cerpent" instead of percent. he has a great vocabulary, but does seem very immature (he is 6)especially compared to the other children in his class.

his fine motor skills (his motor skills full stop, come to think on it) are poor. no getting away from it now, no hoping it will sort itself out, he can barely hold a pencil. his writing is terrible. he can barely dress himself, let alone tie laces and has no concentration. in fact, he will give up as quickly as he can. and throw a tantrum if anyone tries to push him.

his spatial awareness isnt great, in particular running and he has no co-ordination, esp when riding a bike.

his table manners too, he eats with his fingers. Im ashamed typing this, but Ive tried everything to get him to use a fork, but its as if he can't and I dread him going out to dinner with friends.

I have been doing a spot of reading and he has most of the symptoms of dyspraxia. should I mention to his teacher? she mentioned assessing him, and sorting a speech therapist. she has spoken to us about him, several times and its not getting better.

bump

Thank you. I think we've been hoping that it will all sort itself out in the end, but its not. And we've done all we can at home.

Thank you. I think we've been hoping that it will all sort itself out in the end, but its not. And we've done all we can at home.

He has started being disruptive in class and when I ask him to do something he refuses

He has started being disruptive in class and when I ask him to do something he refuses

My DD shares some of these traits - won't eat with a knife and fork, doesn't dress herself, has no idea about laces, writing is slow and messy, drawing very immature - she is 6.7. She gets very frustrated - partly because she knows that other children can do all these things. She flies into a rage and gives up easily - but if patient she will eventually try again usually, with a lot of coaxing, or by herself once she has exploded and then felt guilty about it. I just try to keep calm - not always easy.

She refused to do PE the other day because there was a routine involved that she finds impossible to learn and follow. So, what to do - I have been trying OT (which we got through the school - 4 sessions) and Retained Reflexes therapy (privately). Also, am making her feel positive about the things that she does do and enjoys doing. Am also about to try some junior caring cutlery I saw mentioned on here the other day.

that sounds exactly like ds. its so frustrating, because he is so clever, but he now thinks that he is "stupid" because he cant do these things.

I have spoken to his teacher and she agrees that he displays many of the characteristics. she is going to speak to his head teacher and organise tests, in the meantime, I will speak to our GP and see what they can do.

I feel so bad for having buried my head in the sand over this, and ignoring the possibility that theres a problem.

Have a look at Dyspraxia and see if it sounds like your DS. It's the first thing that came to my mind. I support a DC in school with Dyspraxia. Not to DX by internet, of course...

Oops, should have read your post more carefully! Well, I thought dyspraxia before seeing that you were considering it. Agree that you need a referral to an OT. Sorry.

Thank you. have made an appt to see the GP tomorrow morning. the more I think about it, the more likely it seems tbh. its as if we've been muddling along, waiting for everything to click into place, then someones said "try this" and it suddenly makes sense IYKWIM

In some PCTs you don't necessarily need a GP referral for OT - you can self refer. Its worth giving them a ring and finding out. But defo get a GP referral as well. 'The Out of Synch Child' and 'The Out of Synch Child Has Fun' could give you some ideas of how to help in the mean time. You don't have to have any kind of diagnosis to try things at home to help.
Caring Cutlery is also quite good - It helps to find a natural position for holding cutlery by having indentations for their fingers.

Retained Reflex Therapy has really helped my ds1 (8.5)

Would recommend.

Also to add to the already good advice in some areas you can self refer to speech therapy dept.

Thank you so much, doctors appt has been postponed (for some reason they couldnt find any record of him) so its in half term (at least he wont miss a morning of school) the more I look into it though, the more convinced I am.

I feel so guilty for not realising that there was a problem. poor DS