Dispraxia, are there varying degrees?

[Amapoleon]

My five year old son has recently being going through a series of assessments recommended by the school. His speech isn't great, he has problems with j,ch, sh but he is not unitelligble. The speech therapist has put it down to immaturity and she comes to the school once a week for extra help. The teacher also called in the sen teacher to assess him and she felt there were no problems in his understanding and thought he was immature.

He is doing well at school but doesnt really like reading and writing but when pushed can do both. His writing is very basic and below the majority of his peers. In the beginning the teacher was having problems getting him to stay sitting on the carpet but that is no longer a problem. He is not very good at colouring between the lines and again doesn;t enjoy it.

I have put a lot of the teacher's wories down to the fact that he has never been to nursery and most children do here from the age of about 2.

He is very clumsy, although i am clumsy and so are my family, so I havent woried about it.

Sorry now to the main point. I went to the occupational therapist with him today and she did a really thorough assessment and i became obvious to me that there were things he couldn't do that i thought he could, for example hopping. Anyway , feeling a bit shell shocked i never really spoke to the ot properly. She said he had praxia problems. I have been online, as you do but shouldn't hahaha and my son doesn't really fit many of the criteria. He wasn't delayed as a baby etc. So what im really asking is , is it possible that he has mild dispraxia and what can i do to help. I will obviously ring the ot in the morning, cant do it now as I feel awfully teary. If he does have it and ive missed , i've delayed helping him.

Sorry for such a long post.

Yes, there Dyspraxia is a spectrum condition. So he could be severe or mild.

5 is a great age for a diagnosis, not too late at all.

There's loads and loads you can do to help him. Don't panic.

For example, look at this thread

But really don't panic. Both my DSs have a dx of dyspraxia. It's absolutely fine - they're absolutely fine.

I would say you can be mildly dyspraxic too. My Dd3 was assessed by an occupational therapist who found her motor skills and other things were well below average she didnt actually mention dyspraxia but lots of other people have so i am guessing she is at the mild end of the spectrum.

I agree with indigo that 5 is a good age to get a diagnosis and some extra support.

Good luck

Thank you, i am panicking but trying not to, i feel very teary too.

My 5 year old has been going to an OT every week for the last three months for his dyspraxia and has been coming on in leaps and bounds - she's cutting down his visits and says he won't need that many more (although he'll still go a couple of times a year as a monitoring thing for a year or two).

He can now write (which he couldn't after a year at school) and move around without bumping into things, his speech is improving and he sleeps better because he doesn't feel the need to flip over and move all the time.

Definitely money well spent for us!

By the way, this was the son who was walking at 10.5 months (as opposed to the other one who walked at 14 months but is fine - go figure!)

He's only 5 ! Lots of kids get diagnosed much later or, worst still, not at all as it affects about 1:20, more boys than girls. Many traits only become apparent after school age , sucha s messiness, disorganisation, problems with writing and concentration so please don't be hard on yourself. ds rolled ahead of his peers, sat, crawled and even walked within the norms but is mildly dyspraxic. On reflection he never walked but ran and wasn't adventurous on play equipment. Also disliked noise and bustle. His teacher referred him at almost 6. OT helped as did learning to touch type but he'll never be good at sport for example.

Thanks, i'm feeling calmer now. Come to think of it ds is a very wriggly sleeper. They are very good here at providing help and luckily ds' teacher is great.