How does dyspraxia affect yor childs life?

[Amapoleon]

We are on the road to a diagnosis of dyspraxia. The OT said it was a multidisciplinary decison but she sent me the link to the dyspraxia foundation, so it is quite obvious that that is the way it is heading. I looked at the link and found it all quite heavy. The thing that worries me, is the social side. There were references to bullying, low self esteem, difficulty with relationships etc. I have a very happy go lucky 5 year old boy an d i am worried that at 5 he can get away with being who he is but not sure what will happen as he gets older.

Also what can i be doing to help him, it will be a month before I get the report. She said his gross motor skills were worse but his fine motor skills were below average too.

I have 3 dyspraxic boys. All have different aspects of it. Go swimming and do gymnastics which will help his balance and core strength, horse riding too is good. Threading, playing with playdoe or clay rolling and squeezing it through his fingers to strengthen hands. As he gets older he may not like things where he can compare himself to his peers as they often progress quicker which affects self esteem. If there is something that he likes or is good at then push that so that he feels good about himself.
My 16 year old has great friends but struggles to organise his thoughts and write them down so hates school although is very able, he gets very frustrated. My 14 year old is dyslexic and dyscalculic too but loves school although has low self-esteem which affects friendships.
It can be hard and often people don't understand what it is like. The important thing is to realise that it will sometimes be hard for both of you, get any help you can to support him and join the dyspraxia foundation local group.
My 3 are lovely boys and have really lovely qualities which we celebrate.

Hi there

DS (6) has dyspraxia (and ASD).

Have a look at the posts from Mrz on here which have loads of recommendations on things you can do to help him.

DS has been pleased to find out he has dyspraxia and isn't "not just trying hard enough" or "lazy". :)

Thank you, feeling very wobbly at the moment, wish report would come so i know what im dealing with.

Waiting for the report is the hardest bit I think. Once you can get on with the recommendations you feel better, but do look at Mrz's recommendations. She is a SENCO as well as a mother of a child with SN.

It is a very worrying time and your emotions will be all over the place for a while. Just take one step at a time - talking to other mums/specialists really helps. Good luck!

My DD is 5 and has dyspraxia and ADHD the 2 conditions are incredibly similar. DD does gymnastics which has helped her balance enormously she does swimming to but to be honest this is a bit of a disaster she is so uncoordinated but she does enjoy it and it tires her out
Her pen control is very poor but it is slowly getting there with practice. I am following the principles of the brain food plan by Robin Pauc it is his belief that healthy eating and the introduction of supplements can help with ADHD, dyspraxia and dyslexia since Jan I have seen an enormous improvement as has her OT. There is more info on the Tinsley House support thread please check it out.

Ds1 is 10 and was diagnosed with dyspraxia at 7 - he was relieved as he said it ' explained to me about myself'. Swimming (1:1 lessons with a teacher who understands about the condition) has been fantastic for him, as was karate when he was younger. We also did a year of retained reflexes therapy - during the year he showed gradual, though not dramatic, improvement but since we have stopped he has really come on - which makes me wonder if the swimming ( which we started on stopping the retained reflex programme) has actually had more of an effect. We give him fish oils (Vegepa) and are very careful about what he eats - too much sugar and processed food definitely makes his symptoms worse. When he was 5 he was a bit awkward socially - I did a lot of role play with him and also used social stories to help him join in with play, talk to other kids etc. Now he has a close group of likeminded friends who have bonded through a shared love of Lego, science and fantasy computer games - I have encouraged this by having his friends over often - and although he's not one of the alpha males in the class he doesn't get bullied ( mainly, I think, because he seems to have a very strong sense of self) .
Sorry - hugely long post but just wanted to reassure you that progress is very possible.

I'm watching this with interest as we are awaiting a dx of dyspraxia too. He's very atypical. But we had already tried to implement some help such as writing blocks and writing on a slanted board/writing on coloured paper.

Will try lots of the other suggestions too.

Thank you all, nice to read something positive. As you say, waiting is the worst part, once I know what we are dealing with i will feel better. I am definetly going to look into diet as he has bouts of unexplained diarreah and after having looked at Indigo's page i am wondering if we are dealing with leaky gut too. Although ds is very picky, so it should be interesting hahaha.