Dyspraxia. Please tell me all the things I can do to help my child.

[OHforDUCKScake]

Ive seen the school, they gave my an extensive questionnairre of which I ticked 'yes' to 95% of the questions, they gave my some information to read, which was interesting and explained even more things about him. Why he stuggles to eat quietly, why he only appears to have awareness of 6 inches in front of him when he scoots. Why hes struggles to STOP! When running or scooting etc etc etc

I spoke to the doctor who shrugged. Literally. He shrugged.

Said its out of his hands, theres OT for school age children. See the school.

Thats it.

THATS IT?!

This just makes me panic. I thought might be able to give him excercises for at least his hypermobility.

The school is filling out the questionnaire and they can follow up on it but 'it might be quicker to see your GP'.

So basically it seems for a while at least, no one is helping my son.

So Im going to do what I do best and Im going to read, research, ask, learn and help my son in the best way that I can.

What books can I buy? What ones are best? What excercises are good? What activities can benefit him? (He does football and swimming).
What tricks of the trade do I need to know?

Anything at all, please please help me.

In my area it is schools or paediatricians who refer to OT. And as far as I know OT's can diagnose dypraxia (although I dont mind being corrected) Some areas have long waiting lists and some dont, sadly it is luck of the draw.

My Dd3 was seen very quickly for a motor skills assessment a few years ago and now we are waiting for a sensory assessment.

I am sure someone will be along soon who can recommend some books for you, I dont know a huge amount about dyspraxia.

Good luck

Oh and I meant to say dont worry about your GP being useless, most are just use him as a platform to get referrals, find out on here or in books who you need to see and then go and tell him you need referrals to x, y and z.

My GP is so used to me knowing more than him now that he dictates his letters for Dd3's referrals while I am sitting in the room to make sure he gets the info correct. LOL.

Pathetic really after all his years of training

Thank you.

Hi,

The way it worked in our area is: we went to our GP, he didn't believe ds1 had dyspraxia, but agreed to refer him to a paediatrician anyway. The paediatrician ordered a load of blood tests, as poor motor skills can be caused by other (vanishingly rare) diseases, then when those came back, we saw the paediatrician again and he diagnosed ds1 with dyspraxia and referred him to OT.

Nine months later, he had an assessment with an OT. She signed him off, but the assessment was still really useful in terms of identifying exactly what areas he needed help with, and suggesting activities that would help.

So, based on our experience, I'd suggest going back to the GP, insisting politely but firmly that they refer him to a paediatrician, and take it from there. Don't let them fob you off!

Hard to know what activities to suggest, as each dyspraxic child is different and needs things tailored to their particular needs. Have you been to the dyspraxia foundation website here? If they have a support group in your area, I really, really recommend going along to one of their meet-ups, it's the most useful thing I did! Their website's a mine of useful information as well.

I was told 1yr ago that we have a huge waiting list for OT. They found out we are seeing someone privately and didnt bother with me!

I am reading "Out of Sync Child" (for the second time, never quite read it properly last time) and its quite useful.

A book I've found helpful is Caged in Chaos by Victoria Briggs. She's a dyspraxic teenager herself and talks about her experiences. It's not a handbook, but it gives you some insight, I think.

Best book I have read is called "making inclusion work for children with dyspraxia" by gill Dixon and Lois addy

oT will be the most significant thing for dyspraxic children. We fund ours privately but are well aware this is not an option for everyone.

Brain gym - really helped DS - we started out with doing the exercises before bed, there is a very basic one called cross crawl, where you touch elbow to opposite knee, he had to learn and do this lying down and the. We progressed to standing up
There are great videos on you tube - that gives a sequence of exercises , we used to do it together before school.

Children with dyspraxia often have poor working memory - we have just done cogmed (again privately) and this has helped hugely.... There are cheaper options, websites that have working memory games.

The listening program has helped, but we are looking at ILS for over the summer.....

How's your DC writing? DS is terrible, we are teaching him to touch type, and will work towards him doing this at school. There are also handwriting programs - DS oT recommended write from the start.

Horse riding.... DS can barely sit up unsupported - but sits up really straight on a horse , he lives it and has been fab for his self esteem.....

We've been doing the Tinsley House programme since Nov and have seen a big improvement in our DS motor skills and body awareness. There is separate support thread on here plus the book - Is That My Child by Robin Pauc.

Lots of good advice on here too. Good luck!

This is brilliant, thank you SO much. I think I will go private with OT if we dont get anywhere with the school.

Im getting the books, and will look into brain gym. I need to make notes!

Ok question 2. We do want to go private with an OT. as they dont exist for his age group (they do for nursery age children and senior school age children apparently).

So, will an OT give us an actual diagnosis?

Can the OT give us exercises like brain gym?

How do I even begin to go about getting a private OT?

Don't do brain gym - it is a waste of money. Other cheaper, generic exercises have the same benefits. Eg TreeFuTom is designed to include exercises for dyspraxia.

For daily life, taking things slowly, breaking skills down & getting lots of practice is critical.

Re NHS OT's - it can be a sheer numbers game, especially in the current austerity climate. (For some reason OT redundancies seem higher than other disciplines in many areas).

The DS overseeing DS has a caseload of over 500 kids. The maths of that tells me DS will never get the same level of state support as he would if we lived in an area where the OT's caseload is only say 25 children. The woman is a genius but even so there are only so many hours in the day, and she is only one individual.

If you demonstrate that you are willing to get stuck in with a programme, you'll get a much better response from someone with a caseload like ours than if you appear to want to passively receive help for your child she knows she'll be unable to deliver. The NHS lady may be more than happy to rec a private bod to you if you ask nicely.

Awareness of the NHS numbers game can also stop you getting too upset at what could be a wide disparity between the amount of help a private report says your kids needs and an NHS one.

Parietal - brain gym doesn't have to cost money - if you looked u recommended YouTube videos- which are free...... Anything that helps a dyspraxic child with co-ordination , and crossing the mid-line , is good surely?

OT's - there is strong co-morbidity b/w dyspraxia and sensory processing disorder.... Have a read see if anything rings any bells.... The reason I say this is then you need to find an OT who has the specialist sensory training.

DS has seen 4 diff OT's and the first 3, made very little difference , the last one has made a huge difference. So my advice is once you find an oT, talk to them about what they hope to achieve, monitor them, if they aren't making a difference, try a different one.

Om thank you. This seems very complex and confusing, I figured an OT would be an OT.

Obviously not. But thanks for the tips.

I am using Speed Up writing programme with some children I teach. It works on gross motor skills, moving through to finer skills. I think you can get the book on Amazon. It could be followed at home if needed- I send homework home to follow up school sessions- the programme won't work with just an hour a week in school (which is the recommended format).

It is quite straight forward, very little needed in terms of equipment- chalk, paint...stuff like that.