Dyspraxia

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

I am struggling at the moment with whether to ask the SN coordinator at my daughter's school for help as I am concerned dd1 may be dyspraxic.

It will only be mild (I think) as from my understanding (at the moment) dd1 who is now 7 only displays some of the characteristics. She is very uncoordinated, cannot balance on one leg safely, hates PE, struggles with riding a bike, cannot tie shoelaces, falls heavily and often and can become very distressed about what seems to be inconsequential things. I hear from her teacher that dd1 has a tendency to cry when things are changed (i.e. moving tables) or when things are done differently to the way she wants to do them. I see that at home she also struggles with some noises particularly at breakfast when others are eating around her. She has nightmares and has trouble sleeping regularly.

She was not developmentally delayed as she was walking on her first birthday and her speech and language skills are very good, though her writing and presentation is messy and poorly organised she is improving and her vocabulary and reading ability are ahead of her peers. She hates maths but appears to be capable of attaining the curriculum level for her age group.

Getting dressed is a struggle most mornings and she struggles with following instructions despite appearing to have excellent recall when it comes to Katie Perry songs or facts about tornadoes!

I really do not know what is best as I suspect that her clumsiness and emotional fragility will be a problem as she leaves cosy primary school and moves up to middle school in 18 months. But as she is doing well in school in english particularly - her teacher loves her and commends dd for her kindness and sensitivity to others. DD is very in tune with her emotions and cares about people she is friendly and open.

Is there actually any benefit to exploring dyspraxia as an explanation for her problems? If she is just tall, very clumsy and sensitive (much like me in many ways) then will this process just make her feel like she has a problem without an easy solution? There are members of my family with Autism, I do not see dd1 as on the spectrum but I don't know enough about dyspraxia to understand what a diagnosis might mean for dd? Can anyone help me understand? Thank you for reading this

I would say that if you have concerns you should speak to your GP and see what they say. I don't know much about dyspraxia, I always thought it was just coordination problems/clumsiness and had no idea until recently just how many things it could affect. Definitely get it checked out, if nothing is wrong then great, if something is then you and she will know and you can perhaps get some exercises or something that can help with coordination, it may increase her confidence if for example she feels clumsiness isn't her fault (one of my daughter's is terribly clumsy and uncoordinated at times but extremely coordinated at others and it is frustrating)

I'd like to second nonickname's comments. There's nothing to lose by seeking a diagnosis. I'd go straight to a GP and ask for a referral to a paediatrician. For our ds, even though he's not been given any treatment as such, the OT assessment he got following on from diagnosis opened our eyes to why he behaves the way he does. We discovered little things we can do to help him and a diagnosis made it easier to persuade school to make a few adjustments, like letting him get up and move about regularly. I think dyspraxic children start to notice that they're a bit 'different' more and more as they move up through school, and a gap starts to open up between them and their peers. I think my ds finds it helpful to know there's a reason for it, and he's not just clumsy or stupid.