New here, dyspraxia and sensory issues

[Dancergirl]

This is my first time in this board and I'm hoping to get some information to help my dd.

She's 11 and the middle one of 3 girls. She's recently been diagnosed with (mild) dyspraxia. A bit of history - she is an extremely bright child and always seemed a bit 'different' as a baby/toddler, I can't exactly out my finger on it. She's very sensitive and highly strung and as a young child would over - react and get v upset/angry about minor day to day stuff. A big issue is with her eating. She never really took to food from weaning onwards and I struggled for years with her fussiness. As the years went on I started to realise it was not normal run if the mill fussy eating, she had a problem with textures etc. Now at age 11 she still eats a very limited diet. She doesn't eat any fruit or veg to speak of (other than a small bite of apple and broccoli), no wet foods ie soups, sauces etc, no potatoes. She does like plain chicken or salmon which I serve rice or pasta with. Dry cereal at breakfast but I give her a cup of milk.

She has poor co-ordination and can't ride a bike. She does swim now although it took a long time to learn. She struggles with things like tying a bow, doing her hair. I still wash her hair in the bath.

We have recently seen a paed physio who specialises in this sort of thing. She has said there is some dyspraxia and also talked about 'sensory integration'. Does this mean she has a sensory problem? She has recommended certain things for dd to do like rubbing her body hard with a towel after a bath, putting her tongue on the inside of her cheek and rubbing Vaseline into her lips. I don't really understand how this helps. I think she said dd is a very visual person and we need to improve her sense of touch. Will this help her eating?

I have also heard something called retained reflex syndrome. Is this related to sensory issues?

Retained reflexes is just that. Babies are born with certain reflexes such as turning their heads and their arms will follow that direction. Most children loose these as they develop and others need some exercises to help them loose the reflexes. Children who are unable to cross their midline, in other words unable to put their right arm across their body to the left without their head turning will find such things as writing very difficult. We were given an exercise called the robot to encourage my 9 year old ds to cross his midline and this has helped. I believe if you google the robot you can see the exercise. I would think that the difficulty washing her own hair and tying a bow could be down to this maybe!

Sensory issues are often related to the child not knowing where their body is instinctively but also can be related to light, sounds, textures of food and clothing. My ds hates loud noises, doesn't like being in the dark. Some children can have hyper sensitivity and hypo sensitivity meaning that at times they need sensory input (such as throwing themselves on the floor or jumping) and other times they are very sensitive to things.

I agree that seeing an OT to get a report of where your daughter's difficulties lie and also for them to suggest different exercises to help her would be a very good idea. We were very lucky and had this done through a charity. It has given us so much insight that the NHS OT didn't give us.

Thank you, that's v helpful. Is it more an OT area rather than physio? Were are due to see the physio again next month, should we be seeing an OT instead or as well as? How do I find an OT who specialises in this area?

If you can afford to go private you could google Sensory Intergration Therapy in your area and see what comes up.

If not get your GP or school SENCO to refer you to OT at least for an assessment, it is a postcode lottery whether you get any actual help though sadly.

Good luck

Unless there is an underlying physical problem like hyperflexibilty then OT is more suited than physio. It is more practical and focusses on strengthening weaker areas such as coordination and core strength to enable the rest of her body to be well supported and cope with day to day life.

My DS has dyspraxia and sensory issues. He is also hypermobile. Weekly OT/sensory integration therapy has made a huge positive difference to him.

The College of Occupational Therapists list all accredited OTs working in private practice by area/specialism; www.cotss-ip.org.uk/find

I would second the reccommendation to read The Out of Sync Child by Carol Kranowitz and also suggest Sensational Kids by Dr Lucy Miller.

It sounds as though an assessment with an occupational therapist with sensory integration training would be worthwhile.

My dd has just been given the dx of sensory processing disorder and we are told her very limited diet and dislike of 'messy' food is a direct result. She also can't do the things you mention.

The rubbing sounds as though it is to try to help with tactile oversensitivity. Not sure about the other two.