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SN children

Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on special needs.

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Original poster

11 son has Dyspraxia ,Huntingdon - looking for others

13 replies

browrich · 18/10/2006 10:47

My son is 11 and has dyspraxia. We do not know any other children his age with it and would like to get him together with other dyspraxia sufferers to show him he is not alone. As a parent I would like to talk to other parents about their experiences. Please feel free to contact me!

OP posts:

RTKangaMummy · 18/10/2006 11:45

My 11 year old DS has dyspraxia as well

He has hypermobile joints too with weaknesses esp in his knees

Saker · 18/10/2006 17:34

Have you seen the Dyscovery Centre message board? It might be worth posting there as a lot of parents of dyspraxic children post.

Also the Dyspraxia foundation has lists of local groups if you wanted to meet up with people in your area.

My Ds2 has dyspraxic symptons among other problems but no diagnosis. He is only 5 though and has social communication difficulties and speech and language problems so probably a bit different to your son. Hope you can meet some people through the links.

Saker · 18/10/2006 17:35

Also I think there are a couple of websites run by dyspraxic teenagers - Matt's hideaway or something ? Sorry I don't know the links but he might be interested to look at those. I think someone on the Dyscovery Centre board would know.

Saker · 18/10/2006 17:38

Me again - here you go dyspraxic teens

Original poster

browrich · 18/10/2006 20:19

Excellent start, many thanks, I will look through the links as soon as I can. My son was diagnosed age 5 but he was our only child and we thought he might grow out of it, and being our first we didn't have much to compare him to. since having our second child (who in complete contrast could join mensa)we have had to get our heads out the sand and look at what the future holds for him! Scary stuff.

OP posts:

Original poster

browrich · 18/10/2006 20:20

RTKangaMummy, excuse my ignorance but is the hypermobile joints associated with the dyspraxia?

OP posts:

Saker · 18/10/2006 22:21

I've just realised you are in Huntingdon, sorry I am being really stupid - I sort of thought it was part of his diagnosis (like Huntingdon's chorea or something) . Anyway I'm not that far away - Newmarket and there is definitely a Cambridge dyspraxia group. I haven't been because Ds2 hasn't got a diagnosis and so I feel a bit of a fraud but you might want to consider it.

RTKangaMummy · 18/10/2006 22:37

no I don't think so it is just another prob that he has BUT it makes the co ordination and running worst and painful

BUT he is G&T with english at school

Original poster

browrich · 19/10/2006 09:20

Didn't make myself too clear did I?!! We live just outside Huntingdon. I will look into the Cambridge group but to be honest I think he just wants to know a couple of people who can relate to him. His friends are good about it but its always nice to meet people like you who you can swap notes with!
RTKanga how does your son cope at school?

OP posts:

Kittypickle · 19/10/2006 15:59

I'm miles away from you bowrich so not much use, but RTKangaMummy, my DD has dyspraxia & hypermobility as well.

mumeeee · 19/10/2006 16:34

My daughteraged 14 often goes on the dyspraxic teen site. she has been using scince she was about 12 and finds it really useful. she has made many virtual friends throgh it and chats away to them about all sorts of things,

Original poster

browrich · 19/10/2006 19:30

Will get him to look on dyspraxic teen sites thanks!!

OP posts:

torontogirl · 14/12/2006 10:04

Hello all. My son has dyspraxia and is 14 now, in year 9. He was not diagnosed until we took him privately to an ed psych in London when he was in year 5, at the suggestion of a tutor we employed to come in and help him with his English once a week, so he was effectively diagnosed by the tutor and not his primary school. They just continually complained about his messy handwriting. His well-regarded secondary school is not well resourced for special needs and the SENCO person seems to change every year. I had to be very persistent with them and he now uses an Alphasmart in class and has an IEP. If your boy has problems handwriting it is important to establish early on in secondary school that he can use an Alphasmart or a laptop or similar on a routine basis so that later on the exam boards will accept this. Some well resourced schools provide these but we had to buy ours. My son was totally useless at catching balls, tying shoelaces (it was Velcro all the way!). It gets better though, my boy now doing OK in most subjects, even PE, lucky he is big and well built, and is fine socially. I dreaded him starting secondary because they had to wear ties and I never thought he would learn to tie one, but he amazed me by doing this very quickly, and has had no problems on that front. (I still don't think he can tie shoelaces though.) Let me know how you get on. I remember how upset my boy was when we first had to tell him, it is very hard, but it does improve with time. Another good book is 'Caged in Chaos' by Victoria Biggs, a 16-year-old girl with severe dyspraxia. She explained a lot of things to me that I had noticed but did not understand the meaning of, such as that my son from a very young age was sensitive to materials in clothing etc, would not wear certain types of cloth (denim, for example) and hated the feel of labels in the back of shirts, t-shirts, I used to have to cut them out. Apparently this sensitivity is something common to people with dyspraxia. Who would have thought?

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