Dyspraxia - finally someone is listening, what can I expect after diagnoses?

[RestingFuckFace]

Ok Im jumping ahead of myself a little bit, but for the first time in 2 years my sons teacher (this year) totally agrees that he is symptomatic of dyspraxia and Tourette's.

By pure coincidence a letter came from a local paeditrician asking his teacher to fill it out. (Id asked the GP to refer him, but he told me there was no point).

The teacher said it does take a while and there is a bit of a fight, which Im prepared for.

But just say he does get seen, he does get assessed and he does get diagnosed with dyspraxia.

What exactly would happen? What would help by having a diagnoses? What would change? School? Appointments? Equipments? Help? Nothing?

Again, I realise Im jumping ahead and there may be more fight, but I was so relieved to finally have a professional (or anyone!) see what Ive been seeing for so long.

If dyspraxia is diagnosed, then first and foremost, dc will stop being blamed for being untidy or slow with writing, or messy with cutlery, or slow at doing up shoe laces etc. And dc will stop blaming himself. That is a massive thing for some dcs. That what they have been blamed for turns out not to be their fault. And that, you can yell at you GP, is the point - stupid GP.

Even now you can be looking at help with sorting pencil/pen grips to be easier on dc's hands for writing. Also, a writing slope helps some kids, and some get a big boost from a particular cushion or a chair that adjust posture in a helpful way. OTs can advise and some specialist shops have OTs in house. Obviously they double as part of the sales team, but a lot sometimes quicker than waiting for an OT to come to school, or to get an OT via GP.

My dyspraxic dc learned to touch type which turned out to be a useful thing to have got out of the way during primary school, as there is so much more writing at secondary school - it really ramps up. It also meant that school copied notes for him. And you get exams - so are the results going to show dc's ability, or will he need to touch type/have extra time? He could get so frustrated if the results make him look less able than he actually is.

Diagnosis will really help when it comes to GCSEs etc to get typing concessions and extra time, and it is much easier to get extra time if the school has been giving extra time in tests and exams in the year or two ahead of the exams. I know it seems a long way off, but the time can go pretty quick.

I hope this helps

Yes really depends on how good your ot is. We get lots of help from ot. Lots of exercises, lots of going into school. Cushion, pen grips. Our pead refers out for other help like physio and podiatary.

My ds is complex so has a few issues and his pead co ordinates his care but I have to keep asking for it.

I pushed our GP to refer DS1 to the paediatrician and she was fantastic. She referred DS to the Occupational Therapist and Speech Therapist and sent out lots of forms for school / us to fill out. The paediatrician the co-ordinated all the information from these different people and hassled school for input from specialist teachers. School already had a report from the Educational Psychologist which was great and all this was put together by the paediatrician. We had a 'telephone appointment!!!' with the OT first who then put us on the list for the actual OT assessment. She also observed him in school. The OT's report was sent to us, the paediatrician and school and the paediatrician said 'he definitely has dyspraxia'. The report made recommendations for school and home. We pushed for more testing from school which showed he had mild dyslexia and the paediatrician referred him for more assessment which showed he had atypical autism.

I have to say all these diagnosis are such a relieve as I have been saying since he was 2yrs old that I was concerned about xyz and told 'he will grow out of it' etc etc. but as he is now 8yrs old it has been recognised.

Anyway what has changed... awareness is the big thing alongside patience and understanding. The dentist and hairdressers used to be a nightmare now they are so much better because they don't think he is being naughty. School tried the suggestions of OT but DS rejected a lot of them because he does not like to appear different.

It does depend on severity. DS finds everything more of a challenge but the problems are not that severe. The different professionals put in recommendations and school has tried to implement all of them.

My main reason for pushing for diagnosis is the transition to secondary school. Primary schools on the whole are very good at adapting and understanding but this is not so easy in a big secondary school. I hope that with everything on paper things will be easier

Good Luck with the process but I found I had to be really on top of what was going on to keep it all on track

We finally got a diagnosis 3 months ago, DD is 15 and in y11.

It has opened doors of understanding at the school with most of her teachers (one I think still thinks she's a pain who doesn't listen, doesn't take notes, and interrupts), and also GCSE concessions.

Transition would have been so much easier 5 years ago if we'd have had the paperwork then.