Anyone know about dyspraxia?

[Bursarymum]

I usually post about my older dd who is severely autistic but now I'm concerned about my younger dd who is 6 and in year 1.

She walked very late (20 months) and has a lot of problems with her motor skills generally. At the beginning of the year she was struggling to write her name but she goes to a very school school and has TA support every day and her writing is much improved since then. I still have to put all her clothes on in the morning before she goes to school and she panics about having to get changed for PE. She still struggles with buttons. She can't open a packet of sweets. I remember it took a long time before she could go up and down stairs one foot at a time.

The teacher has suggested she needs to be assessed so I have signed the forms for this to go ahead. I do not think she fits ASD at all. As a baby, her first word was a functional 'no'. Her socialisation with her peers also seems to be normal and she has a lovely group of friends. The problem seems to be with her concentration and motor skills- the teacher says she tries very hard in class but that it's difficult for her to retain stuff that she has been told at carpet time. If there is a problem I would obviously want it to be discovered sooner rather than later.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

very.
dd is hypermobile and drops things easily and has never found knives and forks all that easy. Writing is OK to start (first line or so) but she gets worn out very quickly. She presses the pencil very hard. It is like she is trying to write with thick woolly gloves on. She forgets loads of things and loses everything - she has a working memory on 9th centile - which I understand occurs independently of the hypermobility.
The overlap (if they were two circles of a Venn Diagram) is that the effort of moving takes more concentration, so it is harder to keep short term memory items in mind.

ds is dyslexic-dyspraxic. His first line of writing is as messy as the last. It all looks like a drunken spider. Also disorganised which goes with the dyslexia apparently. Although report provided by uni says he has working memory problems as well.

Touch typing has been the order of the day for both through secondary school.

The hypermobility and dyspraxia were diagnosed by an OT, and the working memory by an EP.

There are exercises that can increase dexterity and in dd's case balance to sit in a chair. And pencil grips, writing slopes and so on to make the writing process easier. If you can get velcro and elastic rather than fiddly zips and buttons it will be easier on dc when there is time pressure to get changed. A clever mum kept the buttons on the outside and sewed the velcro underneath.

My son's school gave him a game called "Rush Hour" which helped with organisation because it fired up the bit of the brain that was not nurotypical (I was told).

To put it all in context - they both have loads of interests and are happy. They are employable and the future looks bright.

Hope soomething in this lot helps

Yes all sound familiar to me. Ds was diagnosed via OT. He gets lots of OT help which does work.

What works best is adjusting around things. Laces - nope, riding a bike - nope. It will come but it's never going to be great. Ds does gymnastics ( he can even hop - very interesting to watch) and singing and dancing classes. Both I feel help.

He did a gymnastics display a while back, I cried with pride - until he left, tripped up a curb head butted a bollard then needed four hours in a&e to have his head glued back up. To say he keeps me busy doesn't cover it

I mean can't hop. He can't cross his mind line either. Gymnastics is hilarious, I can't watch him without chuckling as he has to adapt his own long winded method which looks totally illogical.

Try getting her to touch her nose and other body parts with eyes closed, or reaching with left hand to pick something up on her right side. Ds struggles with this.

Thank you so much for your replies - they are very helpful as this is new to me. I tried asking her to close her eyes and touch her nose and she definitely struggled with that.

School have asked for her to be assessed but they said the quickest route is via SALT so that she could then refer to someone else. Would it be better and quicker if I found a private OT?

Oh she has been doing gymnastics since the age of 3ish but I'm moving her to ballet because she is afraid of the Asymmetric bars. This has certainly helped her gross motor skills.

Yes. It all sounds very familiar. We did it all through school including OT. All been very useful. Son also does trampolining, which is very good for many of his motor skills. I got him a two wheel scooter to help with his balance issues and although it took him ages to get the hang of it, overall it worked really well.

I got school shirts from M&S. Up to age 8 they have shirts that have a Velcro tab for the top button. This helped a lot when changing for PE!

Private ot is expensive here so that's something to think about, also you need to get the nhs to sign off any diagnosis.

How long is the wait for salt? I know it's six months here

I've arranged for her to see Janet Ivin at the beginning of July. She said that she would be able to give me some exercises to do with her over the summer holidays if she does turn out to have dyspraxia. School have said to me that they also suspect dyspraxia so at least we are all on the same page at this point.

Thanks for all your advice.

I remember the doctor in hospital when she was admitted due to being unwell saying that she's hypermobile. I am too but I don't have dyspraxia.

All my kids are very hyper mobile. Genetatist said it's very common for children to be hyper mobile. My dd can do the splits and kids the floor ( not intentionally)