Ds1 (now 16) was diagnosed with dyspraxia at 13.
His confidence increased through doing music - choir, violin, singing lessons.
He likes institutional settings, as he likes being part of team where someone else can prompt - he finds it difficult to judge how to initiate activities. He has always been enthusiastic about sport where there was a reward of being a team member or an outing or a trip, but less enthusiastic about the sport itself ifysim. He needs a lot of reinforcement to participate in physical activity, it is not self motivated.
He is very polite and likes rules, but at the same time he finds it difficult to judge how to behave in "free" situations. He is therefore very shy socially but comes across as sensitive and likeable. Again, takes no iniative, and takes a lot of things literally.
Sensory issues, he needs a lot of downtime because he gets overwhelmed by a busy day, so a day at school followed by extra curricular activities does not suit him at all. He can barely manage to complete homework after school. Comes across as very lazy, but I perceive it as a form of self preservation before next demands are made.
Very emotional, reactive, but very loving too, and apologises quite quickly, wants to do the right thing. I've had to learn to be quite sensitive and not be hard cop with him when he gets angry, because he needs very calm responses not being shouted at in return. When someone has low self esteem, they take criticism very much to heart.
Ds shows confidence and maturity and good sense in many ways now that he is older, he is the opposite of a fibbergibitt or a socially labile teen swayed by peers(sp?) I respect that in him. Ds is also delightfully enthusiastic and thoughtful about things he likes (in this case films) not sullen or disaffected. So many strengths.
Other things to watch out for, are need to chew (btw he really does need to do this to concentrate, so find sturdy chewable things or gum, or straws to suck drinks through) need for prioprioceptive activity, like heavy knapsacks, heavy work (google)
School work, get school to issue very clear instructions, bullet point homework, and assume child will have a very literal understanding of what is expected and fail to see subtleties. Presentation is also affected with dyspraxia, so school should not criticise for this, or she will feel it is not worth bothering to do the work she has done. Very important to cue school about this, cause of lot of heartache here. Once explained school stopped marking him down for presentation. Ds's handwriting is now fine, slightly slow, but in normal range. It tires him though, so you need to insist that homework is not pages and pages of writing, as I say bullet points rather than pointless lengthy essays when they are young.