Tell me about Dyspraxia

[VictorianSqualor]

DD is seven, her handwriting is terrible, she has dreadful fine motor skills, things that her 3yo brother can do, drawing, buttoning clothes, using a knife and fork, for example, she cannot.

She is clumsy and messy in most everything she does, I had put it down to the fact that she is left-handed but is this all there is to it?

I don't want to be some pushy parent taking up valuable time and resources trying to get her a diagnosis if it's just left-handedness but am obviously concerned that if there is more to it and I put it off it will just hinder her further.

Any advice would be much appreciated, both from people who understand dyspraxia and those who understand left-handedness.

Ask for an assessment gp can refer if school reluctant, have they said anything ? ds is right handed and probably dyspraxic, dd is left handed and not.

All the school have said is that her handwriting is so bad, I'd always assumed it was just because she is left-handed so finds it harder but now I'm noticing more issues with other fine motor skills and combined with her messiness wasn't sure if it had more to it.

To be honest, it sounds like more than left handedness to me - a left hander should still be able to do buttons, and use a knife and fork, even if knife hand and fork hand have to be reversed.

That's what I was unsure about, I have nothing to compare her to iyswim as everyone I know is right-handed but things like gluing and painting at school, she comes home covered head to toe in crap yet all the otehr kids are fine, surely if it's just left-handedness she'd be perfectly capable of co-ordinating, just doing it the other way round?

Thanks Riven.

bump

I have 2 Dyspraxic sons (one just verbal), both right-handed. I know nothing about the whole lefthandedness stuff but on the basis of your description alone I would suggest you speak to your school's SENCO (often a class teacher so it won't be an immediete apptment) and ask if the school will refer to Occupational Therapy for them to have a look. Or you could ask for a referral via your GP but the more involved the school is in the whole process the more joined-up the whole process will be, IYSWIM.
Ultimately OT won't be able to diagnose - it's a medical condition and so has to be diagnosed by a medic - but that will at least get the ball rolling.

Have you looked on the Dyspraxia Foundation website for information? (www.dyspaxiafoundation.org.uk).

I think 6 or 7 is quite a common age for parents to realise that their clumsy child might be a bit more than a little bit clumsy or late in their motor skills development.

Hi VS, I have a DD with dyslexia and dyspraxia and from all that you say I think there is more to this than simple left handedness in a right handed world. My DD is now 8 and regularly falls over, has little balance and can't ride her bike yet, poor fine motor skills are now less noticeable.

We asked our GP for a OT referral using the checklist on the dyspraxia foundation site as evidence indicating her need for a referral. However the OT will only intervene in those cases they have funding for in our area and because she could essentially dress and feed herself they recorded some impairment but signed her off as no further work required. So you may get some therapy if she needs help to dress / feed herself.

HTH

Sorry - should be www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk

TBH, It's not really that I want any help for it as such, she is able to get herself dressed just might ask me to do her buttons, just to know if that is why she is the way she is and maybe get some more understandng for it than just a 'must try harder' routine with her writing and things at school.
Whatever reason she struggles so much with her writing etc I feel she needs more support with it, because she is a good reader she is in the higher literacy group at school but is being expected to keep up with the writing side of it too and finding it near impossible.
I'm going to speak to her teacher about it today.

Try a book called "Write From the Start" - you can get it on Amazon and it's great for helping all children improve their handwriting, but particularly dyspraxic children. It's by Ion Teodorescu & Lois Addy (and is actually in 2 books).

As for buttons, I would teach her how to do them yourself, step by step - she ought to be able to do buttons by now, but some children just need to be shown these things in simple stages, first, and made to feel good about doing it so that they are willing to practice until they no longer find it difficult.

As for left-handed tips, even if you don't want extra direct help from an OT, OTs do have self-help sheets on issues caused by left-handedness and problems with fasteners (ie buttons, zips, laces and so on). See if you can get access to those so that you can help your daughter more, yourself.

It's definitely worthwhile trying to find ways to help your daughter, now, before she starts to lose confidence and feel that maybe she is lazy or stupid, because everyone is criticising her for not improving quickly enough.