Dyspraxia and the 'twitching'

[scorpio1]

Sorry i don't know how else to describe it

DS1 is just 6, and is dyspraxic. He sees the SENCO at school, etc etc.

Anyway, he is very twitchy of late - his hands go up in the air at anything remotely exciting; and im ashamed to say im finding it a little hard. He also cannot really sit 'still' iyswim.

What can i do to help him? I don't think he knows he is doing it. I am quite new to dealing with this so please forgive me.

How is he sitting ? ds has low muscle tone and core stability and if not seated properly (square to desk, feet on floor etc) he has to move about to compensate for a lack of balance. Or is it anxiety/excitmenbt related ?

deffo excitement related. He sits ok but his legs are always on the go when sitting.

agree with looking at posture, my ds finds it physically impossible to sit still unless his feet are firmly ont he floor and his back is against something. Also, it helps ds1 to have something to fiddle with sometimes, to relieve his twitchiness. Ds1 is the same and it used to drive me up the wall, and still annoys dp. He gets very shrill too, but I guess I've gotten used to ignoring it!

Can't remember what it is officially called but it is a sort of instinctive compensating/sensory thing - ds makes "searching" movements with his tongue when he is writing for example and used to chew his coat or collar.

Is it involuntary movements. You know when newborn babies make those jerky moves with their hands well most people stop doing it but in a dyspraxic the thing that kicks in that stops you doing this hasn't and that is why it still happens. I can't remember what it is called. My recommendation is to get the best OT report you can. the NHS ones are not brilliant. if you can afford it (and it is expensive) then get an independent one (I can recommend someone). My son had a two and half hour assessment and a massive report which explained everything. She discovered loads of stuff which we never knew about and really wished we had because it explained a lot.

All the best.

give him a lump of bluetack to fiddle with once you've got posture sorted

My Son is also dyspraxic and does exactly the same. I think his physio called it poor priopreproception (sp?) something to do with a lack of awareness of the position of the limbs and their movement. It is hard to handle sometimes, we are starting a physio course next week to try and improve limb control.
Please e-mail me if you want to chat/further info. I know just how you feel.