HAs anyone got any experience of dyspraxia?

[josben]

DS1 is nearly 8 and i have wondered if he is dyspraxic since he was in year 1, - i've read a couple of books on it but i wasn't 100% sure so I never referred him to anyone...

We went to parents evening last week and DS1's teacher expressed concerns over his co-ordination and other things lkie his handwriting and difficulties in PE - he said he thought he may be dyspraxic, i agreed with him and i asked if DS1 could be reffered to the schools senco...

Anyway - i've not heard anything since - but i was wondering if anyone knew what sort of things could be done to help DS1..?

He has problems physically and socially
TIA

The SENCO cannot assess, but can ask for an Ed Psych to see him in his learning environment and advise. This website will give you a better idea of symptoms etc:

www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/

My dd is mildly dyspraxic. The school advised that I get an OT referral for her - first I got a referal to a developmental paed and she then made the referral to the OT.
The OT did a thorough initial assessment where dd did various activities (drawing following a line, therading beads, jumping, throwing etc - she had a great time!) Following this she got a block of OT at school where they conentrated on these arease where she has difficulty. The OT also gave me various booklets with exercises / activities that could be done at home to help her. They gave the school additional activities.
So IMO an OT referral is teh way to go!

Mine is dyspraxic. Get OT help as soon as you can and if you can afford it get a good quality OT assessment if the NHS doesn't deliver the goods. The waiting lists are HUGE so pay if you can. My son had no therapy until he is now at special school and it has transformed his life.

All the best.

Lots of things can be done to help. My DD (7) saw an OT about 6 months ago. Since then we have been doing exercises both at home and at school that the OT gave us. Specific hand exercises to help her writing as well as exercises for gross motor skills. They have helped with melt downs (she has definately been more calm) & we are on the waiting list for some kind of listening therapy.

my otherwise nt ds is dysprzxic and dyslexia , if you can an idea is writing slope for school which can help,

DS is dyspraxic - awaiting appointment with the Community Pead person...

The doc needed a letter with my concerns to refer us, in all it's taken about 6 weeks for the letter to come from the CP office

They will look into occupational therapy and school could take him out for fine motor skill support if he needs it too (DS gets this - he is in Year 1 atm and has just made a bead gecko that he's ever so proud of)

Anyway... if you want anyone to do anything - go to the GP... it's quickest

my child meets most of the dyspraxic criteria but we didn't pursue it when they were at primary and I very much regret that. An educational psychologist is only any use if they really struggle at school (we have seen one). I suggest asking for an OT referral.

There is a lot you can do to help your son, although if you do you'll never get any other help! Things that help:

fish oil supplements

trampolining - helps co-ordination

sports like fencing or archery that are not team games, possibly swimming

computer games improve hand eye co-ordination, wii fit helps balance

as far as possible get clothes that are easy to remove so he isn't late changing for PE. You can ask for them to be allowed to change early but we just went for velcro shoes and the like

scooters encourage balance

send him to cubs so he can be with younger children. The social problems ease eventually but can be the hardest thing to deal with.

Do everything you can to promote self-confidence. Dyspraxic children can develop their own ways of coping provided their self-esteem is not mangled. The importance of physical dexterity declines when they reach late teens but we've done things like legoland driving license, gokarts, diggerland so that when they reach driving age it will hopefully not be such a big hurdle.

Ds1's official dx is ASD but he also meets pretty much all of the criteria for dyspraxia.

Things that have helped ds1 include:

• sloped writing board. This helps him to get in a better position for writing and gives him more support.

• short exercises to help with his fine motor skills, especially anything to do with using playdough.

• learning a musical instrument, especially something like piano or keyboards. The OT suggested this one. I thought children needed decent co-ordination and fine motor skills to do this but in fact it seems to work the other way around. The exercises have strengthened ds1's hands and wrists and has helped him to develop the co-ordination needed.

• martial arts class. Ds1's gross motor skills have really improved with this. He usually hates sports but really enjoys this.

• wedge-shaped cushion to put on chair. This helps to keep a better sitting position as it's not so easy to slip off the chair. It gives greater stability so that a child can get on with school work instead of concentrating on sitting still.

• make sure your ds' chair is low enough for him to have his feet flat on the floor. This too helps with stability when sitting down.

interesting advice from the OT. People have suggested my child can't be dyspraxic because they play piano. Another thing we managed to get right, then, entirely by accident .