Not sure if i have done the right thing?

[Marne]

As many of you know, dd1 has a dx of Aspergers but i have started to wonder if she may have Dyspraxia. Today i spoke to the HV (on the phone) about my concerns and she is going to contact the school nurse to try and get a referral to the local pead.

I am worried as i don't want to upset dd1 , she is doing well at school but struggles with the social side, she has started to ask questions about why she can't do things that others can etc..
She hates going to the doctors so will be upset when we have to see the pead.

I am not sure if she has Dyspraxia or not as she doesn't tick all the boxes, her hand writing is good (most days) and she can write short stories but she is very slow on her feet, her legs seem weak as does her arms, she struggles to get dressed (can't do up a zip) and doesn't seem to have enough strength in her legs to pedal a bike.

She's getting upset because she can not run as fast as her friends (she runs very stiffly) and last week she got upset because she couldn't stack her chair at school.

I always thought it was just a part of her Aspergers, when she was 3 she refused to walk outside and has always been slow.

Have i done the right thing?

It does sound like it could just be a part of her aspergers. I don't think strength is a part of dyspraxia, its more of a motor control thing. Low muscle tone is something separate.

I do think you have done the right thing though, it sounds like she could do with input from either physio/OT or both and your paed could refer you for that.

ds has a dx of dyspraxia and has slightly low muscle tone, so is weak how you describe, and also runs slowly, couldn't lift a chair etc. The weakness is down to slightly low muscle tone and hypermobile joints in his case though.

I was hoping to get her to see a OT but i don't hold out much hope, i have tried twice to get OT for dd2 with no luck.

Dd1 has always been weak, she's very thin (even though she eats all day), her legs seem to have no muscle in them, she even struggles to push her feet into shoes and she struggles to push doors open.

Its hard to say if she is clumsy as she walks so slowly that she couldn't really bump into things or trip. She has had a few bad falls whilst trying to run (one where she head butted the pavement and didn't put her hands out to stop herself). The low muscle tone is the main worry.

She also struggles with steps and stepping over objects, she seems to swing her legs outwards instead of bending her knee's to step over.

does she have any hypermobility in her joints?

ds used to do the thing of falling and not ever putting his hands out to stop himself, though I actually have no idea which of his issues actually caused it.

I'd have thought the paed would be able to do a quick check of muscle tone too.

She does sit in some odd positions (with her legs bent or with her legs wide apart/splits).

Hi

I don't see that it hurts to get it checked out. It seems that there's a big cross over on the symptoms list for both dyspraxia and AS and I'm not really sure how they cut one off from the other in many cases.

DS is being assessed for ASD (possibly Aspergers) and has low tone and hypermobility. This was picked up by our community paediatrican and confirmed by the consultant paediatrician. We are on the waiting list for OT.

I went to go see the paed when I suspected DS2 had dyspraxia, and he made me feel a bit thick, as apparently dypraxia is under one of the triads of ASD .

DS2 is very strong whith his arms, he can hdo the monkey bars in the park, but get him to walk in a straight line, or even walk normally for that matter and he will stumble, has legs like elastic and all over the place. He also has problems holding a pen, anything small. He was referred to the OT earlier this year, but she couldn't do a full assessment as he wouldn't sit still , so we are still waiting.

No harm in checking, as if your gut feeling proves correct, then your dd1 will get the help she needs.