My 15 yr old DS is autistic and I am wondering lately if he may be dyspaxic too. Even now at 15 he finds it really hard to use a knife and fork correctly. He can't get the rhythm of using the 2 together at the same time and never has - I just let me him eat with the fork and cut with the knife. He also struggles with PE and any type of sport he has never been able to kick or catch a ball BUT he has great rhythm and he loves dance and is a fantastic dancer. In fact he wants to a degree in dance!!!
We tried him on a bike but he never could grasp it without stabilisers. He also cannot drive a dodgem car and gets really frustrated he doesn't have any idea how to turn the wheel and when he does he just spins round and round.
Another thing is he has the most amazingly neat handwriting which is unusual for dyspraxic people, but he is very very slow at writing and uses a laptop in exams because of this.
We are applying for 6th forms and looking at scholarships for his dance and when I said about his lack of co ordination in anything but dance to his dance teacher she was in total shock because she doesn't see him out of dance she hasn't seen him trying to eat, drive a bumper car or kick a ball. We got talking about dyspraxia and she said she has never met a dyspraxic dancer. I have always wondered but never pursued a diagnosis and probably never would now as I don't want it to jeopardise his dance future.
When he was a baby he would literally sit and swing and clap to music from 4 months old completely in the rhythm and hasn't stopped since.
So I would like to know is there such a thing as dyspraxic dancers or can dyspraxic people have rhythm and be able to dance?