Dyspraxia

[Purplelady1]

For those of you with children with dyspraxia, could you please tell me what your first ports of call where in getting a diagnosis? I have had suspicians (is that right) regarding my DS for quite a while now and things mentioned on a previous thread by TinselAngel such as poor handwriting, messy eating, not understanding jokes, sound remarkably like my DS. His reading ability is excellent and his teacher says his english is very good but his maths is extremely poor. He can also recite every episode of Spongebob!

[Helen uk]

With our Ds whos 22 now it was the school and they arranged for an educational sicologist(SP) to come in and do simple tasks.

From there he had to go to different places and was then statemented.

Think its still rufly the same now.

[signtalker]

speak to the SENCO at the school(special educational needs co-ordinator), explain that you would like to get your son assessed and they will arrange an appointment for an ed sych to come in, then it goes from there really.
Jules

[mazz]

to cut straight to the chase you can talk to the school teacher and senco and ask if they have similar concerns, if they agree you can write letter to the head asking for your child to be assessed by a educational pyschologist, the school may agree to this without a letter but they will not bring a person in to assess unless they agree your son has problems and needs some extra help

so

if school is not playing ball then you make double appt with GP, discuss your concerns with him ask for your child to be referred through him to a peadiatrician once you have seen him/her they can refer on to a occupational therapist for further assessment and help

[mazz]

Sounds a bit like Aspergers but I'm not well up on it, try the health visitor or school nurse.


Trish, no offence intended here i'm just curious but do you honestly believe a comment like this helps the original poster? who is quite obviously a worried and concerned mum

if you are not well up on it how can you comment that it sounds like her child has Aspergers?

[Rebelrebel]

Apologies to OP, I have removed what I said and did not intend to cause alarm and did state that I did not know much about the condition. I think my point was that these symptoms can tick many boxes and it is best to discuss it with a professional.

[Purplelady1]

Thanks Mazz. I think I will try the GP approach as I dont think the school have any concerns about my DS. I did ask them a couple of times last year if they've noticed him 'bouncing' around. (like Tigger) but they said no. He's told me he does it in the playground (although he doesn't know he's doing it at the time) and his friends call him a baby (he's 8). When he gets dressed he'll go in his room, put a t-shirt on, bounce out again, go back, put his trousers, bounce out, go back.etc. When I say "put your shoes and coat on", he'll put the shoes on and forget about the coat, so I have to tell him again.

I didn't take any offence RebelRebel, so don't worry!

[Rebelrebel]

Thanks Mazz. I think I will try the GP approach as I dont think the school have any concerns about my DS. I did ask them a couple of times last year if they've noticed him 'bouncing' around. (like Tigger) but they said no. He's told me he does it in the playground (although he doesn't know he's doing it at the time) and his friends call him a baby (he's 8). When he gets dressed he'll go in his room, put a t-shirt on, bounce out again, go back, put his trousers, bounce out, go back.etc. When I say "put your shoes and coat on", he'll put the shoes on and forget about the coat, so I have to tell him again.

I didn't take any offence RebelRebel, so don't worry!

Thanks {hug} and good luck, I know how trying it can be.

[Jaybeez]

I just wanted to say good luck and be persistent. My daughter is dyslexic and the school just insisted that she was quiet and stubborn. It was hard work getting her diagnosed, (with no help from the school), but well worth it in the end. The school changed their approach to teaching her which improved her schoolwork immensely and she was far more confident as she knew she was dyslexic and not 'stupid', (her words not mine). :wavey:

[Diggity-Dog]

M eldest son (14) has dyspraxia (and dyslexia, dyscalculia and ? Asbergers) and received diagnosis via the hospital when he was about 6. It was by accident as I had been told by the community paediatricain the DS had some devlopmental delay, would catch up and they did not like putting labels on children. DS used to pull some starnge faces a bit like a grimace and when he was sitting watching TV or listening to his teacher he wouldn't be able to sit still, an arm would go up in the air or he would lean to one side or rock but all the time he would concentrating so it wasn't an attention issue. He was referred to a neurologist who spent some time with him before saying that his muscle tone and history (he never crawled was late walking at this point struggling with dressing, using cutlery, writing etc) was typical of Dyspraxia. The doctor wrote it in DS's notes and the medical help snowballed from there. Over the years he has been invovlved with various different health professionals, occupational therapy physio, speech and language. His primary school put him forward for asssessment for an SEN statement, and through this process worked with educational psychologists and special educational needs support teachers.

Health can refer to Education and vice versa so visit your GP, School Nurse, SENCO anyone to get the ball rolling. You can also contact your Local Education Authority SEN Assessment team and request your child is assessed.

It may be that your child will not need a statement but it will bring your child to their attention.

Dyspraxia straddles both educational and medical professions. I would recommend to any parent regardless of the severity of their childs Dyspraxia to bring the professionals together by getting the schools SENCO (special educational needs co-ordinator) to invite health professionals in to formulate a care plan in addition to the SEN statement.

Other things which I know other parents have done is to record their child displaying any of the behaviours they are concerned about, there has been many occassion when I have been worried about something and the DS has done the exact opposite during a visit or asssessment, only to walk out and resume what I've just spent 10 mins trying to describe!

The diagnosis can be just the beginning, but there is so much more help now then there was just 10 years ago, contact the Dyspraxia Foundation they will be able to give you specific info for your area, and not to be negative but DS still takes three times longer than the other 2 to get dressed! And - he never remembers what it is he is supposed to be looking for.

Lastly you know your child, dont be put off.

Sophie. :wave:

[TinselAngel]

Hi - don't know if you got anywhere with this, but as you mentioned my post I thought I'd chip in. My DS (11) was diagnosed at age 7. His school picked it up within 2 weeks of him starting there (we had moved house so he changed school for KS2). School recommended that we should contact our GP and said that they would follow up with the ed.psych from their side. He ended up getting lots of help and understanding that he wouldn't have had otherwise, and it helped him to understand why he was 'a bit different' to the other kids and not good at sports etc. If you really think your child is dyspraxic, it's well worth following it up because your child can only benefit from the extra support. Good luck - life's easier without dyspraxia, but it's not the end of the world, and the support is there if you know where to look. Best wishes

[loadsapixiedust]

I'd recommend the educational psychologist (contact either via school or the LEA) as first port of call, as your concerns seem mainly centred on school and education. They have the widest experience of a range of special needs and will be the people who would co-ordinate any input at school. GPs are generally quite inexperienced in this field and can give quite unhelpful or even misleading advice in my experience.

Be wary of putting a lot of emphasis on getting a diagnosis. In many cases there is not a simple single diagnosis and a child can have elements from a range of disorders. It is more helpful to look to the needs of the child and any assistance they may benefit from. Even small aids and adaptations to the learning environment can make big positive changes.

Wishing you all the best as you start on what may be a long and difficult journey.

[dismum]

My son is now 19 and doing a law degree at UWE .He was diagnosed at age 10 within 2 weeks of changing schools as his old one would not accept there was a problem.
He under went ed psych reports regularly,physical therapy and is still under a behavioral optometrist who diagnosed that his eyes were not focusing and functioning together so he now wears bi focal glasses.
Having been diagnosed a whole new range of help became available to him -most importantly being given leave to do his GCSE and A levels on a computer with extra time allowed -essential given his handwriting .He has now been given a whole new range of educational assistance from extra exam time to speech recognition software ,recorders to tape his lectures as he finds it hard to keep up with note taking and a printer to help with his course work.
He still finds somethings difficult -like tidiness and organization but is learning to live with his condition but his room at UWE is a sight to behold!

Keep going at the school until you get a result and I hope you don't have to go the private route like we did as no one was listening to me and had me labeled as a fretting mother.

[dawn ann]

hi as i mum of a dyspraxic boy who is 2 years behind his age (10 ) we have knowen since pre school and yes it has helped but u have always got to be one step a head every new school year to make sure that teachers are aware , can anyone help as he is getting close to secondery school i am really panicing don't think he will mange the time concept of class in secondery his routine is all going to be mixed up and they can take ages to settle in any dvise would be gratefull ta dawn ann xx

[Jedi_Angie]

Contact the school a year or so before he's due to start and ask to speak to their Special Needs Coordinator (might be called something else where you are). Explain your concerns and ask what they can do to help. Got to be worth a try, and I'm sure they'd rather hear from a concerned parent too far in advance than hear nothing and have an upset & confused child on their hands first day.

[lotti]

my ds school had suspicions like myself and they said they would put him through the process of being assesed, but they wernt moving quick enough for me( i know they have to go through a process)so at the same time as the school were doing there assesments i went down the route of seeing my dr to be refered and i had a full diagnosis before the school had sent for the educational cycologist. so id suggest you go down both routes at the same time.

[spider]

Although my son was diagnosed with ASD when he was 18 months old, I had also had my suspicions that there was something wrong with his "spacial" awareness - he can't throw a ball properly (even now at nearly 13), he is forever treading on peoples toes, he has some great fine motor skills but then some pretty lousy ones!!!

No Ed Psych or ASD specialist ever mentioned Dyspraxia, it was picked up later when we had a fantastic Speech Therapist (she was American and so clued up on ASD and Dyspraxia). She said it was obvious from this Dyspraxic speech patterns so I was glad that I wasn't imagining it.

TBH, I have never gone down the route of getting him fully diagnosed, he has enough of a diagnosis of ASD, but what was very useful when he went to Secondary Special School was the Occupational Health Therapist (Australian this time!!!).

She asked me why his reports didn't have is Dyspraxia diagnosis on, thinking it was just missing, but said I had never had a formal diagnosis!! She was very surprised, but over the past 18 months she has found that there are alot of children in this country undiagnosed.

She also thinks he has Sensory Integration Deficit (SID) which is apparently very common in ASD children, which again can be linked to Dyspraxia, it is about how children/adults feel things through touch and if the like/dislike being touched also.

So, in my experience, the "experts" for me have been a Speech Therapist and an Occupational Health Therapist, but I agree with lots on here, your first port of call would be the SENCO at school.

Good luck!

[dawn ann]

Contact the school a year or so before he's due to start and ask to speak to their Special Needs Coordinator (might be called something else where you are). Explain your concerns and ask what they can do to help. Got to be worth a try, and I'm sure they'd rather hear from a concerned parent too far in advance than hear nothing and have an upset & confused child on their hands first day. thanx for the advice hun xx

[happy08]

Our DS who is now 7 was said to have verbal dyspraxia when he was 4yrs. The health visitor said it was because he was the 2nd child and thats why he hadn't spoken at the age of 2 yrs. We finally got her to refer him to a speach therapist at 31/2 yrs who then said straight away what was the matter. He has had speach thereapy ever since and got a statement when he was 51/2 to get the extra help he needs at school.

He doesn't have the 'normal' traits and can play sport well, has no problem with eatting or his social behaviour - making friends easily. He does find the english lang hard and can't spell (like me) if the word can't be sounded out and he doesn't understand past and furture tense.

I found the American sites had more information about dyspraxia and people actually know what you are talking about when you say your child has it. I would find out as much as you can about it so you understand what it is and tha traits that you think your child has as so many in this country don't know about it.

The school are good but I don't think they know that much about dyspraxia and when I went in saying he was having major tantrums they just dismissed them as they weren't happening at school even though I did prove that he was having them because he was finding the school work hard and no one was helping him.

Good luck :wavey: