dysTalk Dyspraxia Diagnosis - Dyspraxia - Forum - dysTalk

Any info on when it is possible to diagnose dyspraxia would be greatly appreciated. Is it possible to pick this up in a pre-schooler? Or is it only possible to diagnose later?

19/05/2009 10:11:37
Kate

Unfortunately dyspraxia is very hard to diagnose early / in pre-schoolers. I was just watching Helen Likierman's myths of dyspraxia talk (on this site) and she outlined a couple of reasons why its so difficult to pick up dyspraxia early. Firstly nervous systems mature at different speeds in children therefore making it hard to tell if a child has an underlying problem that won't go away or whether it's simply a matter of immaturity. Secondly some children don't have the opportunity to practice fine motor skills and therefore could be struggling for this reason rather than an underlying problem.

20/05/2009 11:52:05
Abi22

i have just been looking into this condition as i have a 7 yo who was diagnosed with epilepsy as a baby and medicated for it,she has no strength in limbs,gross motor function or processing abilities,cant climb,co ordinate and balance iis two left feet,on eegs they never noticed seizure activity but put it don to her beiing medicated,she had repeated seizurea as a baby for no reason,but nothing ever showed why,i just found my cousin after 20 yrs,her son had asperges and motor dyspraxia,iis it possible my daughter is the sme but been mis diagnosed,only difference,her iq is well below and at 52 at age of 7.cant hold a pencil or anything.please reply

14/06/2009 09:44:11
wendy waihape

hi. i have an 8 year old who i believe has dyspraxia. he is two years behind his peers academically and has many of the traits. school is not really interested in my concerns. just wanted to ask what i can do to find out

19/06/2009 22:51:54
jennifer sedge

I am an adult (female) in mid-forties, finally getting a name for what I was suffering throughout my life in social, educational and day-to-day living. I'm due to see a gp tomorrow for adult referral to specialist but not sure if he knows where to refer me to.

am expecting aspergers diagnostic assessment (with a long wait) here locally since I had a sympathetic CMHT.

you don't get to read much about dyspraxia on adults in my opinion?

Help!

30/07/2009 12:34:31
Flyingladybird

WOW. I dont know where to start. It was mentioned in conversation with a doctor friend to look up Dysphraxia and I think I have that eureka moment.

I was 31st in a class of 31, then 29th in a class of 30 at age 12/13. As I am now approaching 58 I feel that I have not been able to fufil some (not all) of my career expectations. I am in a stressful job which I constantly ask my colleagues ''what to do to get over this or that'' and tommorrow when I get the same problem I wont remember how to sort it out. I want to find a simpler job but think that I will be 'doing myself down' as I am a fairly inteligent person.

I have forgotten so much.

13/08/2009 19:19:08
Dave Sirrcomone

Prehaps people should look into to effects of drug addiction while the child is developing in the womb. The first 3 month of developement for an unborn is critical on the developement of their brain I have been told. Maybe the cause is alcohol or an STD contracted by the mother.

26/08/2009 02:28:44
Dene Pianta

Dene Pianta, my wife has never taken drugs, never had an STD. She had a normal delivery with no drugs during labour. Our daughter still has dyspraxia. I think you will find that the majority of parent who have children diagnosed with dyspraxia are in the same situation. Your comment isn't very helpful.

03/09/2009 16:31:48
Martin (Member)

I am a 49year old single woman who has been living on benifits for the last 10years. who has always struggled with learning whilst I was at school. I left with out taking any exams but had always worked untill I had my children.This is when my problems really came to light I could not muilty task. Then last year I noticed that my children seemed to be having simula problems as myself in December my Daughter who's 11 was told that she had Dispraxia my son who is 13 is still waiting to be assessed and i'm having even bigger problems because there is Huntingsdon in my family i have to be assessed for that first. The problem is my children are really struggling at school and I don't know where to turn to get the help that they both need as my education is very poor I find i'm unable to help them. I been going to adult learning for three years and completed a gcse in english but my maths is dreadful I need support for this and I'm unable to get this with out an assessment for Dypraxia. Can any body offer me any help

14/10/2009 14:16:25
lesley Trundle

Completely agree with Martin that Dene Pianta's comment in not very enlightened. My son has dyspraxia and I didn't drink during pregnancy, not have I had any drug addictions nor STD. I had a standard delivery without drugs. I am an intelligent university educated woman. My elder daughter is on the government's gifted and talented scheme. My son is equally, if not brighter than my daughter, however his lack of fine motor skills make school a challenge - although he knows all answers - yet today's school system does not support children well who face challenges such as dyspraxia and dyslexia. I have found this site very informative, but feel upset to see comments such as D. Pianta's.

16/10/2009 14:34:18
Mother from Marlow

I wonder if Dene has any evidence for the claims she makes in her post or is she just talking out of her backside?

16/10/2009 18:36:00
Pauline

Dear All,

The post from Dene Pianta from 26th August has understandably caused offence among many on the dysTalk forum. We certainly agree with the consensus of the community that the points expressed by Dene Pianta are ill informed and as far as we can tell without any basis whatsoever. A central part of dysTalk's ethos is to try to discredit myths and misconceptions regarding learning difficulties. Therefore we feel it's better to leave such posts up and allow people to respond than to delete them all together.

Please do let me know if you disagree with this approach (josh@dystalk.com). We are always delighted to hear feedback.

Best wishes from the dysTalk team.

18/10/2009 12:55:21
Josh (Member)

Where do I need to go to get a diagnosis?

I'm a student with ADHD and I've been diagnosed with that. I've figured out for some time that I've dyspraxia as well. I've always been very clumsy and still trip over my feet sometimes!

Thanks

24/10/2009 17:07:39
Student in bristol

My 7year old son has been diagnosed with dyspraxia and has a reading and writting ability of reception age children what would my chances be of having him statemented. He already has extra help in school as another pupil has a statement. He had a percentil score of 92 when the head psych did the tests. But his IEP plan has remaind the same for 18 months am i worried over nothing.

03/11/2009 21:34:13
s smith

Hi S Smith,

I have a 7 year old daughter with dyspraxia. She was diagnosed while in reception. So for the last 3 years she has had IEP's. We had an appointment with the ed psych. We were allowed a 45 min appointment and she met our daughter once. There was no way she would grant her a statement, she wasn't bad enough. My wife and I put in a lot of extra work in at home to try and help our daughter. Unfortunately our efforts are not match by the school system.

Fight for everything that you can for your son. I am feel that it is my duty to fight for my daughter, our school SENCO's favourate line is ''there are children far worse than your daughter.'' My response is, ''I thought the governments line on education was every child counts!!'' So far she hasn't been able to respond.

Our daughter only gets 20 mins a week for extra handwriting lessons. Though in her SATs and end of year reports her english scores were that of a child in reception.

Keep fitting and Keep posting

06/11/2009 15:02:16
Martin (Member)

I have been told today that my 3.5 year old is showing signs of Oromotor dyspraxia! He has the speech and language skills of a 18 month - 2 year old and some issues with his fine motor skills. His gross motor skills seem fine although he does have muscle siezures in his legs. He was also profoundly deaf from 1 - 2 years and has now restoreed hearing in left and 60% in right ear. Not sure where to go with this as struggling to find information on anything rather than motor dyspraxia. Have been told if it is this he will struggle to speak properly at all. very worried and would appreciate any advice.

11/11/2009 14:56:52
Emcgabs

Hi Emcgabs

A good place to look for more information is the dyspraxic foundation. Put dyspaxic foundation into google and click on professionals.

11/11/2009 19:45:22
Pauline

Apologies I should have put the dyspraxia foundation.

11/11/2009 19:49:10
Pauline

my son is 10 and feel guilty as i thought he was just not listening to what i was saying he's been tested for dyspraxia.

19/11/2009 10:41:38
jackie

My son age 3 going 4 just been diagnosed as dyspraxia as he suffer speech delay. He had epilep as early as 9mths. and suffer a few within 2 yrs at least twice a year. The epilep been taking care of and speech starting to develop with a 3 letter sentence. indeed he might suffer some stress as unborn as he is born premature with a twin brother but the brother could not make it. He was realized at age 4mths and same time loss his father on a plane crash. a week after the grandfather pass away with colon cancer. He is now at pre-school particularly high interest on math. able to recognize 1-20 He memorize all the alphabets but no interest in writing. Please help on proper way to hold pencil as we realize he is lefty. Thank you

29/12/2009 07:33:05
Sri

Hi, newbie here - so bear with me! Our son was diagnosed dyspraxic just after turning 6, mainly due to poor motor skills and failing to sit still/up in class etc.

We are told he is a classic case, despite being academically sound, with an excellent reading age etc. Strangely (well, we find it strange!) he can perform some tasks that seemingly require decent motor skills (such as skipping - he can skip 60-70 times on the trot) very well, but with other things, such as riding a bike, tying shoelaces etc, he struggles badly.

We do our best to get him involved in physical activity, as it is clear he has poor muscle tone, and he particularly enjoys football, playing for a little league team every Saturday, and is a good swimmer.

I guess what I wanted to ask was two things:

1: how other parents manage to motivate kids with dyspraxia to tackle the things that cause them difficulties. We try time and time again to get our son to practice things like tying laces, going on his bike, drawing/cutting etc, but have precious little success.

2: how do other parents help their kids deal with comments from other children re dyspraxia. As mentioned, my son plays football (soccer) but obviously finds it a particular challenge, and one or two of the other boys have begun making nasty comments to him about his ability. Should we keep encouraging him to play? At the moment, we've decided to just keep giving him encouragement and wait to see if he wants to continue playing or not.

Sorry for the rambling post - just so many worries and questions! Just to finally say that I couldn't be prouder of my boy, who is just the most loving, funny and good-hearted kid I could ever wish for.

30/12/2009 09:33:06
fazza1970 (Member)

My son was diagnosed as Dyspraxic at 8 years old. During his high school years he struggled with his vision - vision tests were fine but on consulting a specialist optician we found that the muscle tone in his eyes was poor so he couldn't change focus between looking at the teacher, the whiteboard, a book, or writing on the desk in front of him. However,the point I want to make here is that the specialist optician said to me that children with this type of problem are very susceptible to lots of other types of problems - almost like having a low immune system, but not just that. I don't really know how to explain it - but it really has been the case here. As a child - urinary tract problems which led to 5 years continual use of regular antibiotics, asthma (not in the family), febrile convulsion, the eye problem, skin rashes every time he got so much as a cold, styes on his eye. He is now 18 years old with a skin condition that the GP thinks is impetigo but which has not been solved by 2 courses of antibiotics. I wondered if anyone else has experienced this side of Dyspraxia?

17/01/2010 00:31:27
Mum of 3

mum of 3 we have an 8 year old son with dyspraxia and he has twice been in hospital with croupe (sp) which is where his airways close up and is very frightening also very high temperatures that take days to control and often suffers with his eyes (ie gets very mucky around them...)also he as recently been withdrawn from school as they have no patience with him...it seems that the education system only want to work with the more intelligent pupil...

19/01/2010 22:28:45
janice martin

Hi, I would appreciate some advice, my son is nearly 7, his class teacher has asked us to get him referred for assesment as she suspects dyspraxia. But I have my reservations about this, he reached all his milestones physically at or before expected age. But now his reading is not good and he can be a bit clumsy (usually when running)however he learnt to ride a bike at 5 was climbing trees at 3, he can swim, play rugby, he says that he is just bored in school and doesn't like reading. Sorry for the ramble but I am very confused & concerned especially as the school now seem to have given up on him. thanks

19/01/2010 23:40:17
Michelle

i need to find out if my son does suffer from dyspraxia he is having problems in school and some of the things that are noted in the video he shows signs of please help don't no where to go to have him tested.

28/01/2010 17:57:02
miss c hazelden

I am 57 years old and finally coming to terms with the fact that something is not right with my brain and motor functions. I joined an Aikido self defense class and the struggle to understand the simplest direction and then remembering how to do it in the next minute is mind numbing to say the least. My entire life has been like this and I need answers. I live in a very small town and do not know where to start, other than reading as much as possible on the internet and I know in my heart and mind that I have dyspraxia. When I read the symptoms listed on various sites all I could do was cry as just about every one was me!! I have been trying to connect with a neurologist but was told to find a neuropsychologist instead. The initial feeling of not being alone with this problem is quickly being replaced with frustration on what to do next. My friends aren't helping as they don't believe it is real, or that I should just try harder and I could sure use some straight forward advice right about now.

05/02/2010 02:37:54
Randy

Hi all,

My little man Harvey is 6. We have been told two things this week which as not only confused us as a family but confused the school also!

We have been told that Harvey DOES NOT have Dsypraxia and his problems fit under a general umbrella of DCD. We were told this by his OT.

Then today I received a letter from a Locum Consultant saying that he DOES have Dyspraxia!

I take it from reading a bit here, that either way its the same??

Fazza1970, my son presents pretty similar to yours to be honest! His problems were picked up in reception class as he struggled with handwriting, zips, getting dressed/undressed and generally disorganised! School mainly had concerns around his fine motor skills. Interestingly, the OT's felt he had more of a problem with Gross motor skills, ie balance and having a wobbly core!! He finished a 6 week skills group with the OT's before christmas and we are STILL waiting for the report.

From my POV his main problems are:

Handwriting/Drawing

Bike - will he ever ditch the stabilizers?!?

Swimming - holding himself up in water - altho is out of armbands, swims front crawl legs and breast stroke arms!

Gymnastics - has failed grade 6 as struggles with hopping and holding his tummy up.

Getting dressed - Takes agess and frequently end up with things on wrong. Has a real ''thing'' about his socks!!

General attention - can appear really ''vacant'' and needs telling a trillion times to do the simpliest of tasks!

I personally feel Harvey's problems are quite minor, and wonder if anyone would even notice! The problem I have is a lot of the symptoms of dyspraxia can be quite ''normal'' for 5/6 yr old boys! and I have brought Harvey up as single mum between the ages of 2 and 5, and wonder if I had inadvertantly held him back with things like zips, getting dressed etc as I always did it for him!! and interestingly academically he is incredibly bright! He can tell you anything about anything, has an incredible memory for things and his reading is fantastic! At home he is reading James and the Giant Peach!!

Love him to bits (obviously!) but my god, i find him frustrating! Funny thing is, we all agree, he is just like me as a child, and i'm completely convinced (from all the reading!) that I have elements of dyspraxia!!I'm rambling now....

05/02/2010 23:58:53
lealea (Member)

I've just been reading loads of everyone's posts and wanted to share some of our experiences with you.....Our son, now 10, was always a bit different from the rest of his class - very bright, but fidgety, poor motor skills on some things (not everything), poor organisational skills, terrible handwriting, easily distracted, great on a 1:1 basis but not at his best when in a class of 25-30 - you get the picture.

This surfaced in school as early as foundation stage, although I knew earlier that this he was different. Was formally assessed at 8 years - verdict some ADHD and some dysraxia - mild/medium severity. School has been good overall and have tried to support accordingly - although there are limits as to what can be done in a large class, so home support has been vital. Callum was not statemented as not bad enough, but even the teachers recognition that he wasn't just being naughty did help enormously - plus I felt happier this wasn't all in my imagination.

Anyway, enough of the ramblings! Although Callum is still not the same as his peer group, the differential has levelled out - he's quirky with a real personality, rather someone to be avoided. His school work is still more a trial for him than others, but he does understand this and on the whole knuckles down and just sees his ''challenges'' as something to contend with, just as some kids have poor eyesight and need glasses. His handwriting isn't wonderful but probably in the bottom third of his class rather than a class of his own! What is helping too is his enrolment on a touch typing class for kids - TTRS. Designed originally for dyslexic kids/people but he's finding it helpful too and if necessary will sit some of his future exams using a PC.

It has helped as he got older to be able to explain things and his attitude has matured too - but we now realise that just takes time. His once battered self esteem is now stronger, with only an occasional blip - but only after hours of encouragement, pointing out his achievements, his talents and not letting him get hung up on the negatives (not always so easy when you're worried sick yourself!)

So my message is to hang in there, keep doing whatever you feel is helpful - but not to the point when you and your child are overfaced with all the extra things you might need think you need to do - remember to enjoy life too! My key lesson was keeping a sense of perspective on this - he's a wonderful, loving, zany, bright, frustrating child but the most important thing I gave him was love and support - in a positive, but not rose tinted, way.

All the redoing the same thing for the umpteenth time does eventually help, and try to remain patient - they're frustrated too and are not doing this to wind anyone up, even though you may feel let banging your head on the wall. Things for us have got better and I now feel more optimistic than ever before - they DO grow into themselves and find aspects of themselves where they either shine and/or are happy in their skins. Hoping you find this out too.....

10/02/2010 13:09:39
Susan J

my son is 25 years old and though while at school he had a statement, it was for behaviour and hearing problems. He has self harmed since before being a teenager and finds life hard. with no official diagnosis he blames himself for falling over things and putting his shoes on the wrong feet and calls himself thick for not understanding what people are saying to him. He is currently in a mental health hospital after slashing his wrists so badly, but will be discharged without the care he needs to live his life understanding whats 'wrong'. as a mother i have lived a desperate life with paul never knowing whats coming next. Oh, and when he was a child i used to scream at him because i thought his behaviour was done purposefully. i now know differently so am riddled with guilt as well as frustration that this immature 25 year old cant look after himself and nobdy wants to help. there is plenty more but i'm tired after looking for him in leeds city centre after running away from hospital...the police found him and returned him

21/02/2010 22:43:01
hilary spence

Hilary I hear you and understand some of the things that you are going through, at times I too have felt totally isolated as I have struggled to fight an education system and keep relationships together. I think to some degree this is what every parent whose child does not fit the ''system'' goes through.

Try to stay with the present and don't beat your self up over past actions. I shoudn't think there's a parent out there who hasn't felt some guilt over there parenting skills at some time.

03/03/2010 20:03:48
Pauline

Try Googling ''fish oil and dyspraxia''

22/03/2010 17:15:58
Mary McLoughlin

I think my 8 yr old daughter may have mild dyspraxia. She has no motor problems but it is her organisation in her brain that seems to be affected. The things that cause concern are inability to link 2 instructions; she is very forthright in what she says; she doesn't appear to understand the social importance of eg using a knife and fork correctly; she will spell the same word (incl. names of best friends) in different ways, even on the same sheet; she has done a project at home recently requiring a lot of writing but even with constant supervision and reminders, she forgets to put a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence about 95% of the time. This frustrates her so isn't just carelessness. Her teacher thinks she is naughty as she talks a lot and doesn't respond quickly enough. Teacher also says her writing is very erratic. Her dress sense is very off the wall. She struggles to do jigsaws as she doesn't appear to see the difference between an outside edge or corner, and any other jigsaw piece. She is due to be tested at school (not for anything specific - just because of the concerns we've raised to the SENCo) in a couple of weeks and I am looking for advice for the best way to explain to her why she is being tested. We haven't voiced our concerns to her as we don't want to worry her or make her self-conscious in any way. Especially as we're not even sure there will be any type of diagnosis Any suggestions would be welcomed. Thank you!

22/04/2010 23:33:54
Visitor

Hi,

My son has just been diagnosed with Developmental Dyspraxia and Oculomotor Dyspraxia. He is 5. I paid privately for him to assessed by an educational psychologist, due to becoming more and more concerned about his behaviour and progress. School had concerns to but was doing very little to help.

His symptoms are delayed speech, language and phonological difficulties. Finds it hard to follow directions/instructions. Poor memory. He has erratic behaviour (thought he had ADHD)has terrible temper tantrums, poor sleeper etc. He has obsessions about death, talks about it 3/4 times a day. Do not know why, no matter what we say to reassure him it doesn't seem to sink in. He is unaware of danger, runs into busy roads, jumps of high climbing frames. Does not seem to be able to express when he's in pain, sometimes he does but then most of the time he doesn't.

I worry about how he is going to cope, he is normally a very happy confident little boy. I see at times that he is becoming increasingly embarrased when he is finding things difficult, and he chooses to opt out of things that he finds difficult.

06/06/2010 13:15:12
purplerain

I am after guidance on what I should do as I have a 3 year old daughter who has consistently shown motor skill delay. A short history is below -

She had difficulty breathing when born. The midwife didn't notice she wasn't breathing and had to be told by my wife. She was then resuscitated. She then had specific problems breast feeding and took 3 1/2 weeks to return to her birth weight, but when we tried a bottle she seemed to feed from this fine.

She didn't crawl much at all and for a short time she didn't use her left side. She then started to pull up / walk at around a year. She had to be constantly helped and would get back down from standing to sitting by initially falling over. She now has finds it very difficult to walk far and struggles with stairs and often asks to be carried.

She tires easily, and as a consequence seems very moody and emotional. She has been known to hit / kick her younger brother, which I guess is kind of usual for a toddler, and will shout / scream at both my wife and I when frustrated / angry.

Her self help skill aren't great. She has only just managed to take her socks of in the last month or so, and struggles with taking her shoes off. She can however unzip her coat, and can use her toothbrush to scrub her teeth.

Until recently she couldn't co ordinate jumping or bouncing with two feet together. we have since bought a trampoline which has help these skills develop.

She seems to have minor sensory issues, including humming loudly when concentrating (she has done this for along time), and finds labels on clothes and other items (like the car seat straps) very uncomfortable to the point where she gets upset.

I have been very anxious over the last 3 years and have raised my concerns with the Health visitor and Doctor, who are of the opinion that we should wait as 3 years is too young to intervene and have our child labelled with the term dyspraxia.

To date we have had two visits at home from an Pysiotherapist, the last of which was at 27 months and nothing has come from this, other than to say she seems slightly delayed, but fine (my interpretation). Our health visitor did suggest dyspraxia at one stage. Perhaps our daughter is at the 'borderline' in term of skills, but this remains a concern for me. My wife also does not want her referred as she feels it is me being over anxious.

Therefore my specific question would be, are there any suitable interventions for a 3 year old, which I could do at home. I guess taking a omega supplement would be a good idea regardless. Secondly is the advice I've been given to wait another couple of years until school age correct, or is the age from 5 years and above when you would normally expect to intervene. Any guidance you can offer would be very helpful.

Many thanks,

05/07/2010 17:00:28
Visitior

My 7 year old son stuggles with his handwriting and drawing at school. Everything else seems Ok - he loves football and running and is very active. Because I was concerned about his writing skill (not coming naturally) I paid for a OT to assess him, although I was convinced there was little to be worried about. By the end of her 1 hour assessement, she told me his whole body was 'wrong' and that although he loved and was good at football, in 2 years time, as the other kids matured and got better, HE WOULDN'T, because he was showing 'distinct signs of Dyspraxia'. I am devastated! I have been to see my GP and he isn't 'totally convinced' so now we have to go to a Paedratician for assessment. I look at Alex now, and i see things I didn't see before about him. He is clumsy, he does hold his pen strangely and writing is difficult. He has no muscle tone and is really skinny. I am dreading going to the hospital, because I cannot bear my gorgeous little boy being labelled for life.

27/07/2010 23:21:08
hamish105

Hi all,

I have recently received a diagnosis, for my 11 year old daughter, of Aspergers Syndrome with Dyspraxia. I am a single parent with no support network. Social Services said there is no help available when i asked them about some respite care. They said their foster carers would consider her too much of a risk to other children in their care.

Does anyone know of any respite care in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK ?

I like many others on here knew that something was not right with my daughter, but when i approached my daughter's primary school, four years ago, the SENCO said there was nothing wrong with her. The following year her class teacher (who had only known her for half a term) asked me if it was Ritalin she was taking for her ADHD. I said no, she hadn't been diagnosed with ADHD. It was only then that i took her to see the GP who refered us to the child health department of our hospital. The school refused to apply for a statement for her, so she has had very limited help for her social, communication and behavioural difficulties. She will start secondary school in September and i will have to wait a further six weeks before i can ask them to apply for her to be statemented.

As other parents have said, i had a normal delivery, with the exception of meconium in my waters which meant a consultant had to be brought in. I fully believe that this is what caused my daughters difficulties.

I love my daughter to bits but i am so frustrated that it has taken this long to get where i am now and that there is so little help out there.

Rant over

Wish you all well x

29/07/2010 17:05:34
cazzywazzy34