dysTalk Symptoms Of Dyspraxia - Dyspraxia - Forum - dysTalk

Thought I start a thread for people to share experiences on what the tell tale signs of dyspraxia are. To get it started:

Problems in the following areas:

- getting dressed / tying shoe laces

- using a knife and fork

- organisation with books and stationary

- handwriting (especially keeping up with friends in class)

- struggling with team games.

Be great to hear anyone else's additions to the list.

22/05/2009 09:07:49
LucyT

loosing things

not able to organise notes although accademically able

difficulity with bike

empty homework book

dropping things

spilling things

difficulty understanding childs speech

25/05/2009 15:22:20
sue

repetition of questions-no matter how many times you have answered it.

not able to follow simple instruction unless told in basic words.

13/06/2009 20:27:39
denise

memory difficulties ie remembering a task learned earlier.

midline crossover difficulties ie picking something up on the left using right hand

28/07/2009 19:18:52
Carol Greenwood

not able to show affection to children

09/08/2009 11:42:51
Judith Atha

Difficulties in getting views across

Not ever managing to ride a bike

Balance - falling down heavily for no appartent reason

Difficulties in maintaining friends - in the Adult not being able to form relationships with the opposite sex

Adult- coming across as alot younger than they actually are, due to not being able to drive my son does not have a drivers licence so has no I.D so can not go down the pub and socialise, as bars and pubs dont believe my son being 25, after years of being bullied at school by both children and teachers and being bullied by the kids where we live my son suffers from isolation

Trouble holding down jobs, my son left school 9 years ago and has been sacked from 10 jobs so far as he is too slow on tasks

Depression, my son has been depressed since he was about 9 and at the moment is suicidal.This is due to the fact that government agencies have fobbed us of and are not interested in the Dyspraxia.

Total lack of organization skills

19/08/2009 06:51:29
Michele Roberts

Spatial awareness difficulties.

Getting a task right one day, and the next day has no idea what you are asking them to do.

Unable to organise their ideas, speech and body to perform the task required.

Their brain is like a filing cabinet without a filing system so when retriving information stored they are unable to locate that piece of information. It gets lost.

08/09/2009 14:23:39
Jenny P

Michele (19/8 comment) - am thinking of you and your son.

09/09/2009 02:22:41
Pip H

Liable to become alcohol or drug dependent at a young age.

26/09/2009 16:00:49
Mary

Ask a thousand questions all the time.

19/10/2009 19:17:56
Tasja

Speech may be unclear

Poor sense of rhythm, tempo and volume in speech/music

19/10/2009 21:20:10
Kris

A positive attribute - they will never become a fashion victim.

20/10/2009 07:27:35
Pauline

Michele Roberts, I have a young dyspraxic apprentice who ''was found out'' soon after he started here, we are a heavy engineering industry so it is difficult at times but he has people on his side. He may not finish all of his apprenticeship but he will get as far as he is able to and then based on his level of skill be allocated a position. It has been a difficult road for him and this is firm that takes on board the D.D.A.

He is loud and obsessed by whatever topic he is on at the time. He has a mentor who has the patience to deal with him

02/11/2009 14:47:08
KAREN TINSLEY

myself and my wife have an 8 year old boy with dyspraxia,don't know if anyone else has endured this but our little lad scratches his face when he gets frustrated....he can also get quite aggressive when he is told about his behaviour,but also he is the most caring person in the world,also he will not be in a room alone at any cost,we love him with all our hearts although it can be tough at times we would'nt change him for the world.

02/11/2009 17:35:09
paul martin

This is a helpful list of dyspraxia symptoms. All I'd add is that dyspraxia symptoms can occur with dyslexia symptoms as well so if your child is showing dyspraxia symptoms make sure that you see someone who is prepare to look out for all related difficulties.

12/01/2010 15:23:23
A

I've been reading the posts on this site in the hope to find an answer to my Son's problems. He has been diagnosed with 'dyspraxic tendancies' but his motor skills are not too bad now (he's 10). Paul Martin's post above could have been written by me - the behaviour is exactly what our son does, and I was feeling like he was the only child that has ever done this - Paul, would love to hear if you have ever got to the bottom of this??

13/01/2010 17:58:46
Juliet Morris

im just going through the prosses with school as to wether my 9 year old son has dyspraxia .His hand writing is a mess he has aggressive behaviour and where the same cannot leave him in a room on his own im pushing school for a diagnosis but sometimes its as if theyre not bothered.

18/01/2010 13:43:27
mandy

hi - i have a five year old daughter with dyspraxia and mostly has all the traits...ie melt down when gets upset,cant dress,problems with pencil control and knife and folk....only thing i cant get to the bottom of is she still wets daily not nights could this be connected????

21/01/2010 20:10:50
tracey

Hi all,

I am now 47 and was only diagnosed with dyspraxia in 2005 so have wondered what was wrong with me all these years! I am fortunate in working for an organisation that recognises Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD)and I have just had my first session with the Education Support section on site. The tutor said that Brain Gym has had incredible results for adults and children with SpLD so do try and find a tutor! I will post when I find a good Website.

I have also found that Omega-3 Fatty Acids are brilliant for improving brain function! I even had to stop taking them before my assessment so I had a true result!

So Brain Gym and Omega-3's will be great for adults and children with the condition.

My symptoms are:

Some co-ordination difficulties, particularly when tired or over a period.

Sensitivity to touch (tactile defensiveness) so I have to wear tight clothes.

Sensitivity to sound – auditory overload.

Sensitive to light – Irlen’s Syndrome (scotopic sensitivity). Get tired quickly when reading high-contrast print and yawn a lot.

General sensory sensitivity.

Poor information processing so I get mentally overloaded and can’t take in the info. Also makes me upset. Too much for too long and I break down in floods of tears like my life’s falling apart!

Cannot arrange info in a logical sequence and cannot make obvious logical connections e.g. like I know so-and-so's not in work but I still go to see them to ask for info as they’re two separate facts. This is most obvious and causes me to look thick more than my other symptoms!

Poor recall, like info is filed in the wrong place. I’m rather uneducated as I can’t remember things! Look thick there too!

Poor concentration and easily distracted. Tend to indulge in displacement activity if a situation or activity is challenging and makes me tired.

Chronic fatigue and poor muscle tone. Wobbly ankles. Take ages to get over a virus like my energy and nutrient reserves have been depleted and take a long time to recover.

Cannot answer a question when fired at me as I cannot recall. Very bad if I’m nervous of the person or if they’re in a position of authority and I want to look good. That of course means it gets worse so I don’t look good!

Positives: I'm very artistic and musical and have a powerful imagination. Plus, I know I'm not thick! I wish others did though.

As I go through my tutoring with Education Support I'll post anything that may be of help to you guys!

Alexxx

22/01/2010 11:39:58
Valkyrie (Member)

My 10 year old daughter is constantly stressed and intolerant of hunger, heat, tight clothing, having her hair brushed, etc etc. Very impatient and aggressive. Getting out of the house to go to school is a major event every day. Can't catch or use a bat and ball. Clumpsy, un co-ordinated, falls and drops things. struggles with knife and fork. Struggles with shoe laces. Never still. Often in a hyped up state talking at a million miles an hour. Struggles to get on with others, always feels victimised, can't share. I have struggled to cope with all of these behaviours and never realised what it might be or how it makes her feel. Now feel terrible for not giving her more support. Would like to get her assessed but not sure what step to take next. Do these symptoms sound like dyspraxia to you? She has neat handwriting and can draw beautifully but struggles with two handed jobs. Any advice would be appreciated

22/01/2010 18:44:31
Kirsten Mackay

Learning to drive is a long, long work in progress! I’ve had to stop again because of shortage of funds, and yes, I’ve been learning in an automatic. I’m 41, and I tested positive for dyslexia in my final degree year. Somehow, the dyslexia diagnosis has never seemed to fully answer the pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Although literacy was slow initially, I showed a strong flair for written English at secondary school. Reading is slow however, and spelling is somewhat “iffy”! Learning to touch-type took a considerable amount of practice, and I constantly mis-type. I did join a typing class two years running, but couldn’t keep pace with the others students. I quickly became embarrassingly far behind, despite substantial daily practice! I left the class, persevered at home, and so taught myself.

The worst difficulty for me is memory. I simply don’t remember instructions and directions and this makes working life nearly impossible. I’m unemployed. I don’t recall information in spoken form, and lose concentration constantly. I get very tired, and doing a job exhausts me. Other difficulties include picking-up steps in an aerobics class, recalling instructions in demonstrations (i.e. enacted physically - not just verbally), throwing and catching, general clumsiness. I used to have to use a scalpal in work, before everything was done on computers (for graphics work), and I emptied the office first aid box of plasters in the first couple of weeks! In kitchen work, I spilled things and burnt myself a lot; I was always breaking things like ceramics too. I can’t cross-reference information - I simply don’t have the working memory capacity for that, so a recent suggestion that I might work in data inputting was a non-starter! I’ve always had poor muscle tone, stand awkwardly (when I forget) and remember being a source of fun to others in school when running.

I was a slower than my peers in learning to ride a bike, swim and tell the time. I continued to bed wet for longer than most children. I was always the last to finish getting changed for school sports. Craft work in primary school looked disturbingly ill-made in comparison to the efforts of the other children.

I don’t remember names, which other people often assume is a show of non-interest, even rudeness. Meetings are something I learnt to avoid in working life, as I’d not be able to recall what had been said anyway. I took a tape recorder on a course once, but it caused so much fuss in the department (concern over intellectual ownership issues) that I didn’t bother again. That probably sounds defeatist, but I also find that entering into any sort of discussion about my pattern of difficulties tends to catagorise me in the eyes of others as a bit neurotic or deluded. Possibly worse, professionals make assumptions about what my condition means, and go so far off-track that it honestly is unbearable. I’m awaiting my test results from the D.O.E. medical at the moment. I originally went for a depression diagnosis, and “just thought” it may be worth one more go at finding out what could be up! I’ll eat my hat if it’s not dyspraxia! What do you think?

24/01/2010 14:39:42
Kate

I am writing in responce to Kirsten's post.We too have a ten year old girl who we have suspected has Dyspraxia,we are now in the process of having her assessed.All the things you have written could be written about our little girl,we really did think we were on our own for this one but obviously not.I dont feel in a position to give advice as we could with some ourselves but we have tried one or two different things.We do play a lot of bat and ball type sports and she did improve very quickly which in turn did wonders for her confidence, which she does lack in.We also try to do lots of things together as a family, this makes her feel so much more secure and less isolated.She also is VERY emotional and needs to be reassured constantly. Although it is very difficult at times i think being patient is very important. We too could write a book about getting ready for school, it can be a nightmare, but found that using a reward chart and structured times for dressing, brushing teeth and hair etc. worked really well for us.

01/02/2010 21:26:11
Alan

FOR KIRSTEN: contact the dyspraxia Foundation. Here's the URL:

http://www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/index.php

And the phone number: 01462 454 986 (10 am - 1 pm) Mon - Fri.

I was assessed privately but then I'm an adult. It may well be she can be assessed free of charge as she's a child. Even speak to a good doctor. They should be clued-up about these disabilities! I wish you luck!

Alex

08/02/2010 12:26:51
Alex

FOR KATE: sounds like typical dyspraxia to me! I can associate with a lot of what you're saying. Under The Disability at Work Act Employers HAVE to recognise your condition and I know it's hard explaining it to them but they HAVE to make arrangements at work to help you and they certainly CANNOT cause you grief, bully or dismiss you due to your disability. I work for the Civil Service and they're great with disabilities. It's a shame we're experiencing job cuts but keep an eye out for vacancies in the papers. If a line Manager is unhelpful, you can get help from our Union. I've had lots of support!

Alex

08/02/2010 12:35:08
Alex

CORRECTION: for Kate, I should have put Disability Discrimination Act! Sorry!

08/02/2010 12:38:06
Alex

I am a Belgian Occupational therapist and i'm very interested in DCD about several years.

I would like to know the effect of DCD for adolecents in school. (problems with organisation, sollutions for handwriting-problems,...)

I am also interested in the combination of diagnosis DCD and Autisme.

(Sorry for my 'bad English'!!)

08/02/2010 19:18:47
Tine

Tine, please go to Google Hazel Carr and see my work I have done and the link with other difficulties I have found with DCD

09/02/2010 13:15:29
Hazel

I noticed that people with Dyspraxia will often interrupt people as they need to say what they are thinking before it goes, they are anxious and are easily frustraited. they also have difficulty expressing their feelings. If they havent been diagnosed, they know they are different to other people, but they dont know why & this leads to frustraition with everything inc work, partners, family, pets etc.

12/02/2010 14:48:12
Jen Martin

To tracey 21/01/2010

Yes it can affect toilet training. Our son was fine at nights but took a long while to cope with days.

He also needed milk during the night until he was 5.

Development can be slow in all sorts of areas.

25/02/2010 15:09:52
Adam (Member)

Hi, I have an 11 year old who has been diagnosed as having dyslexic tendencies, dyspraxic tendencies, he is left handed and is also hypermobile. I too thought I was going crazy until he was diagnosed, until then people used to comment that he was ''difficult'' Just wondering what other peoples experiences are regarding toilet training and bedwetting, basically my son was dry day and night for aprox 2 years, at first he started bedwetting again when he started school, this gradually got worse until it was every night 2/3 times we tried absolutely everything, medication, alarms, hypnotherapy. Eventually at the age of 10 it was suggested that we try bladder training( drinking and toiletting at set times) which actually stopped the bedwetting for a few months(so easy!!), unfortunately now he has lost interest even with a brand new mobile phone with 8 alarms going off regularly to remind him!! he just doesn't feel thirsty and always forgets to have a drink, but more worringly he wets during the day, not every day and very rarely at school, normally at home whilst playing, it's like he just forgets all about the toilet, I am just concerned as he starts senior school this september, is this just a matter of organisation or might it be more than that, any advice???

02/03/2010 14:59:11
Claire

Can't help much as our son is 8 and seems to mostly have it under control now. He does still have the occasional accident when he is too busy to listen to his body, but it's rare. We have to make him sit on the toilet before bed as he doesn't think he needs to, and he is surprised when he finds he did need to.

I was interested in what you said about drinking. I have to have someone at work remind me to drink (my wife is a Senco and thinks I am mildly DCD, she says my son and I are 2 peas in a pod, I am not totaly convinced.) We share trips to the tea machine though I only drink water. When he is away I can go all day without drinking and then I will suddenly realise I need a drink desperately. I never really thought about that as a possible symptom of DCD.

02/03/2010 16:04:59
Adam (Member)

F.O.A. ALEX

Thank you for responding! I kept checking on here for a while after posting and stopped after the D.O.E. were entirely unhelpful, which made me question my judgement. Your supportive post means a lot. I'll keep pushing now for a diagnosis, and will print off my post for them. Thanks again,

Kate.

04/03/2010 00:57:40
Kate