NickyP

My 7 year old son has been diagnosed with dyspraxia, has anyone had any experience of this? I have read about it but wondered if anyone had had any personal experience.
Thanks
Nicky

walla

[QUOTE=NickyP]My 7 year old son has been diagnosed with dyspraxia, has anyone had any experience of this? I have read about it but wondered if anyone had had any personal experience.
Thanks
Nicky[/QUOT

just on a professional basis.

sasbear

Hi,

I was told my daughter suffered with this mildy when she was very young. The only thing I can remember the doctor saying was - the condition was similar to her having words/sentences inside her head but she had difficulty in saying them - -she often could not tell the difference on hearing certain words that sounded similar - she attended speeach therapy for 3 years and as was only mild is fine now.

Not sure if this is the condition you was asking about - maybe confused
Sarah

NickyP

My 11 year old daughter has dyslexia and some of the symptoms with coordination are very similar. Joseph however has none of the literacy problems that Bethany has , except that he can't write very well, but has difficulties with physical activities and socially making friends etc. He is a lovely lad but can get VERY frustrated with the fact that he knows what he wants to do or write but it doesn't come out as he feels it should. I have always known that there were some difficulties but it has taken us coming to Australia and finding a fantastic school to have it picked up properly. He has been referred to the occupational support officer who has done a report and now the school will work out a plan to help him find ways to deal with it and I have to make an appointment to see a pediatrician.
It is the social side of it that I find most difficult to help with and I was wondering whether anyone had any strategies that might help.
Nicky

caz41

Hi Nicky

My 14 yr old son was diagnosed with dyspraxia in yr 1 in the uk. He suffered on the social side of things for alot of years and was behind his peers both phsically and academically. At the moment most things do seem to be falling into place with him he still suffers a bit with the social side of things, but even that is getting better.

We have been in touch with an organisation called DORE, and are thinking of starting him on a course with them but it is incredibly difficult trying to persuade a 14 yr old that this is in his best interests.

caz

NickyP

Joseph has managed to get by on his inate ability with things like maths and science but anything that involves more writing or detailed drawing throws him completely. Us moving from the UK to Belgium and then here hasn't really helped either so his social difficulties have been compounded by all of the change. I am hoping that with the help of this very supportive school and with us staying here rather than moving around he will slowly settle more.
Do you have any info about DORE as any help would be good at the moment as much for us as for him. Are they based here?
I can deal with the dyslexia better as I have learnt about it with my teacher training in the UK and with my degree but we only touched on dyspraxia and find that not many people know about it.
Good luck with your son, has the move to OZ helped him do you think or has it made things harder?
Nicky

caz41

I think actually he has grown in confidence since moving here, and that is down to the school. Dore in melbourne are in Hampton, website is www.dorecentres.com.au
not cheap but we feel he needs an extra boost as he has just started yr 10.

His major problem is concentration, and attention problems he has to do one task at a time, or gets really confused.

I hope things work out for your son too, I know how frustrating it can be having a child with dyspraxia.

Caz

NickyP

Thnaks for that I will check it out.
Good luck with convincing him to give it a go.
Nicky

HUP

My son Niall (8) has it and we have known for about 3 years now. PM HEVs as she is far more knowledgable than I. There is not so much help in Oz for it as we were getting in the UK

NickyP

Thanks will do.
Nicky

Stitch

Hi Nicky,

My daughter has autism and we are considering having our older son assessed as he show's classic signs of dyspraxia. I have found the NAS site quite informative. Here's the link.

http://www.nas.org.uk/

Cheers

Ginny

walla

Tell me about it, I could manipulate the English education system at ease for families and their children because I knew the Education Act like the back of my hand.

Out here I'm still struggling to get to grips with the education system but one thing is for sure inclusive education for children and young people with different abilities in Oz is way behind the UK.

Educators just don't get it.

annqldau

Hi

My son has only mild problems re co-ordination, spelling, writing and slight attention span problems but he did improve with eyeq which is mainly fish oil so you will be able to get equivilant here as health shops sell lots of omega 3 fish oils here.

See the study write up at http://www.equazen.com/default.aspx?pid=120
it was trialed in Durham where we used to live and lots of parents said it did make big improvements not just the study team also other people I know personally found it helped their children as well.

Stitch

Hi,

Have you read the book written by Jackie Jackson "Multicoloured Mayhem" She has seven kids, 3 'normal girls' and 4 boys on the Autistic Spectrum. One of them has dyspraxia. It's an easy read with some useful bits. Might be worth a glance.

Cheers

Ginny

mand8002

My 16 yr old daughter has dyspraxia ( she is also profoundly deaf so diagnosis has been difficult and no one has ever labelled it as dyspraxia but she shows all the signs ).

It takes her longer to process information so at school sometimes the teachers thought she wasn't responding to them. She also has poor co ordination. She is on the 10th percentile for coordination and we were told that all they years she had attended ballet classes have done her the world of good.

Socially she was immature too but now at 16 seems to have caught up.

We managed to get her an assessment by a psychologist and they said that she was quite vulnerable as she was too trusting and this probably came from the social immaturity. Since then the speech and language therapist at school has worked with her to be able to get her to judge peoples facial expressions etc.

Her fine motor skills are delayed too and even now sometimes she can't undo buttons on her jeans.

She has found ways of coping with most things and if you were to meet her you would not even know she had a problem.