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Children with Dyspraxia

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Living with a 15 year old Dyspraxic Son

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I thought I'd start this lens because I'm a father of three wonderful children.  My eldest and only son Daniel, who is now 15 years old, was diagnosed with Dyspraxia when he was 5 years old and subsequently with ADHD.  Life with Daniel is a challenge and finding help and advice has been a constant struggle so I decided I would like to share my experiences and hopefully other people might find them helpful.

As much as Daniel is a challenge to me as a parent, Daniel's life is also a challenge to himself; organisation, education, behaviour and co-ordination are all everyday problems for Daniel, which as a family we all have to try and help him overcome and prepare for the future.

Educational Support

Daniel has Special Education Needs (SEN) and requires a lot of additional support at school.  He is in a mainstream secondary school and mainstream classes.  Everything he does is slower and requires more effort and he still writes like a 5 year old so he has really been struggling.  Personally I find it very frustrating at the moment that the school demands that he does 3 lessons of FRENCH per week when in my opinion he should be concentrating on literacy and numeracy and getting those to a similar level for his age-group.  His is roughly 2-3 years behind at the moment.

Please feel free to Email Me Now


UPDATED GUIDE - "Parents Guide to Dyspraxia/DCD and ADD/ADHD"

I have written a guide for other parents with useful
information I have learned over the passed 9 years. Its been downloaded over 500 times and helped many parents in a similar position so I hope that it may help
you. See the BIG ARROWS below for the link



You are also welcome to contact me by using this form to send you details.
CLICK HERE and complete your contact details.

Dyspraxia Mini Poll

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Parents' Guide to Dyspraxia/DCD and ADD/ADHD (11/12/09 sorry - link down at moment but will try and get running again asap)

What is Dyspraxia?

First of all Dyspraxia IS NOT Dyslexia - they are two different conditions and have very different effects. Many people have heard of Dyslexia but are not so aware of Dyspraxia.

Its funny out everything has a label these days and it makes things seem to just appear - "oh everyone seems to have this ADHD these days" - but often this labelling is actually just re-labelling. In the case of Dyspraxia it is nothing new and was more commonly known as clumsy child syndrome which of course is no longer PC.

Developmental dyspraxia is an impairment or immaturity of the organisation of movement. It is an immaturity in the way that the brain processes information, which results in messages not being properly or fully transmitted. The term dyspraxia comes from the word praxis, which means 'doing, acting'. Dyspraxia affects the planning of what to do and how to do it. It is associated with problems of perception, language and thought.

Dyspraxia is thought to affect up to ten per cent of the population and up to two per cent severely. Males are four times more likely to be affected than females. Dyspraxia sometimes runs in families. There may be an overlap with related conditions.

Other names for dyspraxia include Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD), Perceptuo-Motor Dysfunction, and Motor Learning Difficulties. It used to be known as Minimal Brain Damage and Clumsy Child Syndrome.

Statistically, it is likely that there is one child in every class of 30 children, and we need to make sure that everyone understands and knows how best to help this significant minority.

Its important to know at this point that Dyspraxia and Dyspraxic children are all individual and their challenges and needs can vary greatly. Their conditions are not usually clear cut either as hey can also have other "overlap" conditions such as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Autism, etc. Just as a Dyspraxic child can have Dyslexic tendencies a child diagnosed with Dyslexia can have Dyspraxic tendencies.

Dyspraxia and Glyconutrition

Our great results using Glyconutritional foods to help

From what I've personally read it seems that a lot of nutrition is missing from our modern diets due to 'green' farming, use of pesticides etc. I've found that by using a Glyconutritional supplement to get these missing sugars and nutrients back into my sons diet, it makes a great deal of difference to his ability to concentrate at school and lowers his level of hyperactivity. Its certainly a lot better than putting him on Ritalin, which is where his consultant contiunally tried to push us.

Please feel free to Email Me Now for more information

Glyconutrition Information
Use the above link to find out more information on how Glyconutritional Supplementation helps with Dyspraxia and ADHD

How would I recognise a child with Dyspraxia?

THE PRE-SCHOOL CHILD :-

  • Is late in reaching milestones e.g. rolling over, sitting, standing, walking, and speaking.
  • May not be able to run, hop, jump, or catch or kick a ball although their peers can do so.
  • Has difficulty in keeping friends; or judging how to behave in company.
  • Has little understanding of concepts such as 'in', 'on', 'in front of' etc.
  • Has difficulty in walking up and down stairs.
  • Poor at dressing.
  • Slow and hesitant in most actions.
  • Appears not to be able to learn anything instinctively but must be taught skills.
  • Falls over frequently.
  • Poor pencil grip.
  • Cannot do jigsaws or shape sorting games.
  • Artwork is very immature.
  • Often anxious and easily distracted.

THE SCHOOL AGE CHILD :-

  • Probably has all the difficulties experienced by the pre-school child with dyspraxia, with little or no improvement.
  • Avoids PE and games.
  • Does badly in class but significantly better on a one-to -one basis.
  • Reacts to all stimuli without discrimination and attention span is poor.
  • May have trouble with maths and writing structured stories.
  • Experiences great difficulty in copying from the blackboard.
  • Writes laboriously and immaturely.
  • Unable to remember and /or follow instructions.
    Is generally poorly organised.

Financial Help for Dyspraxia | Are you Entitled to or Claiming Benefits?

Extra money is always useful but not everyone know what they are entitled to!

Did you know that if you have a child with dyspraxia and/or ADHD (besides many other conditions) there is financial help available from the government? I didn't find out for months after I found out my son was Dyspraxic!

Even after claiming this benefit for about 5 or 6 years now, I only just recently found out that we weren't getting everything he was entitled to!

Check out This lens for some more information.

Help available from Charity Organisations

There is extra help available for families with disabled children

Again I only found out recently - after over 6 years of struggling at times - that there are a number of organisations that are around to try and help low income families with disabled children.

Checkout this lens for more information on charitable organisations that offer financial help to parents.

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Useful Links to Other Appropriate Websites

The Family Fund Home Page
The Family Fund provides timely grants to families with severely disabled children, based on families' views and needs.
DORE - A Quick Test for Dyspraxia
Use their Symptom Test to find out if it could help you. Receive a free personalised report.
Dyspraxia Foundation
The Dyspraxia Foundation is a country Wide charity, founded in 1987 as the Dyspraxia Trust by two mothers who met at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. After being told that their children had Dyspraxia they were astonished and dismayed to discover that no facilities existed to help or inform parents and children with the condition. They decided to form their own group to help others to help themselves.
Carers Allowance Unit
If you are caring for a child who is receipt of middle or higher rate DLA you you probably be entitled to receive carers allowance. Check out this website for details.

You can also call them on 01253 856123. They are very friendly and helpful.

You can email their customer service on cau.customer-services@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
Cerebra
Parents of disabled children can feel very alone and bewildered by all the services and information out there. Cerebra's Parent Support Department aim to help by offering information, support and various services that parents have told us would help them.

Dyspraxia related video(s) on Youtube

Dyspraxia and Me
by Loganzweb | video info

81 ratings | 15,659 views
curated content from YouTube

Dyspraxia Guide Reader Feedback

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  • Reply
    promotional-coupons-codes Jun 8, 2011 @ 1:36 am | delete
    Great information. It will be of great help to many parents.
  • Reply
    miaponzo Feb 13, 2011 @ 4:01 am | delete
    Thanks for this great information!
  • Reply
    Miss white Jan 26, 2011 @ 5:50 pm | delete
    Thank you so much for this page, my son age 6 has not been diagnosed yet but I am 100 percent certain he has dyspraxia, he was a prem baby and small and although he had regular checks at the hospital when a baby where I raised my concerns of his non crawling and bum shuffling and lack of concentration- noting that he never picked up a 'logical thinking" toy such as puzzles or shape sorters I was repeatedly told it was down to his premature birth "don't worry he will catch up" are the words that spring to mind- trouble being he never has. I have now for the 4th time been asked to attend his school as his teacher feels he needs a one on one tutor- I thoroughly agree! Yet no one has ever mentioned this condition to me! I have done the online dyspraxia test my son ticking all but one box- I am thoroughly appalled that although I have raisedy concerns over his development the only reason I have discovered what the problem may be is through a friend ( who quietly suffers from dyspraxia).. I now will be able to concentrate on the things he is good at,rather than feel that we are going downhill every day. I have a meeting set up for Tuesday and will make sure he is directed to all help that he needs.
  • Reply
    AkitaJitsu Jan 24, 2011 @ 1:20 am | delete
    Thank you for this great resource on Dyspraxia. My son was diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (I can't stand that name - it's not like it goes away magically at 18!). Apraxia if Speech is often considered a form of dyspraxia. I appreciate anyone attempting to educate the public. It would be wonderful for people to understand that our children aren't being clowns, they simply can't help it!
  • Reply
    David Hii Mar 14, 2010 @ 5:18 am | delete
    Hi, my son is already in year 2 and was diagnosed with Dyspraxia since 3 years old. One of our biggest challenge is to teach him to spell. Any suggestions how we can help him? Past experience from caretakers is much appreciated. Thank you.
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andyajsb

Hello!  My Name is Andy.  I'm a single father of three great kids, and have been so for over 3 years now, and apart from my love of family life... more »

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Amazon Price: $16.69 (as of 02/14/2012)Buy Now

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