What is Dyspraxia?

Hi Shelagh, I'm sorry you have this to contend with, it can be frustrating when your body just can't do what your mind tells it to. thank you for your help, I can be clumsy when I'm tired so he probably got it from me, bless him. We got a diagnosis this morning, Bong now has, take a deep breath for this Autistic Spectrum Disorder ADHD Dyspraxia Nocturnal enuresis He collecting quite a little list for himself now, but we do seem to be starting to get somewhere, maybe. Of course the presirtion for melatonin to help him sleep still hasn't materialised so I have to try and chase that, sigh. I think eventually we will be able to deal with more things, until then I'm afraid you all have to put up with my whinging and cries of what do I do?

She-ra as always you are a complete star and make me feel much better so thank you! I'm so lucky to have you as a friend, it helps sometimes to talk to an adult with some of the problems Bong has, he cannot always explain how he feels just gets frustrated, bless him. I have blamed myself for some of the problems but it doesn't make any difference, now we are on a theory of just getting through today and doing the best we can. As Roo learns the behaviours I am getting to treating them as more 2 three-year olds than a 7 and a 3 and at the moment the same strategies are working for them both so fingers crossed the behavioural problems and the co-ordination will improve with regular practise.

You do have your hands full, but remember a lot of these conditions are relatively new in their discovery and when we were at school we were just plain clumsy, inattentive, disruptive or aggressive. In other words these conditions do actually come within the norms for this species and if you remember that it will help you to cope with the little wotsits, especially when they get their tiny little hands on that garden hose. Anything with the word "spectrum" in the name actually means they are not exactly definitely sure of the exact diagnosis so they cover themselves. Dyspraxia IS thought to be hereditary, but hey, you know that the gene pool is not exact. My family skipped a generation then they got ME! It does not necessarily have to be your own responsibility or your partner's, one of you could have got it from your great greats, if you can see that? I found a good site, I don't know if you have discovered it yet, it covers quite a lot of different conditions. I have suffered a lot from my disorders, all of which are genetic and have made my immune system and other bits and pieces work erratically or not at all and I have always been dreadfully clumsy. but I am still here! So will your boys be. In my own experience spme additives DO aggravate the situation, my particular bete noir was the infamous "sunshine yellow" which made me anything BUT a ray of sunshine, and I know that the blue smarties were cussed about up and down the land for their hyperactivity ratings. As to the clumsiness, dyspraxia was only diagnosed by accident, a couple of years ago! At the same time they found that an eye defect has been making me blind in one eye every time my brain can not be bothered to correct the double vision it produces! So walking into walls has been aggravated and the wall really DOES move, as I have said before and produced gales of laughter. I think it is very very good that children can be diagnosed so that they are not just dismissed as being naughty, as in the past, but I do worry about too many labels being attached. Also the diagnoses are not matching the cure discovery, are they? The other positive aspect to a diagnosis is that sometimes you feel diminished as a parent when a child behaves in a way which is perceived as badly, but you know that there is a specific condition and that hopefully you will be able to deal with it, and it is in NO WAY your fault and it does NOT make you a bad parent. You are an excellent parent as you have pushed to make sure that if there is any help there your lovely kiddies are going to get that help. The only remedy I have found for my clumsiness is to be as careful as possible, and as you may tell from various posts, I don't always succeed. This is the web site I found which seems helpful http://www.k12academics.com/learningdisable.htm home/parent info/ADD/ADHD hugs

I'm soo sorry you have these problems to deal with! Lauren is obvoiusly doing very well although it must get frustrating for her! Bong's reading is brilliant, because it's one of his obsessions the last few months, other than that he's about a year and a half behind in some things and more with others, he manages school with little if any extra help and takes it out on us when he gets home. His day has to be very structured but we get there eventually. He says everyone calls him slowcoach. I think we all learn stuff at different times, so they maybe learned something that the other kids haven't yet and it'll even out in the end. Thank-you so much for your support, don't you give up either!

It brought tears to my eyes reading your reply, I don't think that people really understand what you are going through, one thing I did forget to mention is that children with dyspraxia often are very artistic, Lauren draws pictures about everything, I wish you and your family well. As you can see by the photo she is also very cheeky. lol

She's gorgeous!!! Didn't mean to make you cry, you must be proud of her - she's doing so well, keep that support comeing even when you feel to tired to care, I know it's hard some days but knowing they love us so very much makes it worth the effort! Can we be friends please?

Thank-you for the explanation, I fear they may be right, the top part of the list especially, although not so many at the end, poor little fellow it seems that things just don't get better for him. He was fine when he was little, but as he gets bigger they find more things to label him with and don't give him any help.

Hi Sylive, I'm glad you are managing to get some help for your little man! I hope OT helps, Bong did well with speech therapy until he was 6 - we cannot get OT in the area of England I live in. Will you tell me about all the things that help or any new ideas if you don't mind! Bong doesn't learn new things or learns them and then forgets if I don't push him constantly, bless him. When we saw the pead a couple of weeks ago she said that most autisic people have some level of dyspraxia. She is refering him to a physiotherapist to see how dyspraxic he is, depending on that decision we will maybe get a new diagnosis as she says we have never had a proper one although he is definately autistic she has a big query about the ADHD - she thinks the behavior is more self stimulation than lack of attention, so who know where we are now, lol. Thanks for your concern, we will get there (wherever it is)one day.

~Thank-you so much for sharing, Bong has just learned to do his coat zip, I was really wowed. His reading is really good but his writing etc is just awful, I just try to keep making him attempt things. He can do about 3 pedals on his bike with 1 stabiliser now before he falls off, keep making him try but he tends to just land on his head a lot.

I'm so sorry to have to ask but does your son learn to do something andthen it goes again? When we last spoke Bong had just learned to do his zip on his new coat and I was really proud and excited but it's gone again, for nearly 2 weeks now. Bongs aural ability is 2 years behind according to the IEP report that was done in September - I only got a copy of it last week.

Rainbow, my son is 12 and on the autism spectrum. He has dyspraxia but has never been labeled as such. He has been taught numerous times how to tie his shoes, but he can never remember for more than a couple of days. We now buy him shoes that don't need to be tied. He also only wears sweatpants because he has such trouble with the snap/button and zipper of regular pants.

hi moby, thank-you so much, I've been looking into this a bit more as Bong now has a new diagnosis of ASD, ADHD, Dyspraxia, Nocturnal enuresis and poor sleep. We have to wait for a physiotherapist appt now to see how badly he is affected, so more fun yet to arrive. Will definately visit this site! Thank-you so much!

I try so hard to be there for him, thank-you for your support I just wish life was easier for him or that I could really understand what goes on in his head so I can get him the help he feels he needs.