Dyspraxia has not been long recognised by medics or eduacationalists. Dyspraxia, like dyslexia is a neurological condition. That means that it is concerned with the brain's ability to process information. In the case of a dyspraxic child/adult, it influences the ability to co-ordinate and plan movements, but more than that it affects any activity that requires planning, including socialising and time management It can manifest itself with slightly differing symptoms depending on the age of the child and on the child, as again it is on a spectrum (its own) ranging from mild to severe. 0 to 5 years You cannot know that a baby is dyspraxic just by looking at it! However it will become more obvious as the child develops and is late walking and possibly talking. However little things may be obvious beforehand that concerns the parents: the baby may not be able to hold its own bottle when others of the same age are; the baby may not be interested in crawling, but bottom shuffles instead. These are indicators of low muscle tone which often goes with dyspraxia. They may also have trouble feeding as it is hard for them to co-ordinate the muscles of the mouth and tongue and throat. This may affect speech and they may need the help of a speech therapist. They will find using cutlery difficult too and possibly dribble when they drink from a cup. As the child does start to become mobile, he/she may be more clumsy than others, as he/she finds it harder to judge distances/heights etc... and/or they might be very cautious. This could be caused by hypermobility of the joints (like being double-jointed) which again often accompanies dyspraxia. You may find that these youngsters lack the resilience of other children. They will sit examining their leg to see if there is much damage after falling over, when others would bounce up and be off again. This is because they are much more aware of the feelings in their muscles and lack of certainty in them. While other children will start climbing and swinging and balancing, the dyspraxic child will stand and watch fearful to try, or if they do, quickly give up the minute anything wobbles. Balancing is especially difficult. However, dyspraxic children need to learn to do these things, so even if you don't know why your child is not joining in, encourage them to, give them even more opportunities to do so as they will need extra reassurance, extra help and lots and lots of practice! Ball catching will be hard, as will hitting balls with bats. Dyspraxic chilren will find it harder to learn to ride bikes and learn to swim - but again, most will, given time and practice and encouragement. With some children, their muscle weakness is so severe that they need help from a physiotherapist and occupational therapist. Something else that may be noticeable at this age is that the child may not like changes to routine, and this may lead to tantrums and upsets when routines have to be changed. This is something that dyspraxics share with autistic people. Therefore, as with all young children, having a daily routine will help. It is common for dyspraxic children to be later at joining in imaginative play. They may avoid playing with bricks and toys involving spatial awareness. It is also likely that you will think they have learnt to do something, like for example walking up stairs, only to find that when they go to some one elses's house, they go back to going up one step at a time. This is because they are not good at transferring knowledge to a new setting. They may not like social settings like playgroups. They may seem to have trouble understanding what is said to them. They may show undue sensitivity to loud noises, textures (including different textures of food in the mouth and different materials in clothing), touch and light. 6 to 10 In addition to the previous section, as academic work starts in earnest, the dyspraxic child will not necessarily have trouble with reading and spelling (unless they have other difficulties as well, like dyslexia, whcih is not uncommon) but they may be terrible day dreamers and very slow to do anything. You may give them instructions to do something only to find that it hasn't been done! This can be very frustrating for the parent/teacher. The child may have difficulty holding a pencil - again due to low muscle tone. Holders to help correct pencil grip may help, but they may still have an awkward grip. They may not be able to press hard snough with a pencil to begin with and later may then press too hard. The dyspraxic child is very likely to struggle with letter formation and size and keeping them uniform, as well as spacing them. They wiill move their hand from the shoulder joint, as they have difficulty with coordinating movement in the small joints of the hand. This will lead to a less natural way of angling the paper in relation to the writing tool. See here for help with this: www.skillsforaction.com/handwriting/overview-difficulties-joint-hypermobility-DCD-dyspraxia Some have trouble with shape and space maths problems too. Dyspraxic children will most probably need help structuring their days and remembering all the things that need doing. You will spend a lot of time trying to work out if they have avoided chores, are being lazy (as special needs children are just as prone to laziness as all children can be) or have genuinely forgotten! In fact, you will probably spend much time trying to establish whether they are not working because they are lazy, or whether the work is too hard and finding the right balance. You will chide them, probably often incorrectly! But this will be the biggest problem; we know they must fit into a world that will not excuse them because of a label. So we will want to try and help them to manage their problems so that work is done, chores are carried out etc.... We cannot let them say 'I'm dyspraxic, therefore I can't........!". Mistakes are better than inaction! Your child will not be harmed from the occasional misjudgement, they will be more harmed from being overprotected from the real world. Children at this stage may not like playing group games, as often they can't follow the rules. If they do, they may just completely get the wrong end of the stick! If they do play with others, they might insist on strict adherence to rules and get upset if other children do not keep to them. They may be quite possesive of their own toys, as interference from others who are unpredictable makes it harder for them to keep control. Dyspraxic children tend to prefer playing in isolation or with well trusted children. They can easily get frustrated/angry/upset if things go wrong and you will find yourself chiding them for being selfish, not sharing and wondering why this child finds it so difficult! Basically, because the child has such difficulty planning, they like to be in control. They cannot just adjust and be as flexible in their thinking as other children. Therefore they can come accross as immature, however in other situations they may seem more mature, especially as they may prefer adult company. You may also notice a lack of natural eye-contact too. 10 plus As dyspraxic children mature, they will overcome some of their physical movement problems and even learn to manage social difficulties, however the time-keeping problems seem to hang on. Work maybe completed late, or not at all! This can make exams difficult, in addition to the practical problem of not being able to write quickly, some dyspraxics still have comprehension problems and also may find it hard to transfer knowledge from a known setting to an unknown. They may find it hard having to sit the exam in an unknown setting, with possible unexpected things happening as they are easily distracted. So you can see that this is not just a movement problem, or a case of children 'being clumsy' as is often cited. We also see that some syptoms do overlap with autism, however there is a difference as dyspraxia is diagnosed by the underlying movement difficuties and the social ones are secondary, but with autism the social problems are the main emphasis, with movement being secondary, if it is present. So what can be done? Well, most dyspraxic children will make progress in all areas, but they will need more help, more explanation and more time and encouragement. They will need skills broken down into smaller steps and will not just pick things up through trial and error as others may do. They may have other issues besides dyspraxia, like autism, or dyslexia. If you are at all unsure about your child's development, speak to your health visitor or doctor. Further information can be found here: www.dyspraxiauk.com/ dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/dyspraxia-children/symptoms/
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I think it is fair to say that most parents, when a child's birth is imminent, have at least a little anxiety as to whether the child will be healthy. If they are not born with an obvious health problem, then they inwardly, if not outwardly, sigh a breath of relief. Therefore it can come as a shock to them, when after a few months it becomes obvious that something is not right. Maybe the infant doesn't reach the 'average' age for the various milestones - walking, talking etc... Alarm bells start to ring. Sometimes it's a more subtle thing that mum is just aware of very early on - maybe the infant cries very loudly - screaming often. This is very worrying. She takes it to the doctor who prescribes colic medicine, as s/he finds nothing else wrong. Maybe its a lack of interaction - or lack of eye contact. Others might manifest weak muscles; unable to sit up, hold their own bottle when all the other babies even younger are doing so. It doesn't matter what is noticed, but it niggles and the mother starts to be anxious. Is something wrong? Eventually developmental assessments are carried out, with hearing/sight tests. Mother watches on very anxiously. And then the diagnosis (if you get one) can be earth shattering. Very often the young mother has no knowledge of autism/dyspraxia/dyslexia etc.. and so starts a long journey of learning. Children don't come with instruction sheets! What many do not realise, is that dyslexia is on a 'spectrum' like autism, and although not known to be directly linked, they share many things in common. It comes in various 'strengths'; some have it very badly, others only very mildly. Those with mild dyslexia might only notice a tendency to get things in a muddle, but it doesn't interfere with every day life in a debilitating way. Others on the other hand are severely hampered by it as it interferes with their ability to read, write and compute as well as their day to day functioning. It can be difficult to identify as children can mask their symptoms: It rarely becomes very obvious until they are older by which time they have learnt some strategies, either helpful or unhelpful, to cope. See this interesting article here. Let's look at some of the symptoms of dyslexia. Many people think of it as being primarily a reading and writing problem but it goes much beyond this. Basically, it is a problem with organising information (processing) - so the dyslexic child will have trouble learning 'orders' of things: days of the week, months of the year, time, times-tables, the alphabet etc.... This may reflect itself in poor personal organisation. In school, they will find it hard to follow the order of the lesson and the effort involved will tire them out quickly. Therefore they will be more inclined to drift and daydream and will be easily distracted. Others may use work avoidance tactics - fussing about equipment rather than getting down to work. Others may become the class 'clown' or draw attention to themselves through bad behaviour. At home and in class they may have difficulty processing oral/written language including having trouble following instructions. They may have trouble saying long words, or forget words. So already we have a long list of things that cause a problem, before we start to think about their written work and reading. The British Dyslexia Association tell the following areas of weakness that might manifest themselves in a dyslexic child: Reading. Written Work. Of course, problems come in maths too. We have already looked at problems with ordering (especially day of week, timetables etc..) and time-telling, but confusing numbers and signs is common too. As well as ordering numbers and learning place value (i.e. units/tens/hundreds etc..). What can be done about it? If it is very severe, you may wish to have your child assessed so that you know the scope of the problem and can maybe get extra help for them should they need it at some stage in the future. This can be expensive, and most will not assess too early as many of the symptoms are things young children have difficulty with anyway - 8+ is usual in the state education system. But don't despair: If you suspect your child has any difficulty - even if you don't know what it is, it worth looking at the following three areas as soon as possible, to give them the best chance of gaining the necessary skills in life. Diet: Some people do see changes with their child by following the GAPS diet, but I would recommend starting as early as you can. Don't think it will automatically make them into a good reader! It doesn't work that way. The diet helps to clear the brain, so that more normal pathways can be established and so that learning becomes easier. Note I said easier, not easy, as no learning is easy. It always requires effort on the part of the learner. As with all children with special needs, an intensive programme of education is beneficial if they are to make good headway in all areas. It requires attention in all areas of life, not just food. Exercise: Alongside the change in diet must come exercise - especially exercise that helps to develop co-ordination as it is these exercises that help to establish correct brain pathways which help reading and spelling etc.. as young babies start to move, their movements appear random, but they are building up, step by step. For one reason or another, some children miss out some of these steps - very often those that are later diagnosed as being autistic/dyspraxic/dyslexic. They may not crawl, but bottom shuffle. Crawling is very important for developing eye-hand co-ordination, so by missing it out they do not develop the necessary brain connections needed later on. Do lots of crawling - join a soft play area and go as often as you can. All the crawling though tunnels is fantastic. Get them crawling like a tiger round the house while listening to some music. Riding a bike and swimming, for older children. Spinning, jumping on a trampoline. All of these things help to stimulate the parts of the brain that might not have had proper stimulation either in the womb or during the early years. As it is summer you can provide extra fun in your own back garden: build an assault course in the garden - be imaginative: hoops to crawl through, tables to crawl under, a cane balanced on two bricks to make a hurdle to jump over. Time them and make it into a fun race. Routines must be established. Find ways of helping your child to keep track of time - daily schedule charts using pictures for the very young; Talk to them about the routine. Use ordering words: before, after, while, soon, shortly, next, What do we do after breakfast? That's right - we clean our teeth. What do we do after dinner? We clear the table. What must we do before we eat? Wash our hands. Establish a bedtime routine. These things will help your child enormously. Many children without problems have trouble coping without a routine, let alone those who do struggle. These things will ideally be kept up throughout their childhood. They will need more intensive teaching. A good reading/spelling programme is essential. The good news is that with such a programme, problems with reading/writing/spelling may largely be overcome. It needs to be a phonic based programme that is intensive and systematic. It needs to be multi sensory - using the ears, eyes, mouth/tongue and touch/movement and It needs to be started as soon as possible - ideally in nursery school years. I will look at a such a system in a future post. Teaching any child with special needs is hard work and requires a great deal of patience. Do not just say 'I haven't got what it takes, I'd better put them in school' without a lot of prayerful thought and consideration. There are some good, private dyslexia schools, but generally not mainstream, which is where they are most likely to be placed unless their symptoms are very extreme, or you can afford otherwise. At home you can give them one-to one. You can really get to know them. You will need to learn to study your child. Do not just dismiss all their foibles as being 'naughty' or 'awkward' - however embarrassing they may seem. There is probably a good reason for them. Hunt it out! If you do decide that school is the best option, then work closely with the school for maximum advantage. Disclaimer: I am a teacher, not a doctor. A member of the medical profession should be consulted about all matters relating to your health. This information is for advice only. A reading Programme suitable for dyslexics of all ages. |
Welcome!After studying for an Early Years Specialism degree (B.Ed. Hons), and teaching in mainstream education, I home-educated my own children, after my husband and I were persuaded of the need to take responsibility for bringing up our children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' (Ephesians 6:4) We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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