Dyspraxia: a personal experience
When my son was nine years old we received a letter from his school, the letter informing us that our son’s behavior had been unacceptable on more than one occasion in a particular lesson. The lesson in question was a craft class being taught by a learning support member.
Of course, we did the only thing a concerned parent could do: make an appointment to see our son’s teacher. During the meeting, the teacher read a series of notes compiled by the teaching assistant. His son can’t be bothered to cut out simple shapes, he would rather act like a class clown who disrupts other class members. He also refused to sew, saying it was only for girls.
Our son, who was just a typical kid at home, apparently couldn’t behave himself for a few minutes at school. For a full year, we persevered with the behavior charts without once questioning the opinions of the teaching staff at our son’s school.
I still feel today that we let our son down after all, we are in the education business and we should have known. Well, this was ten years ago and dyspraxia today is still very difficult to diagnose. Today’s children are sometimes simply classified as mischievous underachievers when in fact they suffer from a severe learning disability.
Our children’s dyspraxia was finally diagnosed by an educational therapist after a young teacher who had received special training in learning disabilities became suspicious of our children’s behavioral pattern. The therapist later explained to us that our son was clowning around in class to divert attention from the fact that he could barely hold a pair of scissors properly. My son was embarrassed by the fact that he couldn’t cut shapes like the other kids and the only things he could stick the planting needle into were his fingers.
I started reading articles and books about dyspraxia and learned that it was not life threatening and could be overcome. There is no cure for dyspraxia, but the earlier a child is diagnosed and treated, the better the chance that dyspraxia will not cause any significant problems in the future.
How can I tell if my child has dyspraxia?
Diagnosing dyspraxia is notoriously difficult as it can overlap with other learning disabilities, but here are a few points that perhaps should have told me that our son had dyspraxia.
About 70% of people with dyspraxia are men.
Stand in front of your child about 10 feet away and gently throw a ball at him if he keeps dropping it, this may be an indicator.
Watch your child brush their teeth if they are having trouble, then this could be another indicator. My son still has difficulty brushing his teeth.
Draw a very basic shape and, using safety scissors, have your child cut out the shape. If they find it almost impossible to get close to the outline of the shape, this could be another indicator.
Can’t your child decide which hand to use? Looking back, I personally feel that this was the main indicator that my son had dyspraxia. He could never decide which hand to use.
Does your child have poor concentration? Don’t stick to one or two tasks? My son was like a whirlwind running through the house and never concentrating on one thing for more than a few seconds.
Is your child disruptive in class, always acting silly? This may be a survival mechanism; they try to divert attention from their inability to perform a task. My son always had problems in math and crafts class.
If you think your child has dyspraxia, see an educational therapist as soon as possible. In the UK this is a free service that can be accessed through your child’s school or GP.