All those years ago when my son was statemented for his Dyslexia I went gone along with the diagnosis. I was young, ignorant and taught by my parents to respect authority.
It was over 8 years ago when I attended a course as a learning support assistant for the same school that I realized my mistakes.
I already knew that the children I had supported for many years all had similar degrees of difficulties (or under the same umbrella.
They had varying degrees of high motor activity, slow at processing (not following instructions) gross/fine motor skills, balance, co-ordination, organisational skills, direction, judgement of distance, left and right laterality, learning/behaviour difficulties and tracking.
Over the years I noticed children who had similar symtoms being investgated for ADHD, Autism/Aspergers, Dyslexia, behaviour and learning difficulties. Working with over 130 children in 8 years I saw that many of the root causes was motor skills difficulties. Failure in school inevitably resulted in the lowest self esteem children should ever have to experience.
I had been on many courses over the years and this week the course was about Dyspraxia and how to screen children.
Over the years of supporting children with special needs my understanding of Dyspraxia was that it was a medical issue. If a child had co-ordination difficulties they were taken to the Doctors and then referred to an occupational therapist, that is what the experts in books tell you but in real life your left on your own. They would then (every week) be given some sort of occupational therapy (again very rarely in real life there is no funding) I later found out from a leading OT that dyspraxia was the lowest of funding and that you very rarley got any support, but a booklet and a list of medical books which gave you strategies to support dyspraxia difficulties. Dyspraxia never affected you educationally. I stupidly thought a child would struggle in PE because they were clumbsy.
I listened as the tutor spoke about children’s symptoms and difficulties and realized that he was describing most of the children I supported every day. The most alarming realization was that I could see my son amongst them all. He had struggled for years at not being able to write, but could read and spell at the expected level but experts would give them labels of Dyslexia.
The Programme
Luckily our School fully supported me to start a programme of exercises as recommended on the course. The first children were screened, chosen, parents informed and permission given to take part.
Children’s difficulties varied in severity but I chose some really nice exercises that looked good in the books, but had very little effect and this is where the problem started. No one tells you in books how to inform Parents, where to do the exercises, what resources you need, how long, what to look for and how long it takes to achieve a miracle parents are expecting.
The screening process we were shown was taken from the Maddeline Portwood book “Developmental Dyspraxia” and this is what I use today. The most useful screening I use now by observing children in Nursey. The main difficulty is processing ( or following instructions) and the inability to interact. I know that Dyspraxia is known to be linked with “the clumbsy child” but in Nursery a child who is slow to process stands out more. I went to a speech and language unit and we observed how children ( if had been at an ordinary school) would have been thought to have ADHD and referred to an Educational Psychologist. I know because in the past I have seen unqualified staff who have read snippets of information about difficulties and put children in this catogory. These children were actually “flitting”. These children had never been to nursey or experienced so much stimuli. They where like a chocoholic in a chocolate shop. They flitted from toy to toy and couldn’t decide what to play with first. We make allowances for imature motor skills and keep observing untill reception. I realised that at this age their motor skills are underdeveloped and if they are supposed to learn they can’t and this is when the problem starts. Their peers move on and they continue to fall behind and learning and especially behaviour problems become imbedded. In reception at an early intervention stage children start the programme. At this time motor skills are developed at the same time as learning begins and everything works. The exercises I use are all based on dealing with all the difficulties at the same time, this way children progress and encourage each other, self esteem builds and weaknesses are highlighted.
I was told in one school how a head (who was apparently an expert on Dyspraxia and a SENCO) had advised a child to bounce a ball and measure each day how much faster they could achieve this. UGHHH! what is this for, It may look at hand eye co-ordination but childrens motor skills need to be strenghthened.
We start jumping feet together, hopping on the left and right foot. We walk along lines and in and out of hoops for balance, left and right laterality, direction and listening. We use skate boards and skipping ropes and for tracking difficulties we use bean bags. The parts of the body that are weak are strengthened from the upper/lower body to the arms, wrists and hands (for handwriting).
If you strengthen the co-ordination and balance the body this strengthens the nueral pathways in the brain. Messages have been going around the long way around unnessesary pathways so you have to retrain them. This is seen as being clumsy (when you move one part of the body the whole lot moves) the same with the brain in that messages of information went the long way around (slow to process).
I noticed that all the children who had learning /behaviour difficulties all had motor skills difficulties (MSD)
When the children did the exercises you noticed how one side was much weaker than expected in most children. You have 2 sides of the brain, one side sees things (CVC letters) individually and works with the other side to make them into a whole. We noticed in children who hadn’t been on the programme they were unable to progress and move on to make whole big words, blend and segment. They were also unable to leave spaces and wrote in snakes. we asked them to do a before and after piece of writing. Once their bodies were balanced, strengthened and co-ordinated this stopped. To an untrained eye this could be investigated/diagnosed in later years as dyslexia.
Children who who were again thought to have traits of Autism/aspergers were put on the programme. They were slow to process and interact with peers. They seemed to be obsessive but that was because they had learnt to use the same information as it was safe. New experiences, new information to learn, they wanted routine. We had one child who punched other children and was labelled Autistic. He was screened and found to have severe MSD. He was slow to process so could not react quickly, so he punched(I have video footage of this) following the programme he doesn’t do this anymore, is no longer thought to have any Autism. I work with him today as he struggles in maths. He is a naughty,if not a scheming little 9 year old. As I had supported children for Autism for years at time I was an expert on the difficulties I know that MSD was the root cause.
As a child with MSD has a constantly unbalanced body they are not able to learn the basic visual steps needed. You need to keep still, fixate a moving object, take in the information and process this. School nurses test for focus and all the children had passed this simple test. Why was every child who went on the programme unable to track a beanbag from left to right(one of the exerises) I have introduced.
One child who was 7 years old came from another school who had diagnosed him as having dyslexia. He was screened and found to have severe weaknesses in huis motors. In one year he overcame this but still he struggled with his tracking. He was taken to a local optometrist who found he had tiny pheriferal vision. This is why he wasn’rt able to progress as he was unable to take in information in all aspects of life and learning. This would never have been highlighted if he hadn’t accessed the programme. He was at reception level learning and 2 years later achieved one point off a level 4 in maths, He still struggle in phonics but this is because of years of MSD holding him back. His handwriting is spectacular and he writes joined up and better than an adult. In 130 children we have another little boy this year and he is 5 years old and having the programme and light therapy. We have got him in time.
I have a two 5 year old boys who were thought to have ADHD. They had been re-strained daily and had been given the allowance of being observed to see if they were flitting and were just late developers, but nothing worked. As their bodies were unbalnced they moved constantly. They both had severe motor skills difficulties and after being on the programme for 1 year are learning, calm and a credit to a class with no has high motor activity. And NO! they would not have grown out of it as I know I am the one who used to support (chair chuckers) in the past.
I have had 3 children who were being treated for bedwetting. They all had MSD. When they needed to go it took to long to process the information and it was to late. Once nueral pathways were strengthened processing increased and this problem stopped.
I have had several children who were under a speech therapist and had never been screened but all had MSD. Two especially(brothers) had severe MSD and were eventually refered to an occupational therapist. Our OT left it to me (as she totally supports my work) They were again at reception level but after a year their speech was at last making sense and was articulate enough to understand and they started interacting with peers. Without the programme they would have continued to climb the special needs register. and struggled for years.
Because we deal with MSD early we no longer have special needs difficulties as they are dealt with. We only have them because they come from other schools who dont have a programme.
Our screening and programme is free. We may not have high tech equipment (hoops, bean bags, masking tape and skateboards) but it is effective and works. Children laugh at me, at themselves or just because they are happy and they are with other children who are just the same. They may not have reams of printed out evidence that they can file and save. They will be given a certificate in the hall (not to humiliate them) when they burst with pride at applause from the whole class at their achievements. Even just having the skills to catch a ball in PE was enough to start with.
As a parent I struggled and worried that I had to find extra money to pay for the basic milk money, dinners, trips, photos, parties, presents and the list goes on. I have been there when parents have been informed that their child is having difficulties and witnessed the emotion. Weeks, months and years later children have progressed and the emotion has changed to happiness without the financial burden. Like smiling our programme costs nothing.
You could take a group of children and give half the exercises to one and the other half none. The only way this would work would be in a clinical environment. There personality inherited from parents determines how they will deal with life.
We know that every child is an individual with different experiences and they have different inputs from school and home. I could not sit back and do nothing for the ones with out the exercises just to prove a point. I only have my gut feeling and what have I been able to witness over the years in our school to know that we have made a difference too over 120 children.
Through experience of working in school I know that over many years’ children have been slow or failed to progress and their school has exhausted every resource possible. Following the exercise programme children were “Kick started” and everything works together. Older children from other schools who never never had access to a programme started to progress, but only with the combination of good teaching as a follow up, but they had to be taken right back to reception level to put back lost years.
The programme continues for as long as children need it and as every child’s difficulties vary in severity some older children have been on for as long as 2 years. For some children you saw a difference in 6 weeks. Through experience over the years I know that this is not enough and these children inevitably were put back on the programme as difficulties reapeared.
Our programme has been fully supported by our occupational therapist as we are giving children support that they unfortunately haven’t the funding or the time to support. They recommend staff from other schools to see what we are doing and have achieved.
It is important to know how the education system works and how a child has sometimes has difficulty in reaching its full potential. Schools and Parents I know do everything in their power to support children. Through no fault of their own (because life is never planned out as we would all like it) through protocol they can be swept along for months and years.
NURSERY
3-4 years old
Imagine a child who has just started school, already a year or two behind in their development. Maybe their speech and language, motor skills, hearing and visual (the four modalities) are delayed by almost 2 years. They may only have one year in Nursery and some children may have never accessed a Nursery setting before. For these children just social interaction with other children is a new experience. The emotion of leaving parents and processing new information is distressing. When assessed they are reaching targets no higher than a 3 year old. The National curriculum begins to observe them and take notes.
Assessment in Nursery
(Clumsy, poor concentration, high motor activity or limited movement, not following instructions, poor toileting, emotional, limited social interaction.)
Reception
4 - 5 years old
Children are expected to conform to the routine of a classroom. They are expected to follow rules and learn. They may have one or all of the above difficulties and are expected when assessed to progress with targets like all the other children in the class. Through continued assessment the class teacher will notice that a child is not achieving the set targets but puts it down to immaturity. The class teacher (if you are unlucky) may be a newly qualified teacher or may not have the experience and knowledge to notice a problem. Many people will disagree but I have seen and heard many teachers and support staff who know very little about Special needs children. I know because I was one of them.
This year, I now realise is the most important in school life as this is where any child’s difficulties should be picked up, monitored and dealt with. In our reception year this is were we start with phonemic awareness. At this stage a child needs to learn the sounds of the alphabet, blending, rhyming and segmenting. Most Nurseries will have given opportunities throughout the day for children to access and explore letters and numbers.
Children need phonemic awareness at this early stage, but phonemic awareness is not phonics, it is auditory and does not involve words in print.
The ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in a spoken word and syllables are made up of sequences of speech sounds (Yopp, 1992) It is essential for children learning to read in an alphabetic writing system and letters represent sounds or phonemes. Without phonemic awareness phonics mean little sense.
Imagine a child blending sounds to make a word and connecting sounds with their written symbols.
“The best predictor of reading difficulty in kindergarten or first grade is the inability to segment words and syllables into constituent sound units (phonemic awareness)” (Lyon, 1995)
Assessment in Reception
(clumsy, poor concentration, high motor activity or limited movement, not following instructions, poor toileting, unsettled in school, truancy, continued attempted avoidance of PE, emotional, limited social interaction)
Year 1 – School Action
5-6 years old
Children are expected to conform to classroom routines. They are expected to follow rules and learn. As they have difficulty processing (following instructions) at the required rate they are can be thought to be disruptive. They may start using avoidance strategies when expected to work. Other children soon learn to avoid them to stay out of trouble. Low self esteem starts to show.
Assessment in year 1
(clumsy, poor concentration, high motor activity or limited movement, not following instructions, poor toileting, eating problems, social problems, unsettled in school, truancy, avoidance of PE, difficulty progressing in Literacy and Numeracy).
At this point the school recognises that the child has a problem and is put on the special needs register.
Year 2
6-7 years old
Assessment in year 2
(clumsy, poor concentration, high motor activity or limited movement, not following instructions, poor toileting, eating problems, social problems, unsettled in school, truancy, avoidance of PE, difficulty in accessing the national curriculum as assessed to be almost 2 years behind their cognitive age, Discussions with Parents (3 weeks) health visitor, hearing tests, eyes tested social worker, speech and language. All the information is collated and reports sent to the school which could take months.
A meeting with the child’s Parents, SENCO, class teacher and support assistant is arranged.
The advice is to move the child up to up to School Action Plus and be assessed by Educational Psychologist. An Individual Educational Plan is drawn up to aim for small targets the child can achieve. The child will be put into a small group with support but will have no funding for this as it will be general support. Again a meeting is arranged with all the relevant agencies but this depends on whether staff required are ill, on holiday or are fully booked for months because they are the only ones available in 21 schools in your area. They could send a report but have no administration at the moment.
Year 3
7 - 8 years old
Assessment in Year 3
(clumsy, poor concentration, high motor activity or limited movement, not following instructions, poor toileting, eating problems, social problems, unsettled in school, truancy, avoidance of PE, difficulty in accessing the national curriculum as assessed to be almost 3 years behind their cognitive age, Discussion with Parents and outside agency, advise from Speech and Language, health visitor, General Practitioner, occupational therapists, educational psychologist, Portex and “The Butterfly Project”( to support the Parents and child at home and school.
To apply for New Approaches funding for extra support.
And so it goes on as the child rises up the SEN register. Some Education Authorities may disagree at these comments and some parents may agree. I write as a parent. The school will do as much as possible to support every child but this all depends on funding and resources of staff. One other factor is how many other children in the same class have needs that require support.
A child with out difficulties progresses at the required pace every parent and teacher hopes. Children need to be able to move at a steady pace in school but the national curriculum was not developed for special needs children.
STOP! Luckily you can eliminate many of these years of struggling, frustration and failure.
The experts recommend that children should be screened no younger than 7 years old allowing for immaturities in motor skills. The truth is at this age it is too late and associated behaviours/learning difficulties are escalating and becoming embedded. Children will have already lost the chance to maximise their potential. Because of this they move steadily up the special needs register.
I was very lucky in that following the programme in the morning I was also supporting children in class and I was then able to see the difficulties in all areas, especially literacy.
These children are lucky in that they are attending a school which supports a programme that can make a difference and they will never have to struggle.
I wish that every school could screen and produce an exercise programme. How many more children will have to wait be investigated and diagnosed with Dyspraxia / Dyslexia (and other symtoms )by experts and allowed to struggle.
Children without MSD ask to join the programme because they can see how much fun we have and we are now a special club.
The most important difficulty of all was that over 120 children’s self esteem increased to superhuman strengths because they witnessed every day their own success and these children no longer struggled.
Staff have the ability to recognise symptoms themselves in class and together as a whole school we support these children with SEN.
They are now a statistic for achievement not failure.
I use preventative methods to avoid children getting dyspraxia and other associated difficulties but we better not say
” cure” as that would be a miracle, even though and I see them everyday.
Hi. I got your website through Daily Strength, I am JDownes. My 3 year old son has dyspraxia and I am trying to get him the appropriate number of hours of speech therapy. He is completely non-verbal and needs intensive speech. In your opinion, how much speech therapy is considered “intensive”?
I found your website after reading the article in The Yorkshire Post. How I wish you had worked at my sons’ primary school!
My eldest son is almost 15 and was diagnosed with dyspraxia at 7. He was an early extremely fluent reader and had a great general knowledge but could barely hold a pencil; it was only because a child in his class had had a private assessment resulting in the diagnosis of dyspraxia that the teacher picked up on the similarities and suggested I see our GP. I then spent the rest of my son’s time at the school teaching the teachers about his condition - some I have to say were a bit precious about this but one thing I have learnt is that you have to fight for any help. One problem we never resolved was his handwriting which came up time and time again on his IEP but when I look back there were never any strategies put in place to do something about it. We even paid to do the DORE programme with little success. The consequence is that he is now about to start his GCSE years (at a fantastically supportive school), a bright boy who is severely disadvantaged by his poor written work - note taking and exams etc. Self esteem is very low and incidentally we also got a diagnosis of Aspergers at 11.
My younger son is 8 and has similar handwriting problems. Having felt that his primary school failed our eldest we moved the younger son to a different school (at the end of year1)who have worked very hard to lessen the gap between him and his peers(unlike his brother he struggled with almost every aspect of the curriculum and couldn’t read 2 letter words after 4 terms at the first primary school). The reading is now coming on but once again ‘handwriting’ keeps rearing its ugly head on his IEP and this is the reason for this rambling email! I am obviously keen to avoid the difficulties that his older brother faces and feel that intervention NOW is necessary to help him at High School but don’t know what to do for him. Have you any suggestions we might try at home? Do you run courses for parents? We live in North Yorkshire.
I am afraid I am not very good at ICT yet and just realised that I hadnt replied to Josephine, I am so sorry.
As every child is an individual they develop in their own time. Unfortunately the goverment, society, the national curriculam and lifes erxperiences define this progress. I have worked with many children over the years and over the last 5 years especially with SPLD. Two children came to me from another schoolaged 5/8 years old both at reception age they could hardly speak. I screened them and they both had severe motor skills difficulties. They had speech therapy but hadn’t moved on. Following the exercise programme and using “Playing with sounds” at reception level we built up sounds. After a year they were able to be understood. The 8 year old was writing (joined up) and had general support. The youngest had made 2 years progress. I have many stories like this but as well as speech which you need as much as you can get, you need to wait untill about 4-5 and start exercises for the dyspraxia. This not only deals with the gross motors but also any left and right laterality (hopping especially) helps with the co-ordination and ive found helps then co-ordinating speech. Your very lucky that you can make a difference as your son is young. Good luck and keep in touch.
Liz, Thank you so much for getting in touch. When I read about your sons, it’s like reading about my son all over again. He was statemented at 6 for severe Dyslexia and all that was wrong with him was his handwriting. I now know that he had dyspraxia all those years ago and even though his teachers were told he was still getting comments in his planner “? could do better but his handwriting is appalling” He once got detention for saying “I haven’t mastered bloody English so how can I do french” I have pages and pages of evidence to show children whose handwriting has improved dramatically to even doing joined which is beautiful. All there handwriting improved following the exercise programme.
This is what I do.
Children are taken right back to reception stage and learn their sounds. I start with Alphabet cards with pictures in an ark A apple B bat C cat ect. then I blend CVC words. Find me cat and they have to pull these down. I carry on and build the sounds up untill they are blending sounds and progressing. For reading this is one process that is allways less of a problem as they dont have to think or write. Handwriting this is the worst, they have to use eyes, make a movement, think and process information quickly or use their imagination to build up a story. I have worked with children this year and using computors we choose a picture on google that they want to write about. We talk about the image and then they write on the computor. We spell check it and look at the story and correct it. The children then write it out. Their is no pressure to hurry and they are doing one process at a time. All the childrens handwriting has improved dramitically, one in particular does joined up writing and it is beautiful. All these children I work with are 8-9 years old so you can make a difference. I have had children who have also been put under the umbrella of having Autism/Aspergers because of processing difficulties. Once again, once the dyspraxia had been dealt with, processing increased and this was illiminated, If you can read my book it will help you understand this.I also set this website up so it gives other parents a chance to share experiences. I do workshops and if I can get a venue around here I will let you know. I would love to pass on any help I can so if you can arrange somewhere near you I will be happy to come.
Dear Hazel, I would be very interested to find out more about your programme. I have a 9 year old daughter who was diagnosed 3 years ago with Dyspraxia, ADD and borderline AS mainly due to poor handwriting and pushy parents!! She has caught up academically really well and has never had a problem with her reading which she loves, and school have now taken her off the special needs register. The problem is she still struggles with PE and the social side of school this has led to her having very low self esteem and a negative view of herself. Example- on the first day of school a girl she had problems last year, lent her a pen and said she could keep it, when I suggested this was a good sign and she just said that she probably didn’t want it back after my daughter had touched it. Obviously i find this very upsetting particularly as I suffered the same problems throughout school and believe I am an undiagnosed Dyspraxic myself. I’d love to get the school to try your excercise programme with her and other children and to get through to them that Special Needs are more than about academic things.
Thank you so much for writing Rachel. Please buy my book as that is why I wrote it to try and get all schools to follow our example.If you read it you will realise how ADD and AS can be caused by Dyspraxia as the symtoms are all linked. All the children I work with are all good readers as in the book it explains how you use less processes. With writing as your motor skills are weakened handwriting is difficult. Children are asked to write at the begining of the programme and at intervals, and the difference is amazing. I had a lady from OFSTED who specialised in Dyslexia and I explained how Dyspraxia could be the root cause and showed her a childs hanwriting following the programme. She said he couldn’t have had dyslexia as his hamndwriting was brilliant. He had been on the programme as he had severe dyspraxia. He had been statemented for Dyslexia inhis old school and never screened for dyspraxia. One of the most upsetting things is how ignorance can cause so much heartbreak in children. Children are children for such a short time we have to get it right. If you have one bad teacher (and yes it happens all the time) it can ruin a childs life for a full year. If a child cant process quickly enough (dyspraxia) they cant follow instructions and to an untrained teacher this can look “naughty”. I explain in my book about how children cant keep up with other children in conversation and play as they are slow to process and keep up. If they are also failing in school they have very low self esteem. In our programmes you see children achieving firstly with the exercises. They are working with other children so make friends and then as processing and motor skills start working they join in. All my children at the end of it, become well balanced, happy children, especially in class as they also start to “Fit in” something they didn’t do before.Please get the school on board (read my book) screen children all with learning difficulties not just clumsey children and start a programme. Within 6 weeks you will see a difference (some may need longer) and in 6 yearts sit back and see what a difference you have made to alot of children. I love my job because I see children who would have struggled fo years smiling everyday and they love school.
Dear Hazel,
I have just spoken to Pete Forde and he suggested that I get in touch with you.
I have a 13 year old son. Since the age of 3 I have been told that it is just a “phase” he is going through! It started when the phone rang or someone knocked at my door, he used to scream, kick, punch, or bite either me or my visitor. He used to throw things at his 7yr old sister, or annoy her mercilessly. I seriously thought he had ADHD. The health visitor told me that it was my fault he was like this. I took him to a psychologist who, him being on best behaviour for an hour a week, said that he was fine.
I told infant, junior and high school what his concentration levels were like and the fact that while the class had written two pages of work he had written two lines! Junior school teacher - “I cant say anything to him, he’s too cute!” We used to get phone calls asking to pick him up because he’d run into a brick wall. Now we’ve found that he has flat feet when he stands up which doesn’t help.
Year 9 at high school…..terrible for homework, forgetting the little things, handwriting still atrocious, “silly” behaviour, but worse, still no diagnosis! We’ve only just got the GP to refer him to the hospital. How do I make the school understand that his behaviour, mood swings and class work, may not be his fault? ***** High is not that forgiving on students who haven’t been diagnosed and I’m slowly going crazy, especially if I hear that phrase one more time. Any help would be appreciated,
Many thanks in advance,
Amazing site.
Thanks, webmaster.
Hi - I’ve just read your book and all the way through thought ” That’s X she’s talking about, X does that, oh X must feel like that”. I work in a school in Holmfirth as a behavioural therapist but think that there may be several children we have who could benefit from your program. Could I come and watch you and have a chat? I can see that this could be life changing.
Thanks
Rachel
I wish I could let everyone see that “Yes it is life changing”I have4 boys that I have been working with since last year (in reception)and they were so bad I was really thinking that I really wasnt making a difference. And “Hey presto!” it started working this week and again I get all emotional as if left there behavior would be the one problem that would be the worst. You are very lucky in that you can come and see me and the very special children I work with. I start my programme at 9am everyday except Wednesdays, when the whole school does multi-skills so that we all benifit. Unfortunately I have to then go back to work with more SEN children, but we could arrange a chat later.
Please contact me bye-mailing me directly to arrange a date!
i have been trying to find a contact number for you but without sucess,so i thought i would send a message through here.I am very interested in having my five year old son screen for dyspraxia but unfortunatley privatly is not an option iam asingle parent on a low income ,and was wondering when you may be next having a workshop or doing some screenings i live in liversedge so can travel by bus.I Can give you details about my little boy but would prefer to wait and make sure you have received this message first.
my email address is nicolajsykes@btinternet.com.
Thankyou
I have just been told that my 13 year old son has dyspraxic tendencies - in the form of some kind of ‘overload’. His handwriting is not poor, but apparently he spends to much time ensuring that it is neat that he is not taking in the information in lessons - it’s like he can’t walk and chew gum. He is a bright boy and clearly has developed ways of coping. I have been advised to have him learn to touch type and that this would help him apparently. I have also heard of some kind of body brushing as a way of opening up neural pathways (I think). Do you have any advice for my situation. Many thanks in advance
Hi! Sian, Ok I will explain about overloading. As Dyspraxic children are slow to process as messages go around unwanted pathways they take longer. A teacher may be on their 5th sentance and the child is still processing their first. If too much information is taken in to quickly some children “overload” It’s like us being stressed out or not being able to wind down after a bad day. We might have a drink, go for a jog etc. With children that I have had the pleasure to support, they need to be left alone. One little boy used to go under the table and just sit. One went to the loo and just sat. If you talk to them and try and coax them to talk it is the worst thing you can do.If he has Dyspraxic tendancies he will struggle to write and process at the same time. I have 4 boys at the moment who have been with me for years and they struggled to do both. Over the last six months they have been on computors. They get an image up so they have something to give them ideas. They then plod away with one finger and produce a story, spell check,correct grammer and print out their work. They then write using joined up handwriting which is now better than mine and many grown ups. The pressure has gone as they only have one process to do. If your school is willing to offer this (maybe a laptop) this is great as many schools haven’t got the funding.
As for body bushing!!!!The only way I have found of strengthening nueral pathways is by exercising the body over month’s to strengthen underdeveloped motor skills at an early age. This in turn strengthens the nueral pathways and processing increases. I have been to talks from people claiming crystals and bodybrushing (purely to gain my own perspective of other methods) I have also been to special centres which you can attend to “cure” dyspraxia. Answer me this question. Would you believe anything would work if you were desperate enough ? Would you also pay hundreds and thousands of pounds even if you couldn’t afford? Of course you would because as a parent you would also kill to keep your child safe. Why do you think I started a programme for children in our school all those years ago. Because it is free and I never rip anybody off. I cant comment about other methods but I know in my school we have made a difference to over 120 children.
Thank you for your reply, it all sounds sensible and thanks for your perspective on body brushing. I will cancel that appointment especially as it is £80 per half hour and if it was that effective, surely we would all have heard about it by now.
I am still finding it difficult to steer a course through all of this. His teachers say he is not making enough effort, his study skills tutor says this is linked to the dyspraxic tendencies. However, he is failing to turn up to lessons on time, or without his book and not handing in homework. He had an injury last week and was told he could either go to the library or come home - he did neither and now is in trouble. I am not sure how to talk to him about this, because his response is always that it is someone elses fault. I have talked to his teachers but they want to take a ‘tough but supportive approach’.
I noticed that you refer to exercise as being the only way to strengthen neural pathways from an early age. He is now 13 and shows no other motor coordination issues. He plays tennis, football and rugby. are there any specific exercises that he can do
added to all of this, he is quite resistant to the idea that anything is wrong in the first place.
Any other advice would be really appreciated
Best
Sian
Oh dear! I had the same problem when my son was at high school. It’s all to do with people being aware of Dyspraxia. Its no good saying that these are because of his dyspraxic tendancies but it’s understanding them. I will explain about how I have found dyspraxia. In europe children start school at 6-7 years old when motor skills/speech are developed in most children. Here children start at 3-4 in Nursery when some children are not developed. At this time they start the treadmill of the National Curriculam. Because of this nueral pathways in the brain are not developed for processing and children start getting behind and other weaknesses take over. Your son as he is older has eventually developed his motor skills but the brain has not. He is left with all the other difficulties such as slow processing (forgetting lessons, homework etc) Because I use early intervention in the early years everything is developed and we stop Dyspraxia developing. I cant say “cure” but we prevent it.If you live near Holmfirth I am having a workshop in school and maybe you could encourage your school staff to come. He wont think there is anything wrong with him because he is not to blame, it is other peoples ignorance as usual because they dont understand. If the school know he has dyspraxic tendancies they should be aware that one of the main issues is “remembering”. At his age maybe he could be given a ticklist book with things to do, one by one. If he is being sent home /library he could of maybe been given a note with his choice on to remind him. At our school we have “buddies” who are responsible for other children. We use the children with common sense who care and guenuinly like to help others. I’m sure if you suggested these strategies or spoke to the school about your concerns they can at least try. Keep in touch, its always better to share
I was wondering how to get this book. I have a son that was diagnosed with arnold chiari malformation with spina bifida occulta and everything you have stated describes by child. I am a single mother of two and unemployed. I am reaching for answers to help my child. Is there any way I can get this book? Maybe some of the exercises you mentioned might help him.
Thank you,
Kelley
I am going to update this website so that it gives alot more information. The gentleman who set this website up says that people will look and think that I havent bothered since 2007 but alot has happened since then, with the children support especially.
Now then Kelly, thank you for getting in touch, I have never come across any child with arnold chiari malformation. My friend at school had spina bifida so I am aware of its problems. I hope my exercises can help as I have had many positive results. You can get my book at www.woodfieldpublishers.co.uk
or you can order it from Amazon. It says it is not in stock but this is only because they haven’t it in the warehouse.I would love to hre more about your son as It helps me understand more.
My son was diagnosed at 7 mths old with craniosynantosis at 7 mths old of the frontal suture. In other words it closed to soon and his skull was forming a triangle shape. At birth he had spina bifida occulta but I was not informed of it or its effects or other health related problems that arise with it. The arnold chiari was there but the doctors and surgeons missed it because of the urgency of the suture. He had the reconstruction surgery of his forehead at 8 mths and then became ill and had to have several surgeries after that for tubes in his ears and had to have his adnoids removed because of a antibiotic resistant bacteria in his adnoids. He did not reach most of his developmental milstones like most children or speak. He would babble and was incoherent and still is at times. His speech sometimes is better at times but you have to concentrate to hear him. His writing is very bad he can’t read or spell and has basically been labeled Mentally retarded because his brain does not connect to be able to form sentences or perform like a 9 yr old. He reverts back often to acting like a toddler or baby at times has a hard time processing information or getting information out. I know he is highly intelligent but unable to prove it. He continually complained of headaches and the doctors and I chalked it up to earaches because he always has fluid in his ears. He was always going into rages and at 4 went into one and banged his head on the tile floor. After this incident he started to loose the use of his left side. I rushed him to the renouned Texas Childrens Hospital and asked them to do an MRI. Because he was on heavy duty anti-psychotics the neurologists there chalked his symptoms up to a reaction to the medications he was on and refused to do an MRI. After begging and having his neurosurgeon asking the hospital to do an MRI and them refusing, we had him transfered to Memorial Hermann childrens hospital were he was rushed into MRI and the Arnold Chiari malformation was found. Arnold-Chiari malformation is a malformation of the brain. It consists of a downward displacement of the cerebellar tonsils and the medulla[1] through the foramen magnum, sometimes causing hydrocephalus as a result of obstruction of CSF outflow. Basically where the tail of the brain is forced into the spinal column because the brain is compressed and has nowhere to go. A week later decompression surgery was performed ( unfortunately probably the wrong type) where they shaved the sides of the bottom of his skull down to relieve the pressure so that the tonsils could float freely over the spinal column. A week later he started leaking CSF fluid thru his sutures at the surgery site. I then rushed him back to the hospital and emergency surgery was performed to insert a VP shunt to relieve the buildup of CSF fluid in his neck and brain. He developed high blood pressure and could not keep anything down. They had to insert a catheter into his main artery in his chest and give him fluids because he was severely dehydrated. after we got his fluids balanced in his body he was released the day before Thanksgiving and I was told he would be okay. To treat him like a normal child ie disipline and so on. He was put on Haldol and six other meds to help control his behavior and so on. After 8 months of being on haldol and exhibiting symptoms of seizures and still going into rages and being kicked out of school, having seizure studies done he was admitted into a psychiatric hospital and was immediately taken off the haldol and all meds and re-evaluated and new anti-psychotics were introduced to control his behavior. Now most of the meds his is currently taken are adult doses so that the school can deal with him. He has cognitive problems and fine motor skill issues,word connecting problems and proccessing issues along with behavioral problems. His head and neck, stomach and back hurt most of the time but is unable to express it. He is overweight because of the medicines and is sensitive to noise and light. He has been labeled as being PDD and bipolar because of his behaviors. The school does not understand how to deal with him which results in overly restraining him or punishing him because at times he refuses to do what they want, ie school work or acting out because he is frustrated. The Behavioral plan in place is way off. He gets three warnings if he does not comply he is then asked to go to stop station which is time out, if he does not comply and go to time out he is then told to go to isolation if he throws a fit or rages or refuses then he is physically restrained until he calms down and is ready to comply then he is isolated for 5 minutes and after he completes that he is sent to time out for 5 minutes to finish his punishment and then resumes his work. and this is a vicious circle until he does what they want of him. He is punished for not remembering little things. ie: the school during christmas had a christmas shop and he bought me a christmas present and 2 pencils for himself. At the end of the day he forgot to put them in his backpack and was at the front of the school waitng to get on the bus. He realized at that time that he forgot the gift and pencils and tried to express this to the teacher and she responded that it was his responsibility to make sure it was in his backpack before he left the class, at this point he went into a rage and refused to get on the bus. I was called to the school to pick him up and when I arrived the teacher was waiting with him. She then preceeded to tell me what had happened and told me that it was only right that he not get the pencils he had bought for himself as punishment for his actions because he needed to learn responsibility and pay for his actions. I just looked at her and said whatever. I then went to the principal and told her what had happened and expressed my outrage at the teacher expecting my son to be able to remember this task. She of course took up for the teacher and stated that Andrew did need to learn to be responsible for these things and his actions needed to be addressed. I was outraged and told her that normal kids and adults forgot things now and again and how could they expect my son to remember with all his problems and that it was the teachers responsibility to assist him with remembering these things, not to punish him because he was unable to remember and wanted to give me a present. After thinking about all the changes they ubruptly prensented to my child at the beginning of the year knowing he has transistion issues and then expecting so much out of him, I contacted a lawyer thru Advocacy Inc. and asked for their assistance. I am awaiting a meeting to which the lawyer will attend and by consequence they will have their lawyer present along with top administrators to discuss all that has happened and to try to find a solution for him. Along with this I was on spring break from college and started researching his diagnoses and joining support groups and organizations requesting help. That is when I came across your website and realized that he might possibly be suffering from Developmental Dyspraxia and apraxia. That maybe one side of the brain is weaker than the other and causing problems with him being able to learn, write and speak better. His also incontinent and has loose bowels and has to wear diapers as a result. The only way to keep him continent is to make him toliet every hour which is not always successful. He is unable to pedal a bike, tie his shoes and has difficulties with buttoning or zipping things. His fine motor skills are very weak or not there. He has proccessing issues along with cognitive issues and poor social skills which in turn results in his behavior issues. He is a very sweet little boy and tries very hard to please everyone around him. Has no concept of time, money, or dangerous issues resulting in having to be monitored 24 hrs. I have not given up on him but am constantly depressed and cryng because I want the best for him but have not had the support and understanding needed much less medical help and understanding his needs from anyone including family. I have been accused of being a bad parent, that I do not disipline my children enough and that they are totally out of control. On top of all of this my 12 yr old is severely ADHD with anxiety and depression disorder and behavioral issues because he was abused and saw me abused by my ex-husband who is bipolar and has other mental issues. My oldest has trust issues with others and has acted out because my youngest takes all the time I have and has not been able to have a normal life. I am constantly fighting doctors, school and family and friends to get them to understand my childrens issues which has basically allienated us from everyone. It is hard to take Andrew out to do normal things like eating in a restraunt or to a park or mall because everyone judges his “inappropriate behavior”. We don’t go around family and friends because they don’t understand and judge me and my kids and cannot handle their behavior. They think that my kids are out of control. It has been a long and hard journey and hopefully by getting answers and help I can make my childrens lives more productive and better for them so that society and family can see that they are amazing children. I have hopefully found a good doctor 3 hrs away that will be able to help Andrew surgically if needed, or in other ways so that he can be more successful but because of the lack of knowledge concerning his medical issues in Houston it is going to be difficult to get the medical attention he needs. My only support is my mom who was recently diagnosed with Breast Cancer last year and matastisized into her lymph nodes, spine and lung. She is struggling to continue to work while dealing with chemo and her health problems so that we have a home and now my wonderful boyfriend who when others would run he has stayed and is doing everything he can to understand about my kids and their issues and give the love that no one else has been able to do. It gets very stressful at times because we have no outlets to be able to get away and decompress so that we can continue on and be there for my kids. Money is constantly tight to the point we have no money to do things with the kids so that they can have fun and a break from all the stress and bordom of not being able to do alot or go anywhere. Most of the wish foundations are not informed about Arnold Chiari and do not consider it a life threating illness or an issue to grant Andrew the few wishes he has, which is to go to disneyland, meet Zack and Cody or Hanna Montana and swim with the dolphins or Meet his hero and idol Chuck Norris “Texas Ranger”. I am constantly fighting the system so that I can receive medical help so that I can stay healthy for my kids. or receive help to support them. Majority of help out there does not know or recognize Arnold Chiari as a disability. I have run out of fininacial help at the community college level and cannot proceed with my education to become a nurse even at the university level because the pre-requsites I have left are community level classes and because the competition is fierce for RN programs in Texas. Also the programs or rigorus and do not allow for me to miss or work around my son so that I can be there for him. No daycare will take him because none are equipped to handle him and I cannot afford any schools or programs that possibly can. Still I am not giving up. I will finish my education to get A bachlors Degree in Nursing so that I can financially take care of my kids and also have the medical knowledge to help them. Not sure how I am going to do it but am determined to. I have already finished LVN school and have obtained my LVN license but it does not pay enough to support my family and that is one of the reasons I want to continue with my education. I also want to continue and specialize in children with brain and spine disorders so that I can be able to give the support that I was lacking in the medical field.
This is mine, Andrew’s and Chris’ story.
Thank you for listening.
Kelley
Kelly, I am being honest here, your problems are beyond my expertise in children with motor skills difficulties.All I can see is that you are a very caring loving Mum like many, have had to deal with a lack of understanding. I do get annoyed with stories about staff at school being ignorant. I deal with children with learning and behavior problems all day and one of the main way a child avoids doing work they cant do is by using bad behavior. With your sons obvious problems I would have immediately had an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) in operation and been assigned to that child. If I knew he was forgetful strategies would be in place to support your son not punish him. If anythink your son should not have been punished but the lack of care in helping him succeed. I use positive rewards to help children, so that even the smallest achievement is praised. I had a child for a year who had to be restrained and had been to 27 schools who had given up on him. I asked him to sit for 5 minutes and he got a tick on a chart. He was also given work he could achieve so he could do the work. After an hour he was allowed out to run around if he got all his ticks. At first he kicked off and missed a tick, but I would say “if you come back and try really hard we could earn it back”. After a few weeks the hour became 2 hours and so on untill he was part of the class (with his own level of support) and a pleasure to know. I know it is hard but all I can say is good luck and I only wish I was there to help.
Hello, thanks for the interesting post. There were some valid points you made. I will call back later and see how the conversation is going http://www.1up.com/do/my1Up?publicUserId=6038114
Greeting,
This was a great www.discuss-dyspraxia.co.uk forum. I needed to find something for my Homework and This site helped me out so much! Thanx alot!!!!
Hi Hazel,
just ordered your book would love to quote you on our web site and newslletter if you would allow me or if you would do an article for us .
We are the national association in Ireland and love your positive outlook and methods
Thanks for great stuff
Harry Conway
Development Officer Dyspraxia association of Ireland
Thank you so much Harry,
I have family in Ireland and scattered my husbands ashes on his beloved lake Greenville near Ballyconnell last year. I have sent an e-mail saying I would be delighted to be part of anythink you ask me as I am desperate to get the word out. Unfortunately every time I write something the English Dyspraxia Foundation say “There is no cure” and dont believe me when I say I have found a preventative method. With early intervention I can stop children eventually getting the label later on with Dyspraxia which has caused learning and behaviour difficulties. Because of the lack of early intervention you get children who are eventually diagnosed for Dyslexia. We no longer have this because we develop under-developed motor skills, children dont get behind as these difficulties are dealt with at the same time. There is Dyslexia caused by Dyspraxia but we are causing it through ignorance. We had children being investigated for ADHD, mild autism, learning/behaviour difficulties and “guess what” following early intervention, we dont have that. Come and look at ther 130 children who can prove it.
Well I came and met you Harry, and it was wonderful to meet you. At last someone else has the same thoughts about caring for children and making sure they dont suffer from ignorance. You were so positive in wanting to try my programme and I was proud to show you evidence to back this up I hope we can work together in the future. Ireland is very lucky to have you.
Thank you for those insightful information I had been happy to start learning on your current web page. Most definitely I’ll book-market it and additionally review it over again for upcoming updates. I look forward to reading far more entries from you. Roofing Toronto
Thank you Roofers, What a lovely name. Are you in Canada or is that just another wonderful name.
Hello.This post was really motivating, particularly because I was investigating for thoughts on this topic last Wednesday.
Dear Hazel
I recently purchased your book and wow what a breath of fresh air and its so great to read a sensible book which understands exactly what my children are going through.
I have 9year old twin boys both of which have been diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia (although one with ADHD which I don’t wholeheartly agree with now after having read your book). There is no support at school and I am having a battle to get them to understand that they are not just ‘naughty children’.
One of them still wets the bed every night and I now realise its the dyspraxia and oh what a relief to know there’s not something wrong!!!
I loved reading all about Jack in your book as it rang so many bells and gave me much amusement and comfort. I used to get very embarrassed with my boys behaviour but now if they kick off or trip over their feet, I simply think well thats what makes them so special.
Thank you for writing such a wonderful book. I will be putting it on the headmasters desk in order to try and change the schools attitude.
Thank you
Susie
Susie, thats my sister’s name. Thank you so much for your wonderful comments and thank god you see your children as special. I tell a story of a child who once asked me what special needs meant and I always say “everyone has special needs because we all need someone special” I wrote the book because I felt so guilty about not helping my son who in fact turned out a strapping special lad. He’ll never be a scholar or writer but he is the best trained (with verbal exams thanks to a wonderful tutor) chef. Please give the book to your Headteacher as it is in many schools now and making such a difference, even just letting staff know, because their are alot of very misguided teachers who treat children with motor skills difficulties very badley. As for your son having Dyslexia. Children in our school dont have dyslexia if they have dyspraxia this causes them to not learn. Because we’ve dealt with their MSD we dont have it. If anyone is out there please help me get recognition for this as it makes so much difference and it is FREE, i’m not ripping anyone off and thats a change.
Hello Hazel:
I have a 3-and-a-half year old girl. Her school is concerned that she may have dyspraxia. Her fine and gross motor skills seem below par. For ex: she has always struggled to walk up and down stairs, cannot ride a tricycle at all, eats messily and finds it difficult to play any physical sport. Her verbal skills, however, are excellent, she is already showing clear signs of being able to read, she loves creative play, enjoys using scissors, drawing, etc.
We live in Bangalore, India. We are concerned about the quality of care and support we will receive here. We would be very interested in working with you in some way, including by moving to England for a few months. Is there anyway that we can enroll in your programs and do this? We will take care of the logistical issues (travel, stay, visas, etc.) ourselves. I would be enternally grateful if someone could get in touch with me via email (jay.mehra@odessatech.com) or phone (+91-9980061704).
We feel confident based on everything we’ve read that we can make good progress given how early we have caught this. Please help.
Thanks
Jay
Jay
You really dont have to move because If you buy my book it will give you all the exercises you need and i will e-mail you and gude you through it all. I have a 130 (4 this year) to prove it works,