New Members

Melanie - posted on 10/26/2009

hello, my son Sean 9yrs has dyspraxia, podiatry (pronating feet and knees) and learning problems, we also are in the process of statementing him due to little/no progress made in 3yrs, he has some speech and language problems (fronting & some other things). Sean has 2 older brothers one of which has Aspergers syndrome (he is 14yrs). Its been a rather hard battle with the school and he now has a sloping desk and a wobble cushion to use at school which I hope will improve many aspects whilst in use. Sean misses out words when reading and adds his own instead of the correct word he also misses out complete lines when copying work from the board so we think that an examination from a behavioural opthalmologist may be needed to see if he has eye tracking & other problems.



I have some previous knowledge of statements of special needs and lots of experience on children in general, would love to chat & give advice to anyone who needs it, I live in UK but I think that as a parent it doesn't matter where you come from any advice is better than none, a problem shared is a problem halved :)

Amanda - posted on 10/26/2009

I'm not a doctor or anything, but I think his diagnosis is accurate. I have done some studying on PDD-NOS and in fact thought that that was what my son had. I discussed this with the neurologist that evaluated him and diagnosised him as dyspraxic. PDD-NOS is on the Autism spectrum. His difficulty with eye contact, shyness and his social withdrawal on his bad days would definately fall along this line. Dyspraxia is not on the autism spectrum. They do not have social difficulties with the exception of being shunned by others because they are difficult to understand. From my research I've discovered that a lot of children on the Autism spectrum also have dyspraxia, which may be why you think he has dyspraxia. He probably does along with the PDD-NOS.

Dayspring - posted on 10/25/2009

Hi. My son Christian is 3 1/2, and has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS, but I believe the truer diagnosis would be dyspraxia, verbally affected.



Christian seemed developmentally normal until he was almost 2, when we noticed that he had only 10 or 20 words, and couldn't put two words together. Looking back, he was a very quiet baby. He went through the "babbling" stage late, continuing until he was 3.25 or so. He does this very little now. Christian is a bright child, very good at puzzles, lego blocks, obviously creative with spacial activities. He potty trained at 2.25 or so. It took only a month. He is good with letters and numbers, and can read the very simple "Bob Books" already (two and three letter words). He has the usual trouble with fine motor skills, but is good visually, and can write his (long!) name. Right now he is in private occupational and speech therapy once a week, as he does not qualify for school services.

Christian has two apparently typically developing brothers, one 6, and one 7 months. The older one was a very early talker, and is doing well in 1st grade. The younger one is babbling well, and seems to be on track. I feel that my job as a mom is to do everything I can to help all my sons be the best they can be, and I will do all in my power to maximize Christian's potential.

My main concerns are that he seems to have some trouble either processing, or verbalizing what he can process (or maybe both). Also, he seems to have "good" and "bad" days/times. Sometimes he seems really lethargic. I know it is difficult for him to sit up straight very long (at a meal, for example). It baffles me how he can always be tired in the middle of the day, but not want a nap, just lounge around. On "good" days, he talks quite a bit, and and I can understand him about 90% of the time. On "bad" days he seems to withdraw, play on his own, do quiet things. Sometimes I think there is something physiological going on, but I have no idea what it could be. Any ideas?

As far as speech is concerned, he is making lots of progress with his articulation, and can now say most sounds, still having trouble with some of the "R" sounds. Learned his "L"s recently. However, his main problem is with the sequencing of sentences. It is difficult for him to come up with a sentence with all parts of speech in the right order.

Some of my other concerns are--difficulty with eye contact; extreme shyness; inconsistant pronunciation; problems with prosody (I think that is the word), verbal pitch and volume.

I am looking forward to sharing ideas with all of you!

Thanks,

Dayspring