HarrisonFamily Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Hello, My son is 8, year 4, I am convinced he has dysgraphia and I trying to get someone to confirm. In America it seems well known but not so here. The teachers had never heard of it but are now looking into it. My sons self esteem is so low, he can do everything verbally but cannot write and this results in getting teased alot. Has anyone any experience ? Thank you Helen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I am sorry I don't have any experience of this but I am aware it is similar to some extent to dyslexia. I am sure you have but if not I would contact Dysgraphia.org.uk and get an assessment done , once you have a diagnosis I am sure they will put a plan into action to give your son the help and support he deserves. It is so difficult when we have kids and they need a little more support isn't it? I'm not sure how old he is but I would try to arrange a coffee morning with the school mums and let them know, diplomatically of course what is going on. You know what they say, keep your friends close but your enemy's closer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saronne Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 It sounds a little like a fine motor dyspraxia. I'm a Speech and Language Therapist and we sometimes see this in children. If it is this - then I would think he needs to be assessed by an Occupational Therapist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 WoW...this forum really is amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 If you can I would get school to refer him for assessment to multi disciplinary team ( child development ) or educational psychologist.I know here it appears to be better to be assessed in the 'system'. I know some parents who have paid a lot to have their children assessed to be told that's all very well but they need to be seen by school psychologist ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 If you mean he has difficulty writing, as in spelling, then it all tends to get lumped in with dyslexia. If you mean he has difficulty writing as in the physical act of writing (coordination of holding a pen/pencil, formation of letters etc) then a dyspraxia is more likely. Saronne I am sure knows far more about this than me - I'm also a speechie but haven't worked with kids for donkey's years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarrisonFamily Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 No its not spelling, more writing - he cannot form the letters correctly, muddles them writes them backwards...if you do one word at a time as in a spelling test they are not too bad anything more is impossible to read I have had a quick look at dyspraxia and he does not have any of the symptoms apart from the writing. He has excellent skills in hockey, tennis, golf, rides his bike, not clumsy but very active and coordinated. However, he does have every sympton of dysgraphia - a year ago I looked this up and there was only info on American websites but now a few english ones appear - on wikipedia he has every symptom. 2 years ago he was assessed - the score to get additional help was 18 he scored 19, but one of the tests was standing on 1 foot which he can do for ages without even wobbling so it brought up the average of all the other scores. The school have tried - finger exercises daily, a variety of pens\pencils, special seat cushion, additional hand writing lessons, but he still cannot form letters correctly, The new senco is going to assess him next week, but there is such little info out there, Dysgraphia.org.uk is quite a new site and more information collected from others.. As to talking to the parents concerned, not so easy as I childmind and always have a houseful of children....not sure how well I could control myself...... Thank you for the help, its just heart breaking watching my bouncy happy child - struggling so hard and getting picked on If you do work in this area its worth reading the information as they believe alot of boys especially could have this and it is never picked up on. One advantage is that if you do have dysgraphia you have a good memory for facts - my son has brilliant memory and Horrid histories have a lot to answer as he can remember so many gory facts from their books and cds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 That does not necessarily rule out dyspraxia - as Saronne says it could be a fine motor dyspraxia (which affects the fiddly, fine movements like writing) whereas the symptoms of dyspraxia that you have read about such as being uncoordinated, having difficulty riding a bike etc affect the gross motor skills (ie the bigger movements). I hope that makes sense? Dyspraxia can be quite specific in its nature. Many of the stroke patients I work with have a verbal dyspraxia which means that they order the sounds in a word incorrectly (ie they might say "hopistal" instead of "hospital"), but it might not affect any other movements. Often the harder you try to do the movement correctly, the more uncoordinated the movement becomes. So dyspraxia is not necessarily as straightforward as just being generally clumsy. It's worth bearing in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 You have just described my son at the same age. Does your son have any other language difficulties? That seems to be the only difference, my DS had speech problems too and had speech therapy until he was 7. His reception teacher told me that she thought he was dyspraxic, but I didn't feel that he was he could do jigsaws etc really well and had no other problems with order etc. He struggled through primary school and was on special needs register, but didn't get much in the way of extra help. It wasn't until they did an IQ type test in year 5 that the school sat up and took notice. He came out in the top 1% in one test and the top 5% in the others. He took 11 plus and ended up at an all boys grammar school where again he struggled and didn't have many friends. He was not really directly picked on but talked about and ignored by the other boys. It wasn't until he was in year 9 that his history teacher put him forward for assessment for lap top use because he reminded him of his son at the same age. He was approved for using a lap top as his main way of working because his handwriting was so bad and he could type so much faster than he could write. He had been getting demoralised by not being able to get his knowledge down on paper and the teachers were frustrated with not being able to read what he handed in. From that point on he flew, getting pretty good GCSE results and then excellent AS and A level results, he has now just started studying Geography at St Andrews university. He has an excellent memory for facts and wide interests, he is very much his own person doesn't suffer fools, but now had a few strong friendships and a long term girlfriend. Just keep fighting for him, you know him better than anyone else. There is plenty of help out there for those who fight, but I fear that too many children slip under the radar. Give him plenty of love and encouragement with the things that he is good at. My son always did well if he was given a very specific reason for doing something. I hadn't heard of dysgraphia but it does describe my son very well, good luck with finding the right support for your son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saronne Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 If you can get an Occupational Therapist involved - even to rule out a fine motor dyspraxia - then you'd be narrowing it down. Educational Psychologists can also assess and rule out (or in) things like dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties which might include dysgraphia. But as LB said, there are lots of different kinds of dyspraxia. You can have limb dyspraxia, fine motor, verbal and oral. Having one sort doesn't mean you'll have the others - nor does it mean you'll necessarily have any accompanying other features like language difficulties - though you might. It can be a complicated business getting it sorted out. Can he work his way around a computer keyboard yet? Lots of children with specific difficulties like your son's often do better if they can learn to word process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarrisonFamily Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 I thought I would up date you all the Occupational Therapist and Educational psychologist have assessed my son and it made very interesting reading. His verbal reasoning levels etc were extremely high, reading levels highest in class, IQ above average, fine motor problems all ruled out, the report stated school and Mum believe he suffers from dysgraphia . The school has agreed to give up on trying to improve his writing and is now trying dictation software, typing etc so it will be interesting to see how things progress..... So please if you work in this area please have a quick look at dysgraphia on the internet as so few people have heard of it .... Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
