Comments on: Motor Dyspraxia

By: sarah

sarah — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:12:25 +0000

hi i have a 5 year old who has problems with speech and language we have been with the s and l for a year and half and not much progress he is slow to read and write below average but fantastic at mental maths thinkin it may be dyspraxia but no one wants to help any ideas

By: eva

eva — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:45:32 +0000

I am with you Kate, I have expensive software and workbooks to help my daughter to learn maths, but she just isn’t interested. My question is how do you motivate a dyspraxic child to WANT to do maths and homework without bribery with sweets.

By: kate

kate — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:07:10 +0000

What is the best way to teach math to a nine year old with dyspraxia?

By: Dy Boyt

Dy Boyt — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:42:13 +0000

Hi Dawn
My daughter is nearly half way through Year 1 and her teacher picked up that she was having problems putting her thoughts on paper. She received a D for maths last semester and her report card said she was poorly organised and has trouble completing tasks. The teacher said she thought she was very intelligent but something was stopping her from doing her work. She is starting to avoid writing.

We recently had an OT assessment and although the OT hasn’t marked everything she said she thought she probably has a mild dyspraxia (fine motor).
Looking back I am almost sure I also had dyspraxia as a child and still ‘get lost in my own head’ at times. Is it possible for adults to be tested? It would be a relief for me to know what has been dogging my footsteps all these years. I have a successful career and it hasn’t interfered too much (most of my friends and family just laugh off my ‘forgetfulness’ and inability to draw), so I’m sure my daughter will be ok as well.
Cheers
Dy

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:38:25 +0000

I have an 11 year old son who was recently diagnosed with motor dyspraxia. He learned to read on his own at 2 1/2. At 4 I could spell out words from newspaper comic strips and he could identify words without looking at them even though he had not been taught to read these words. When I showed doctors this ability they told me he appeared to be high IQ.

At age 5 he had trouble in kindergarten with coloring in the lines, his handwriting was barely legible, and his drawing ability was very poor but he was reading at a 5th grade level and his favorite book was a science encyclopedia. He could do mental math well but had difficulty writing out math problems.

We were told to homeschool because our public school because they could not offer an appropriate education. The month he turned seven he was tested by an educational psychologist. Tests showed my son was working at a 4th grade level in math, even though he used mental math to figure out the answers to most of the problems because of his handwriting issues, and reading and comprehension were at an even higher level.

At age 9 he won a spelling bee for our county.

At age 11 my son has been told by adults that he is a good conversationalist. He reads at a 12th grade level and loves classic literature, history, science and technology and psychology. He sings and acts in musical theater but has trouble learning dance routines. He speaks more like a college student but his writing looks like that of a 3rd grader so he types. He takes notes on a cell phone. He still has trouble drawing and has difficulty with jigsaw puzzles but I tell him that I never once had to draw or do jigsaw puzzles in any of the jobs I had. He takes piano but has to practice much more than the average kid because he has very little motor memory, but he compensates by using his excellent auditory memory.

The neuropsychologist says it is obvious he has a lot of general knowledge and he is verbally gifted, but he also has dyspraxia.

You can have dyspraxia and be very intelligent. You can be below average in some things and be very bright in others.