Dyspraxia Awareness

Hi, my name is Becky and I am the head of the SEN Division, here at Class People. I am also a mum to 4 young children.  I have 5 year old triplet boys and a 7 year daughter who has Global Developmental Delay and attends a specialist school in Gloucestershire.

Being a parent of a child with Global Developmental Delay, I felt it important to share some information on dyspraxia and similar disabilities especially with it being dyspraxia Awareness week.

People who are unaware of the signs of Dyspraxia tend to label these children as clumsy, accident prone or lazy, when this is not the case, it is down to having difficulties with their motor skills, which then sees them struggle with everyday tasks.  This is seen regularly in the classroom due to dyspraxia, on occasions. Not being diagnosed until the child has reached Secondary School.  I have spoken to parents who have children with Dyspraxia and they have expressed how frustrated they are with main stream settings.  When in Key Stage 1, the teachers may see the children as generally fidgety, lacking concentration and delayed in the their speech, put this down to being young and that all children develop at their own pace.  Therefore they are not overly concerned and see no reason to investigate. By the time these children are in Key stage 2 they may be at the point where their handwriting is not the neatest, they are easily distracted and their coordination (especially when doing sports) isn't the best.  Again, even though these are all signs of dyspraxia, they are general not picked up in primary schools, probably because the signs are quite general.

Dyspraxia affects around 6% of children, which roughly works out to be one child in every classroom - and tends to be more prevalent in boys than girls. At home, children have difficulties getting ready and taking care of themselves.

Unfortunately for many children, dyspraxia presents alongside other developmental disorders such as dyslexia, global developmental delay, specific language impairment and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children with dyspraxia have been found to be generally slower than their peers when reaching early milestones such as crawling and walking.  My daughter is 7 years old and even though she presents a lot of signs of Dyspraxia, it has not been diagnosed, due other underlying factors of her disability.  That being said, she may never have an official diagnosis.

Children with Dyspraxia also seem to present much higher levels of emotional distress than their peers and are frequently anxious and downhearted, therefore have lower skills than peers of the same age.

In order to support and help children with additional needs, regardless of what that maybe, we can break down lists of instructions so children don't receive too much information in one go. We can also use simple 2/3 word directions, for younger children, use charts, 'now and next' flash cards, basic coordination exercises and more importantly make things fun and engaging.

Let?s now take the time to realise that some of these primary school children are not lazy, clumsy or accident prone, but may have an undiagnosed disability and provide all the support necessary, to make them achieve to their highest ability

The passion I have for my job in helping schools find the right TA?s for their pupils is driven by my home life. I understand the importance of having the right people work with children who require additional support and have seen this with people who work with my daughter.  It is crucial for me to understand the school and the child?s needs, before placing a TA in that setting, so not to cause further disruption to that child?s daily routine.  This is something the schools appreciate who I work with on a daily basis.