Dyspraxia Health
Further information A Life With Dyspraxia
www.alifewithdyspraxia.webs.com
Dyspraxia Foundation
www.dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk Dyspraxic Teens Forum
www.dyspraxicteens.org.uk dysTalk
www.dystalk.com Keystone Tutors
www.keystonetutors.com
The Dyspraxia Foundation runs good “training days” for professionals, which parents can join. www.
dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk or call 01462 455 016.
For school supporting Dyspraxia, please visit:
www.fi rstelevenmagazine.co.uk
have to work on a blackboard give them a crib sheet, so they’re not having to lift their head to memorise something, then looking down to concentrate on writing and probably forgetting it. Ask, whether they really need to sit down. Can they not stand?” Getting your child’s computer skills up-to-scratch can
really help. Will Orr-Ewing, director of Keystone Tutors who tutors many dyspraxic pupils says: “Get their touch- typing sorted and you are setting your child up well. We worked with a boy who was eloquent but very bad at writing and hated it. Touch typing freed him up and now he is taking a Winchester scholarship.” Other symptoms are connected to the senses. Nikki’s
fi ve-year-old daughter has a high pain threshold. Quite often she bruises herself bumping into table corners but feels nothing. “I’ll gasp and wait for the tears but she’ll walk off happily. Her safety worries me,” says her mother. Physical activity worries both the dyspraxic child and their parents who fear for their child’s safety and humiliation when they trip up on the football pitch or come last in every race on sports day – a day “dyspraxia parents” dread. One mother remembers her fi ve-year- old son clinging to her, pleading with her not to make him join in. A mother of three dyspraxic children boycotted her school sports day after three years of watching all her children trail in miles behind the others. “I don’t approve of giving up, but a black cloud hung over them all summer when they should have been enjoying themselves running around in the sun. I dreaded it, too, as I knew I would have them crying to me, ‘why do I come last in everything?’ I was so relieved when an educational psychologist advised: ‘Take them out for the day! Why put them through it?’” Excluding your child from things they’re bad at is not advice experts give, especially when your child may be having a tough time socially. Working around a
www.fi rstelevenmagazine.co.uk
problem is less likely to make a child feel ostracised or a failure. Bloxham School’s SENCO, Hugh Alexander’s aim is “teacher recognition of dyspraxia, not special arrangements”. Dr Kirby stresses how important it is to fi nd and
nurture talents to keep up a child’s crucial self-esteem, even in sport. “Teachers can make life easier by breaking games and rules down into bite-size chunks; giving them the opportunity to practise in smaller groups. If it’s not working fi nd them an alternative sport like swimming, martial arts, archery, photography, riding or something that doesn’t involve being in a team.” An essential part of a SENCO’s job is communicating this message to sports teachers whose fl exibility varies from school to school so parents should consider this when choosing one. Liaison between SENCO and teachers, tutors, house masters and parents, keeping everyone up to scratch with the child’s needs and diffi culties, is vital. Never underestimate the emotional pitfalls of dyspraxia. Not letting a child feel like they’ve failed, they’re incapable or they’re letting themselves and other people down, is key. Experts cannot stress enough how important self-esteem is for progress and development. Helping your child organise themselves can relieve a huge amount of stress and anxiety related to being late or getting the wrong class; something as simple as regular praise can go a long way, too. Jane Horwood says: “T ey’re having to put in 100% into what other kids do easily. Instead of telling them off for not getting changed on time – note the eff ort that’s gone into it!” But what will really make the diff erence is teachers and pupils with a better understanding and education of dyspraxia in general. It may take longer, or involve a diff erent route but given time most children will get there in the end. It helps if we can make their road a little less rocky.
Summer 2011 FirstEleven 55
✎
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84