Guest guest Posted October 23, 2001 Report Share Posted October 23, 2001 > Hi Ruth > > Just wondering how your son's assessment went - wasn " t it last thursday? > > Jenni Jenni - I'm impressed!! Yes it was last Thursday, and it was most illuminating. DS score was on the 7th centile for Dyspraxia (or Developmental Co-ordination Disorder (DCD)as they now call it) which means that only 7% of children will be worse than he is! His knees and ankles are slightly twisted (I never noticed before)and he needs insoles to correct that. His ham-strings are VERY short which means he can't push his toes upwards, he couldn't sit up on the floor with his legs in front of him and put his hands on his knees - it hurt too much. His shoulder frame is very weak, as is his pelvic frame, which accounts for his lack of balance. I thought he did quite well in the tests, so I was amazed at his poor score. They correctly assessed that his self-esteem is very low, he doesn't have much confidence in himself and that he has no at friends at school at the moment Encouragingly, with treatment all this will improve, and we came home feeling very releived that there really is a named problem (and it isn't just him being stupid as kids at school put it, kindly). The specialist is coming here to see us tomorrow to fit him for insoles and to show us some exercises we can do together. On Thursday, DS was so pleased with himself that he asked our Jack-of- all-trades neighbour Phil if he would take the stabilisers off his bike for him (gulp!) when we got home. He did, he adjusted the height of the saddle and handlebars too, and helped DS by showing him how to start off (and how to stop once he got going!). Encased in his knee pads, elbow pads and helmet, DS got off to a wobbly start and then he simply " took off " , down to the bottom of our close, up the curb, round the end (whooping with delight) and back up again, stopping neatly in front of us! It was incredible, we were hopping about with excitement too! It's so good to have such supportive neighbours - we E-Mailed DH with the news and when he phoned later he just said, " Oh, yes? About time too. " I had to pretend to DS that Daddy had been excited and I had to *ASK* DH to E-Mail DS back in a suitable fashion (he did, thankfully!). Men! The neighbouring children came out and thought DS had been practising secretly - they asked how long his stabilisers had been off and I said, " Oh, about 10 minutes! " so then they all came out and cycled with him. They have even stopped calling him a " Baby " which he is pleased about, and which has helped his confidence no end already. Now we have the Educational Psychologist's assessment to look forward to (Sunday November 11th), let's hope he can help DS too. Thanks for asking Jenni - what a good memory you have! Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2001 Report Share Posted October 23, 2001 Ruth wrote: > On Thursday, DS was so pleased with himself that he asked our Jack- of- > all-trades neighbour Phil if he would take the stabilisers off his > bike for him (gulp!) when we got home. He did, he adjusted the > height of the saddle and handlebars too, and helped DS by showing him > how to start off (and how to stop once he got going!). Encased in > his knee pads, elbow pads and helmet, DS got off to a wobbly start > and then he simply " took off " , down to the bottom of our close, up > the curb, round the end (whooping with delight) and back up again, > stopping neatly in front of us! >>>>>>>> Ruth that is brilliant - my now 8 year old only learnt to ride without stabilisers earlier this year - he had had terrible problems at getting his balance. It did not help in our case that DS2 could ride his without them. It sounds like things are moving now with his tests and hopefully he will get the support he needs. Has the school situation improved? Trisha SAHM to 3 boys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2001 Report Share Posted October 23, 2001 Awwww Ruth - wonderful news - you know how I mean that having been through similar times with . I am reduced to tears reading about his bicycling success - it will be so important to him to show the other children the ways in which he can be soooooooooo clever Fingers crossed for the 11th now - but things are moving already - wonderful news Jenni x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 23, 2001 Report Share Posted October 23, 2001 Ruth This sounds like a really positive start and so good that you have some support around you. Onwards and upwards from now on. Caroline Jersey > Encouragingly, with treatment all this will improve, and we came home > feeling very releived that there really is a named problem (and it > isn't just him being stupid as kids at school put it, kindly). The > specialist is coming here to see us tomorrow to fit him for insoles > and to show us some exercises we can do together. > Encased in > his knee pads, elbow pads and helmet, DS got off to a wobbly start > and then he simply " took off " , down to the bottom of our close, up > the curb, round the end (whooping with delight) and back up again, > stopping neatly in front of us! d I > said, " Oh, about 10 minutes! " so then they all came out and cycled > with him. They have even stopped calling him a " Baby " which he is > pleased about, and which has helped his confidence no end already. > > Now we have the Educational Psychologist's assessment to look forward > to (Sunday November 11th), let's hope he can help DS too. > > Thanks for asking Jenni - what a good memory you have! > > Ruth > > > > *** NCT enquiry line - 0 *** > > Live chat http://www.yahoogroups.com/chat/nct-coffee > > Have you found out about all the other groups for the NCT online? > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 25, 2001 Report Share Posted October 25, 2001 > Encased in > his knee pads, elbow pads and helmet, DS got off to a wobbly start > and then he simply " took off " , down to the bottom of our close, up > the curb, round the end (whooping with delight) and back up again, > stopping neatly in front of us! It was incredible, we were hopping > about with excitement too! Ruth, I am so impressed by this, especially the stopping bit! MY oldest son is also dyspraxic and it was years after he learnt to cycle that he mastered stopping. Before then he just steered into something in order to stop. Now at 13 (and a half) it is his main form of transport, he cycles on his paper round, to visit friends and to go to school. In the heady days of The Girlfriend he even cycled five miles every saturday to her village, and then home again. DS1 is a real joy to me now, and although he will always have dyspraxia we've all learnt to live with it and he has grown out of many of the harder aspects of it. Have you got the contact details for the Dyspraxia Foundation? I'm sure they have a website it you do a search on Google. To be honest, I found my local group to be a bit desperate, but nationally they produce some good literature and those essentials (to us at any rate) handhugger pencils, I also found they helped me come to terms with the sudden, overpowering sense of loss that used to sweep over me. If I can be of any help don't hesitate to contact me, even if it's only for practical ideas - evening primrose oil, elastic laces and electric toothbrushes, that kind of thing. best wishes Jan Ralston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 25, 2001 Report Share Posted October 25, 2001 > If I can be of any help don't hesitate to contact me, even if it's > only for practical ideas - evening primrose oil, elastic laces and > electric toothbrushes, that kind of thing. > > best wishes > Jan Ralston OOOOhh!! Yes please! Any ideas will be very useful, what have you found that helped and what with? Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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