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Tue, 14 May, 2024 - 15:02

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Psychotherapist Child

My eight-year-old son was recently diagnosed with dyspraxia. The diagnosis immediately made sense, as he's not well-coordinated and gets stressed when playing team sports, which he finds chaotic. The OT clinic has given him exercises to carry out at home, which take about 30 minutes daily. He's beginning to complain about his long to-do list and says he wants to be left alone. How can I get him on board?

Dyspraxia, or developmental coordination disorder, affects physical coordination and impacts how children manage many daily activities. Often, someone with dyspraxia can appear or be mislabelled as ‘clumsy’.

Signs of these difficulties can be present from very early ages, but because all children develop at different rates and reach milestones at their own pace, it is more typical to receive a diagnosis of dyspraxia at five or older.

The diagnosis will enable you and your son to work out how best to manage daily activities that require physical coordination while identifying the support he will benefit most from.

Judging by your email, you have met with an occupational therapist (OT) who has shown you some specific exercises and directed you to continue these daily at home. In a follow-up visit, it might be helpful to give the OT feedback on how your son is managing these exercises and how they feel like a 'to-do' list. There are often various ways to insert playfulness into these daily exercises — your OT will be able to make specific suggestions about this. Also, your son might benefit from more regular in-person OT sessions until he has developed stronger habits around the recommended exercises.

Because all children develop at different rates and reach milestones at their own pace, it is more typical to receive a diagnosis of dyspraxia at five or older

Here are some ways to make such activities more playful:

Balloon keep-up — take a balloon and say you will both try to keep it in the air for as long as possible. Start by using the palm of your hand, then switch to the back of your hand, or pointer finger, fist, pinkie, elbow, etc.

Balloon tennis — play passing the balloon between you and varying the distance between you so you have to use varying degrees of force.

Bean-bag toss — hold a hand-sized bean bag (or a beany teddy) and tell him to spin around once holding and then to take aim and try to get the bean bag into a hula-hoop (or a box).

Playdoh art — helps support the development of fine motor skills. Write out a list of simple household items (bowl, plate, cup, etc) on scraps of paper and take turns picking and making one. There are so many ways to make his at-home exercises more fun and when you make it fun, you get it done.

Whatever activities you try, first ensure they are in line with the goals set by your OT.

Some parts of this podcast episode might prove helpful.

exa.mn/15-Minute-Parenting-Sensory