Dyspraxia - Lutz,FL

hi -
first of all I'm sure you have heard this before but you are not a lone (even though it may feel that way). I'm sorry you feel this way :(

is she still in OT/speech? if so, they should be able to help you come up with accommodations. Did the OT work from a SI frame of reference? (e.g. did the OT use suspended equipment when treating her?)

If you have not already seen this site a wonderful resource is http://www.apraxia-kids.org/. they have information related to education and apraxia/dyspraxia.
Also check out ldonline.org - in the search engine type handwriting - they have some wonderful info related to kids who struggle with writing. last i'd recommend looking at www.nichcy.org to review your rights related to 504s and IEPs.

when kids have a hard time copying from the board one way to assist by modifying the environment is to decrease the amount of times she needs to shift her eyes from a horizontal surface (desk) to vertical surface (board). Some ideas to help include:
• place a letter strip on her desk so she can easily reference the alphabet
• have the teacher write what she wants the class to copy from the board on paper and place the paper on the table so she is copying from one paper to another both on the desk (copying from horizontal surface to horizontal surface).
• consider decreasing writing demands, possibly see if she can answer some test orally.
• If she has a hard time following what she is reading/copying on paper (e.g. she skips lines) – use a piece of paper to cover the words that she does not need to read/copy
• Have you tried handwriting without tears?

hope that helps - GOOD LUCK!!!

I would check with your speech, occupational and eye therapists to see what accomodations and goals they would recommend. The therapists that have worked with my son have all been familiar with our school district and knew what is and is not possible and obtainable.

As far as reading goes, my son worked on the Visualizing & Verbalizing program that you can obtain through Gander Publishing. My son is a very good reader but he was having a hard time with his reading comp skills until he started this program. It works on teaching children to develop a picture in their head about the story as they are reading so that they can absorb the meaning of the story and anticipate what's going to happen next. It really did the trick for my son.

Our private ST also did the Lindamood-Bell phonics aweness program with him before we started the Visualizing & Verbalizing program and this really helped with his articulation and ability to hear all the sounds of the words that are being spoken to him so that he was better able to distinguish the "th" sound from the "sh" sound for example, or the "v" sound from the "f" sound.

Other accomodations you may want to consider: sitting next to the source of instruction (teacher), pull out for speech and occupational therapy or having them provide ST and OT in the classroom setting. That's all I can come up with for right now but I'm sure that you will get some other great response.

Wishing you and your daughter the best of luck.

I have no clue about dyspraxia, but I know some about IEP's-- Individual Education Plan. If you put "Dyspraxia IEP" in your web browser it will probably give you some sites with tips on what's appropriate for support. Being prepared ahead is good because you will likely notget another meeting like this until the end of the school year or beginning of next. Good Luck!

Where do you live? There are some great programs out there for her. You just don't know about them and the school is going to be the last to tell you about them! Let me know if I can help.

I know you have asked this question 3 years ago, but it was recommended that my twin boys with dyspraxia use the computer to write their homework. Their brains are trying so hard to write that it forgets or has difficulty to put the information it knows down. My boys write 3-5 words a minute hand writing it. Slow work. The computer helps them to get their knowledge out.

The doctor who recommended this said that a Junior High boy who she recommended this method of typing to practiced his typing over the summer. When it came time for him to do a paper at school the teacher wrote on the paper that it was the most sophisticated paper that she had read and wondered where he copied it from. That was rude of her, but it goes to show how much information they have in their brains and how difficult it is for them to get that information out when writing by hand.

I'm moving back to the States after being overseas for 5 years so my boys (age 8) can get some better education and help. I'm a bit nervous, but hoping the Special Needs of the school system in Colorado that we will be moving to can help them. They will be getting an IEP.