Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Dyspraxia/DCD. Forget the kid, I'm depressed.

This is so true We watched all the other kids in our family and our neighborhood learn to ride bikes "early" while our dyspraxic ds seemed like he would never be able to get it. We didn't really try to either encourage or discourage practice at things like this (as in, non-essential life skills), but instead let him approach it when he was ready. Our ds is a quiet kid, so he tends to observe (and sometimes worry quietly) - but he's also a kid who, when he's ready, isn't afraid to try, so when he was ready, he got out there and tried and tried (and I was convinced it would never work lol), then I went inside the house one day for 10 seconds and he got it. Since that time, biking has been his favorite sport

We gave up on swimming lessons for him though when he was young. We had an ok set-up - our swimming program didn't graduate kids from each level until they were ready so it was normal to repeat, plus the levels "graduation" just happened whenever any individual child was ready - all the leveled lessons were at the same time / same pool - so for a kid like ds who struggled with swimming, it wasn't overly obvious to anyone except for ds that he wasn't making progress. The thing is, he was bothered by not moving up (he didn't make it past the first level at that point in time). So instead of lessons, we took him swimming with our family and worked on having fun in the water and gradually helping him with skills. Later on we found a different swimming lesson place that he liked better, and he got a little farther along. He's still not a great swimmer but he's gaining competence over time.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I got my child with DCD/dyspraxia this cutlery set

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007G4RTLQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

which is quite nice and not babyish/too childish.

I also had to get my kiddo year-round private swim lessons. He was determined to learn. He is quite a good swimmer now! He still takes lessons (since we have to take his brother anyway) to work on his technique and different strokes. But he is doing really well... He really needed the one on one, firm but nice and encouraging lessons all year round.

The thing that shocked me and brought me to tears was when he went out and played ice hockey. That was an instance of something I never thought he'd do (I didn't have much hope for anything athletic in general but certainly never imagined he would play ice hockey). He was terrible at first but he is so determined. He is actually okay now - not great but definitely much improved. He is better at defense. He just has to work so much harder at things than other kids but when he is determined enough - he puts in the grit and gets there.

He still can not write though. And I think he is just not determined enough with writing. I am not sure - that really is a huge deficit for him.

I just wanted to come back and thank everyone for your comments. Putting bites of food on appetizer forks has worked really well at restaurants. And today my daughter jumped off the side of the pool and swam across it!! Not like a swim team swimmer, but good enough. It just kind of came from nowhere. It is great to see her accomplish the goal.

All this stuff is just so frustrating, and the rest of the world doesn't get it at all.

Is this writing frame possibly the "compass" tool mentioned upthread:

https://www.zaner-bloser.com/shop/products/28136/writing-frame

Happened to see it while browsing for handwriting curricula for DC.

That's got to be what she was talking about. Thanks.