Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional 504 Accommodations for Dev. Coordination Disorder

We are rapidly heading down a path to a DCD diagnosis, a slight turn from the dysgraphia diagnosis we were expecting. It is all beginning to make sense and pieces are falling into place. We have a few more tests with a neuropsych to find out if it is actually both, or just one, but she is confident it is at least DCD. A separate physical therapist evaluation today also said "Do you have a DCD diagnosis? If not, you should get a referral for that."

So, I've read piles on dysgraphia in the last six months, but not a lot on DCD. My DS is the classic clumsy kid, bull in a china shop. If I had a dollar for every time I've said "Be aware of your body, watch the wall, be careful of that glass" I would be able to buy us ALL neuropsych evals :-)

What accommodations do you have in place for this? We are currently homeschooling but considering returning to school next year (6th grade). Beyond the normal dysgraphia accommodations like typing, extended time on tests etc- I'm mostly concerned about non-writing related tasks. What about PE for example?

It might be helpful if you could let us know more specifics about how you think your ds is impacted by DCD and also remind us how old he is (and I realize you probably don't really know much about the DCD impacts yet since you weren't expecting it as a diagnosis!). FWIW, our ds' primary diagnosis is DCD, and his dysgraphia is due to issues related to DCD. We haven't needed many accommodations for his DCD but it's helped to be able to explain it to teachers etc who usually haven't ever heard of it and tend to mistake some of it's impact as non-motivation etc.

When we were in public school, our advocate suggested we ask for adaptive PE for our ds, but we skipped out into private school and there is no option for adaptive PE. DS has difficulties with catching/throwing balls, kicking balls, moving at anything faster than the speed of a glacier etc... so he's happier with individual activities over team sports, but sticking with the team/ball sports in PE with all the NT kids has actually been really good for him (imo)... and has helped improve his muscle strength and coordination.

The one thing he can't do at this point in time is open a lock-type locker, so he's allowed to not have a lock on his locker.

The rest of his accommodations are primarily for dysgraphic things - keyboards all written work, ok to use voice-to-text, extended time on tests + uses a computer for essay questions on tests, is allowed to write answers in the test booklet instead of on bubble sheet, things like that.

One other area that we believe is dyspraxia-related and is challenging for our ds is getting his thoughts into words quickly enough to be able to participate in rapid-fire classroom discussions (the other kids are *much* quicker)... and he was being graded on participation earlier this year based on how many times he contributed... so we had to address that with his teacher.

One other thing that only relates to school in a small way is that our ds feels full after not eating very much (and we've been told that can be related to dyspraxia)... so he'll think he's eaten enough at a meal and then feel like he's starving 1-2 hours later. So we ask that he be allowed to have a snack when/if he needs one during the day, and he keeps extra granola bars in his backpack in case he gets hungry suddenly.

And oops... I kept using "DCD" and "dyspraxia" as one and the same. They might not be technically the same, but they are as far as I know basically the same disorder. DCD is the official diagnosis ds has from his neuropsych eval.

Gotta run - hope some of that helps!

polarbear

Sorry, what is DCD?

My dd does not officially have DCD, and I am not sure her issues are severe enough to cross the line, but we certainly have issues with any sort of ball sport, speed, hand eye coordination and also with we being pushed too hard for things she can do but only at great cost. She's compliant so she will participate and then collapse at home and then be sick for days... We've just had to take this up with school. So PE certainly is an issue for us. As is joining in with the other kids at lunch. They all want to play sports, or if they agree to play tag it's no better anyway as she always gets caught first and then can't catch anyone else... But she actually doesn't want to sit and chat instead (which she doesn't really have the social skills for), she wants to be active, to climb the equipment and run around a bit, just not play a ball sport or competitive game...

Ahhh tag... we are in the middle of that one too.

DD was diagnosed with dyspraxia (along with dyslexia, dysgraphia, math disability... all wrapped into a "NLD-ish" diagnosis) so I assume somewhat similar. We don't have any formal accommodations for PE but it tends to be an issue at recess and last year at the bus stop too. DD is the also the kid most easily caught and who finds it impossible to tag someone else. She wants to be included but really - how much fun can it be for her? Anytime there is a tag related game - especially in a co-ed situation - DD is the slowest. Inevitably there is a kid who can't catch anyone. DD is the last one still running to "base" - by this time the other kid is good and frustrated and "tags" her really, REALLY hard out of his own frustration. So now she is the slowest, the loser and injured. Not good.

We have actually found tag to be an entree point for bullying. Last year there was a kid who kept tagging her, then tagging her really hard, then eventually hitting her, then organizing the other boys to pick on her too. The recess aides were oblivious - they just saw kids playing tag. DD started isolating herself at recess to avoid it but I could not get anyone at the school to believe me. This was a major contributor to her school anxiety getting so bad last year. The first week of school this year the major offender organized a group to "hunt" DD and trapped her in a bounce house during the welcome back picnic. Finally they conducted an official bullying investigation. And it all started with tag last year in first grade. Earlier this week I was in school for a function and one of DD's friends pulled me aside to tell me that the boys were being really mean to DD at recess. DD tried everything she could to stop her and denied that anything was happening. Yesterday she finally broke down and told the SW and me that - you guessed it - it all started it with a game of tag. DD said she didn't want to play and the boys kept "tagging" her (I don't know how hard but I can guess...) and taunting her. Different kids, different class, different grade - same issue.

I did mention to the SW that since DD now has a diagnosis of dyspraxia if this continues I will explore it as a "disability harassment" situation especially if it gets physical like it did last year.

Thanks everyone-

Polarbear- my son is 9 and is currently homeschooled after several years of public school. He is a DYS, grade skipped and all over the place academically, from generally around 7th grade level with science and reading/comprehension somewhere in the high school range. We started down the path because his handwriting is dreadful, spacing is a disaster and after one full year of daily handwriting practice, it looks the same as it did before. He is painfully slow at notetaking and after being at an academic summer camp, he was starting to feel like he couldn't keep up physically with the notetaking.

I suspected dysgraphia because his fine motor is really affected- trouble with using a knife, slow to tie shoes, can't cut paper to save his life, any sort of crafting/folding/sewing is very slow and deliberate despite enjoying it. But after an OT and PT eval, it's looking like it's "more" than dysgraphia. He has balance issues, motor control issues and struggles with gross and fine motor.

He's a competitive fencer and does very well at it. He can throw a ball with awesome accuracy and speed but cannot catch a ball thrown from 5 feet away. In his OT eval, she had him try to dribble a ball more than 5 times in a row and he couldn't get past one dribble. He can hop on one foot 5 times, but can't hop on one foot back and forth across a line. He can't jump rope, hula hoop, hit a ball with a racket with any sort of repetition or accuracy, etc. Tag is never good- though he does okay at avoiding the bullying part because he is 99th percentile in height for 9 and looks like a giant.

So for dysgraphia issues at home- he is allowed to type assignments or use voice dictation if he wants. I do have him handwrite some things, but I control the length and the time so it's never more than a paragraph at a time. He doesn't struggle with organizing his thoughts or with spelling, but he will change his structure and "dumb it down" to make it easier to write if he has to print.

We also have no option for adaptive PE and I'm not sure he'd want it anyway. But our PE system grading is not effort based- it is success based. Things like "catch the football three times" for an A, or twice for a B etc.

CAMom, thanks for writing out more about the symptoms you see in your ds. The confusing thing about dyspraxia is that it affects many different functions and it doesn't impact everyone in the same way, and it's sometimes confusing what is and isn't impacted even in just one individual. Your ds sounds a lot like my ds (except for his height and the ability to organize his thoughts ). FWIW he did learn how to tie his shoes eventually (around 9 years old... and also forgot again while he was on vacation and didn't need to wear shoes.. twice! - I think he's finally remembering how to tie them for good now, but he's also about to turn 13 years old. Going through puberty has also helped a bit with coordination.
We're blessed in his current school that PE is graded on participation and effort, not on actual number of things accomplished. If we were in that situation, I would want an accommodation that ds not be graded on physical ability. We've had one sticky situation in PE last year where all the kids took part in a "President's Fitness Challenge" (sorry I don't know the exact name of it - it's a national thing that lots of schools participate in) - the students had to run a timed mile, do a certain number of push-ups, pull-ups etc... and the scores were shared with the class and posted on a bulletin board - ds should have had an automatic out on that one... he is so far behind in ability on running and push-ups etc that he was horribly embarassed over it.

Pemberley, I really feel for you dd and the bullying - I so hope her school is able to resolve the issue. FWIW, ds is in a small school setting (which has been great for him) and bullying really isn't an issue (he fits in really well and has a very supportive environment - I know we're blessed - I am thankful for this school every day!)... anyway, fwiw, in that supportive environment, he had no choice but to participate in tag games as part of PE and he was very frustrated with them at first because he is very slow and uncoordinated and grabbing a tag was really *really* tough for him. Same thing with another similar sport that the kids play during PE. I'm glad he had a chance though to play those games in a supportive environment (even though it wasn't his choice).... because he has improved and he did improve to the point where the games switched from being torture to being fun and now he enjoys them.

We moved our ds to typing or dictating everything except for short-answers (1-sentence or less) and it really helps both with lack of dumbing-down answers, and giving him endurance and a faster-speed to get his work done. FWIW, typing is also very slow for our ds compared to other kids - so while it's faster than handwriting for him, it's not always the rapid-fire answer for kids with DCD that it is for dysgraphic kids that aren't dyspraxic.

DS has used a smartpen for note-taking and there are also similar options for note-taking on the iPad. He has such a photographic memory that it's a struggle for us to get him to actually take notes... which I wish he would so he can get practice at it. Instead he prefers to default to remembering everything since it's work to take notes (not just the writing, but for him understanding what's important to put down - they are working on this as part of his LA class this year but he absolutely hates it!).

DS also can't jump rope or hula hoop. He'll try a hula hoop but it's like he can't even figure out how to toss the jump rope over his head once, much less lift his feet off the ground. I also just have to laugh about his running (in a kind way ) - he doesn't run. He walks. And it's slow. But he really really is convinced he's running. It's kinda cute in it's own DCD-kinda way

Last piece of advice - re looking toward a time when your ds might go back to public school - think ahead as much as you can about accommodations he needs now and will need then, but also remember there is no crystal ball, and for kids with DCD needs can change with maturity and chances are you won't be able to predict some of his needs until he's actually in the middle of a situation at school. And that's the great thing about accommodations once you have a 504 or an IEP - you can always call another meeting and request another update.

Good luck,

polarbear

Thanks Polarbear. I'm trying to anticipate in advance because the school he may attend is not very good at 504 plans, following them or being useful in that way. There will be resistance, so I need solid documentation (hence the evaluations) and persistence. I know the school well (I used to be an admin there) so I know the players and inside info, but that also means I'm coming with bias.

I hear ya on the auditory memory being strong enough that they fight writing it down! So far, he's been able to get by on a very strong working memory (his highest subtest score) and a great auditory memory. So why take notes? Well when the notes are graded and part of your assignment, you have to figure something out. Doing nothing isn't an option!