Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Is this something to investigate?

Hi
Ok this will take me a minute but bear with me, as I am not sure there is anything here but it has become more noticeable with more testing. DS7 has fine motor issues and gets OT also has some version of dysgraphia - he spells perfectly verbally but on paper loses letters usually vowels. He has improved tremendously with OT but its still there. Then we noticed in gymnastics that his right side is way stronger than his left - he is completely right arm dominant and right leg too. Gym has helped with his core which has been tremendous but doing rolls or handstands his right arm does more of the work. Or the left gives out first.

He just got a speech eval - he has a problem with a single letter which he never grew out of, every kept saying he would and finally, everyone agreed get the eval. The ST discovered that he can't move his tongue to the left - it moves to the left if stimulated - but he can't do it - just like with the spelling - his brain can do it but he can't get his hands to do it. Fortunately he only needs a few apps to fix the letter issue.

Is there something where one side doesn't work as well as the other? Do we need to do anything about this? I would have searched online but not even such what I am looking for.

Does this sound like a concern or just the way his disabilities fell out? Or is this common?

Thanks,
DeHe

Not to freak you out, but possibly mild cerebral palsy. It was looked at for my DS who had some mild R sided weakness as a baby. Was it a difficult birth, by any chance?

To me, it sounds like your son may have had a stroke in utero. (Strokes in utero are not uncommon. I personally know a number of people who either had a stroke in utero or whose child had a stroke in utero.) I personally would be inclined to take him to a neurologist to get it worked up because, if indeed, he did have a stroke in utero a blood-clotting disorder may have been the cause. If you have a blood-clotting disorder, you definitely want to know because for many you can take medication to prevent you from having strokes, etc.

As a mother of children who have special needs, my heart goes out to you. "Cannot move the left-side of his tongue," "much stronger on the right side," "stroke," "cerebral palsy," etc. are all scary to hear. At the same time, you likely will simply continue to do what you presumably are doing or have done: ST, OT, PT. I hope you can take heart that if it has taken 7 years for these symptoms to be identified then the effects haven't necessarily been devastating. In short, he's started out with a pretty high base from which to work. (In contrast, if he was unable to move his left-side of the body at all, he would be starting out with a lot more work to try to do and a lot more to overcome or adapt to.)

I hope that helps!

Wow you guys are freaking me out. I looked up mild CP andhe didn't/doesn't have any of those symptoms beyond the difficulty with one letter sound - he is actually very clear. But now I realize that the ST was looking at all that based on the questions asked. No seizures so stroke unlikely and because I was high risk he was extensively monitored. He was extremely healthy after birth for s preemie and all his milestones were met. But I think I am going to call his Ped, although I am thinking I might have preferred to have not asked this question!!

Thanks though

DeHe

The fine motor issues, dysgraphia and combined with dominance and what sounds like some muscle tone problems point to possibly Developmental Coordination Disorder/ Dyspraxia to me. How are his life skills like buttoning buttons, cutting with scissors, using a fork and knife? Bouncing a ball? Can he hop on one foot (do each foot) for at least 10 hops without falling over? Walk on a balance beam or a straight line (we use the grout line in our tile at home).

In my absurd amount of research over the past few months, I discovered that DCD often has a speech component as well. My DS doesn't look as uncoordinated as the literature made me think, he looks like a class clown, until you pay attention to the coping mechanisms and cover behaviors he has developed. He had been in gymnastics and swimming and wasn't the best but he definitely wasn't the worst.

You may want to take a look at this checklist- this helped us realize that our problem was bigger than bad handwriting and the inability to copy notes from the board http://www.dcdq.ca/

Thanks CAMom, I skimmed the questionnaire and the questions are pretty relevant. And like your son, mine doesn't look that uncoordinated. But there too,it doesn't fully fit. His life skills are not bad - he dresses himself, although we have not introduced shoes with laces yet. He is fine with a fork although will eat with his fingers but in that he doesn't seem different from his peers. He cuts with scissors, just very slowly. He has trouble hoping but can bounce a ball. I think he can do the balance beam but will check. He can't catch and throw well though.

Who do you work with about this - does your DS do OT and Speech. Is there something else we should be doing?

DeHe

DeHe, like CAMom, I was also thinking that many of the things you describe sound like dyspraxia (my ds is also dyspraxic). Speech challenges can be related and are sometimes referred to as "apraxia of speech".

I think I'd wonder about what your SLP noted though - re the impact seeming to be on one side, and the things you've noticed about one side weaker than the other. My suggestion for a next step would be to bring this up with your ped and get his/her ideas re what might be up. On the one hand, it would matter to me to know what was causing the issues as much as you can find out - it might make a difference in understanding potential future challenges, understanding how your ds is having to navigate the world right now, and also might help in advocating for your ds to have a specific name for the cause. OTOH, even if you never find out what the root cause is, or if it's CP/Dyspraxia/whatever, I'm also guessing the "what to do next" may be very similar - continue with OT/SLP/etc to work through the challenges.

Let us know what you find out -

polarbear

ps - I would also try to totally NOT worry over anything you've read here or might read while googling symptoms! Remember, the internet does not know *your* child... we're just tossing out ideas for you and we're all seeing what you've written both through the filter of the limited things you've posted and our own limited experience.

pps - the one other thing about dyspraxia - it impacts every person differently, and not all people have all the symptoms - most people have odds and ends of symptoms rather than meeting every bullet on a checklist.

Like polarbear said, it can be a random assortment of symptoms. She is my guide on all things dyspraxic, as we are new to it :-)

How it affects my son- delayed fine motor skills- can cut on a line but slowly, can use a fork and knife but grip is "caveman" and it is inefficient. He complains often of hand cramps when writing, has an immature pencil grip and can print well enough that his WIAT writing is a 121, but his repeated patterns (different test) is in the 2nd percentile. He struggles most with copy work and anything that requires replicating shapes. He would fail any beginning drawing class for sure.

His gross motor skills are oddly affected- he is a competitive fencer and does very well at it. But his balance is dreadful- if he stands heel to toe and turns his head to the right, he will fall over. He will fall about 30 degrees before he even realizes he is falling. He can throw a ball with extreme speed and accuracy but can't catch a large playground ball even if you're only 10 feet away.

We started with an ed.psych for dysgraphia and she said "maybe but not based on my system since he's fairly average" but you should get another opinion. So we saw a neuropsych who saw test results all over the board- from 99.9th percentile to 1st and 2nd percentile. She asked for a physical therapy and occupational therapy evaluation- which led us to uncover the major balance issues. The neuropsych, along with the other evals made the diagnosis. Our pediatrician had never even heard of it and was curious- we've spent time educating him now.

We have an excellent physical therapist who works with him on muscle tone, core strength, balance and cross body dominance. Our OT is not so good- she doesn't specialize or even really understand 2E (Autism is her specialty) so my DS hasn't bonded with her and finds that she talks down to him. Unfortunately, she's covered by our insurance and the only one in our area that is. So we're trying to decide what else to do.

Thanks polarbear! The good news is that speech issue is minor and the SLP seemed to think it would clear up quickly. The OT stuff is more significant and we are very fortunately in a school where they want to set him up to succeed. They have done so much proactively - including typing - in first grade. It's such a contrast to what so many here have faced I sometimes feel embarrassed posting! And I am a jumper to worst possible case type A super researcher which is sometimes not your friend! I think I am feeling uncomfortable because feeling like all these little things add up to a bigger thing means it should have been caught or dealt with. But then there are a ton or reasons why they weren't.

I was totally not prepared for the ST to toss a new diagnostic wrinkle!

DeHe