I got some answers from some real experts on my son's disability--college students, one a psychology major, another an English major in her final year at Cambridge University. They both have motor dyspraxia like my son and like my son, they are both very intelligent.
One of the questions I asked was if they had ever been forced to do things in front of people that required good motor skills that they didn't have because of their disability and if so, how did it make them feel.
The first response:
"Nothing positive came of my teachers asking me to do impossible things in front of the other students. I just felt humiliated. I didn't understand why I couldn't manage the things that all the other children could do easily. I felt as though I must be stupid. I have very vivid memories of teachers mocking my art and craftwork in front of the class, accusing me of being lazy, and then ordering me tersely to correct my mistakes. In front of everyone. Of course, I couldn't correct my mistakes. My body wouldn't obey my brain's commands, and being the center of attention made me so nervous that my coordination and processing skills deteriorated even further, along with my short-term memory.
The teachers would give an instruction, and two seconds later I was unable to recall it. They thought I was deliberately being difficult. The result of having my difficulties shown up in public was that I got frightened of certain subjects that I began to underachieve in these areas. It took several years for me, my family, and the teachers who came along later to repair my self-belief."
The other college student agreed that nothing good came of being made to do things like in PE in front of other people. She said that nights before PE lessons she would often cry herself to sleep.
Regarding "fill in the bubble type tests" one said
"Tests of that kind are not the best measure of intelligence where dyspraxic children are concerned. If you tried your son with such a test, you wouldn't be measuring his level of knowledge, but the degree of control that he has over a pencil and the speed of his writing. I would struggle to complete such a test even now (a similar test forms part of the adult assessment for learning difficulties, and a low score is indicative of dyspraxia) but this doesn't mean that I lack general ability. I'm in my final year at Cambridge University and doing well. If you test your son with an unsuitable method, you may both end of discouraged when there is no real reason to be. Occupational therapy will help him to improve his skills, and there is always assistive technology to make completing written tests much easier."
I also asked about jigsaw puzzles. One of them said she was babysitting a seven-year-old once and she was much quicker at doing the jigsaws than her. A lot of dyspraxic people have trouble with jigsaw puzzles.
