http://canchild.ca/elearning/dcd_workshop/meet-joshua.html

My son is so painfully obviously THIS. And yet it took so long to get properly identified. Every single video looks just like my son. The one of the girl at school wiggling in her chair and then out of her chair and shifting on the floor is EXACTLY my son. He looks just like the kids in the other videos too. But that one video really just is my DS to a "T." It's just frustrating that no one else for so long had no idea what they were looking at ... AT ALL.

Anyway this video is great - very succinct, very clear... Good for schools, educating and raising awareness. I will be sending it to DS's teachers in the fall!

A good diagnosis really helps. Hopefully, you can get him therapy that will help him.

This doesn't fit either of my kids but my DD (now 19) did have a lot of gross motor problems as a baby/toddler because of low muscle tone, as well as many other issues including speech/language problems and was eventually diagnosed with LD's. But she did not have the fine motor problems, so this syndrome doesn't fit. We did get her early intervention starting at 12 months that helped immensely. At her 1st birthday she could sit but didn't move anywhere. (No crawling, no pulling up.) But by the time she was in K it was hard for others to notice.

Thanks so much for sharing the link Irena! The descriptions on the pages are wonderful - best one-stop brief description I've seen for DCD I also think the videos are wonderful because most kids with DCD look *VERY* *VERY* "typical" until you observe them when they are doing an impacted task - and even most of those most people observing would think they aren't paying attention or are being lazy or not motivated etc. But when you have a video showing the action and explaining what's going on it - that will work really well for helping to explain DCD to someone who's never heard of it.

bluemagic, the one thing I *didn't* see on this was any type of note re one thing that I've always been told is a hallmark of dyspraxia - no two individuals are impacted in exactly the same way, and most people who do not have all the symptoms. One person might be impacted primarily in fine motor, but another might be impacted primarily in gross motor or speech, yet another person might have challenges in all areas. My ds, for instance, has a diagnosis of severe DCD, yet he never had the issue with sliding off seats or wiggling to keep his body in place like the girl in the video. OTOH, maybe he didn't because he wasn't coordinated enough to wiggle The learning to catch/throw the ball video - my ds could have made that video - that is SO exactly what he looks like with a ball. The buttoning video - same kind of deal except his fingers don't move anywhere near that fast. DS will *not* wear a full-top-to-bottom button up shirt because it takes to much effort to button.

The thing that makes me a bit sad and also makes me wonder (hindsight is so wonderful lol!) is the list of what is typical in terms of gross and fine motor development at 1, 2, etc years. There were quite a few milestones on those lists (actually probably most of them) that my ds never hit anywhere near the "typical" age, but his routine ped checks never revealed any issues - and I was filling out some type of developmental survey every time ds had a well-check up until he was around 5 years old (same routine survey for each of my kids - I think it was called the "Denver" scale?) (I am going to google it after I post). DS was never flagged as being "behind" by the Denver scale. I do wish his ped (or someone) would have said something to us as dh and I just were clueless - we thought the not crawling, walking late, not tying his shoes, things like that - were all personality.

Thanks Irena!

polarbear

Where is(are) the video(s)?

The videos are embedded in some pages.

It's a great resource, thanks, Irena.

Looking through the whole thing, this does present things in a nice way. Their M.A.T.C.H. is really a good model for how to handle most kids with LD's as well.

polarbear: After reading what you had to say and looking through the whole thing, I still don't think it fits my daughter. That's OK, it's good to know about and there are other things that cause low muscle tone. My daughter also had a number of medical issues as a baby/toddler. Because of this her doctor was very careful to suggest early intervention often. We did do many of the suggestions to improve her gross motor. I sought out physical activities for her that emphasized participation rather than competition. She had the BEST dance teacher who was more about process than product, and made the whole event fun. Over the years she did swim team, soccer and softball, and dance. She never excelled any any of these sports but she enjoyed them and it helped a lot. We lucked out and got supportive coaches who really did care to help all the kids. One thing I never managed to do was get her really comfortable on a bike.

A few pages with videos:

Sitting in Class
Eating
Dressing
Ball Skills

WOW! My son has been diagnosed with sensory integration disorder or as his OT calls it, "sensory issues." But seeing this page I am seeing my son. In every category. The kid with the ball in the leisure section could BE my son! I just figured out the sensory issue and spoke with administrators at his school about it...do you think this is just another name for that? Are sensory issues and "DCD" the same thing? I am confused as to what name to give my son's issues but these videos are just so exact...could DCD stem from sensory issues? I guess I am trying to figure out how the two are related. Thanks for any insight.

DCD and sensory integration disorder are often comorbid, but they are not the same thing. If he has an OT, why not ask him about it? That's often who diagnoses DCD anyway, isn't it?

I'd see a neuropsych. In our experience OTs tend to overdiagnose sensory and underdiagnose everything else (because they have less expertise with everything else.) DCD will probably be an unknown quantity to most OTs.

OTs can not diagnose anything (at least not in the US). They can tell you until they are blue in the face your child has dyspraxia/DCD and no one (like school, etc) will care or take it seriously because OTs can not diagnose anything. Neurologists can diagnose DCD/dyspraxia. As can developmental pediatricians. Neurologist and developmental peds will often work with an OT in diagnosing or look at and use an OT's tests and reports, though. Neuropsychs can diagnose it too but I find it is really hit or miss with them. The ones I have dealt with didn't seem as knowledgeable about the disorder and seemed more interested in seeing adhd, autism spectrum disorders, etc. There is one in my area that is known for having a really good understanding of apraxia, dyspraxia, etc... but the others not so much. My son's neurologist was quite knowledgeable about it. And as an added bonus, I found that insurance seems to cover the neurologists evals much more readily but not so keen on covering psych or neuropsych evals so that is something to look into as well.

So glad the video was helpful! There really needs to be more awareness and education in this country on this disorder.... children suffering from this are most often either completely missed or misdiagnosed.

For example, two neuropsychs missed entirely why my son has trouble staying seated and why he would slip out of his seat during testing and wiggle about just like that little girl in the video... Their minds immediately went to adhd when they see that. Even though both were very, very well aware he has low muscle tone. To me, what that girl does and what my son does looks completely from different from a child who "can not stay in his seat" due to adhd. But both has trouble staying seated.

He graduated from a OT group (four kids working on sensory issues and social skills) and his OT went on maternity leave so we don't have one at the moment. I am planning to ask his pediatrician to refer us to someone so we can take a next step. Unfortunately, our ped. doesn't seem that familiar with any of this but can at least point us in the right direction (I hope). My son is so smart (at least I think so!) but his organization, project completion, attention span, handwriting etc. are so awful that I am very worried about second grade.