I have EDS on my mind today since DS has his appointment with the geneticist this afternoon.
I am wondering about EDS and dysgraphia.
My son has been in OT for eighteen months. Proprioception is still really bad. I have read that EDSers often have proprioception defecits. As I recall, the theory is that EDSers get inconsistent feedback from their joints. I am wondering if in the same way an EDSer doesn't automatically know their body position if an EDSer might not gain automacy in handwriting because the connection between how it feels to write an "a" and the idea to write an "a" is muddled.
I have also read that increased supportive muscle strength can help stabilize joints and improve proprioception. Of course normal weight training would not be appropriate for a child with EDS but maybe something with high reps., limited range of motion and low weight might help.
Now I could be wrong on this, but in my opinion, the gains a prepubescent child would have in supportive muscle from such a routine would be minimal. It might just be something that comes with time.
My mom says I was "embarrassingly uncoordinated" as a child. I remember being frustrated with my handwriting in elementary. It always looked sloppy like the trouble maker boys in my class. These issues went away with puberty. I still write more slowly than other people and I am not particularly graceful but it isn't as obvious as when I was a kid.
Anyway, I am just rambling. I don't have any recs. on dysgraphia remediation. I have just been looking at this stuff since the standard proprioception remediation isn't working for my son.
This is interesting and I definitely think you are to something here. My DS has the dyspraxia - uncoordination and proprioception deficits. My DS also has EDS.
My husband does not *seem* to have EDS (as far as I can tell but I am not a doc) but he certainly seems to be dysgraphic (I am almost certain that he is, at the least, mildly dysgraphic) and had many of the same issues in elementary - including the spelling and the proprioception deficits. He said much of such issues resolved when he hit puberty AND, coinciding with his physical improvements, middle school was when using computers to write and complete work became more the norm so that helped immensely as well. He says before puberty he couldn't tie his shoes, and didn't know his left from right consistently. I think he is exaggerating a bit but I believe that it was quite late before he could tie his shoes or know left from right (whereas my brothers and I had both of those basic skills master by the age of 5 and with very little trouble). Now, DH is a very "normal," coordinated guy who plays roller hockey and volleyball and works as a very successful hardware engineer. He's no star olympic athlete but he plays well and at least appears "quite normal" He still avoids writing by hand at any cost, however. (Oh and I believe his EF skills are still weak - LOL)
This summer we did an "out of the box" therapy for my DS. It involved a "listening therapy" (specifically tomatis and I will say I have no idea still if tomatis is "snake oil" or not LOL. We did it anyway.) combined with "balametrics" and some other type of therapy (name which escapes me at the moment) designed specifically to help with proprioception and coordination. I have to admit DS is much more coordinated now - he can do jumping jacks, he knows his left from his right now (automatically!!!!), he suddenly is "getting" the hang of true swimming (coordinating strokes, for example), etc. Yesterday, he picked up a string and shocked himself by tying it. I am glad we did the therapy b/c even though knowing how to do jumping jacks or tying a piece of string, on the surface, doesn't seem like that big of deal - the general increase in coordination (and ability to do seemingly simple tasks that had always somehow eluded him) has given him confidence and he doesn't feel like a "fool" or an 'oaf' as much anymore. Also, DS's reading suddenly and significanlty improved with the therapy... The therapist says that the work on the proprioception directly contributed and helped his reading - I have no idea but, heck, I'll take it!
The therapy was expensive, intense and hasn't accomplished all it seemed to promise (e.g. his EF skills were suppose to improve and while they *may* have improved 'slightly' - it certainly hasn't been anywhere close to a significant enough improvement to make any kind of difference.
Anyway, just some rambling thoughts
