My point being - I think it's not that unusual for a 6-8 year old not to be able to do jumping jacks.
And that's a good illustration of why parents and teachers don't always "see" dyspraxia in a child - because some of the symptoms aren't obviously delayed until the child is beyond the range that nt kids master the skills in. My ds, for example, looked awkward when he tried to do jumping jacks when he was 7. It was easy for us to think, hey, he's 7, it's normal to not be all that coordinated with jumping jacks. It was also easy to say "he's just not a coordinated kid". Now that he's 15 and still can't do a jumping jack, it's a little more obvious but people who don't know about dyspraxia and don't understand it would look at that one thing and think, hey he's just not terribly coordinated. An OT, however, who's assessed a child and suspects dyspraxia, is most likely looking at a wide range of skills related to motor function, and is looking with the experienced eye of a professional who's seen a wide range of functional abilities in children. So while I as a parent wouldn't look at a kid who's got an awkward jumping jack at 7 years old and think anything other than ti's developmentally typical, as the parent of a dysgraphic child, comparing notes with another parent of a dyspraxic child, I'd consider that the awkward jumping jack is potentially a symptom of the dyspraxia.
Hope that makes sense!
polarbear
