That said, again in our experience other activities (karate, swimming, horseback riding) accomplish as much or more than OT or PT for hypotonia. With all of it I would be realistic though and aim for improving the quality of life he has with some acceptance that not everyone is dealt the same hand.
How do you put a child a child in a karate class with non-dyspraxic kids? How do you get the instructor to understand your child's disability is causing his difficulty with doing some of the activities and not laziness when he looks totally normal and seems so smart?
How can I put a very bright, sensitive almost 11 year old child in a group swimming class with mostly six and seven year olds year after year without causing self esteem issues?
It is very hard to find private lessons for anything where we live and private lessons are very expensive if we can find them.
He knows all athletic teenagers are not unkind. His cousin, who gets a lot of attention for his ability on the football field, usually takes the time to talk to us in spite of his buddies making fun of his cousin. My son thinks his cousin probably lost some cool points for letting his friends know that he is related to such a geek. His cousin was not surprised at some of the comments his football buddies made about my son and says his friends "are just that way."
His acting teacher was "just that way" too and thought it was okay to tease him about his difficulties by telling all the other kids in the group to be careful around him because he was really several years younger than his actual age. This is what I got for trying to explain his disability. I told her if might be easier, when they choreographed dance routines, to think of him as a child several years younger. I never imagined that she would say something like this to the group. But this is where my son learned to deal with adult bullies and he can handle them better than I can.
I think a majority of the people in my small town are very nice people, unless you are different from them or disagree with them about anything. It is one of those facts of life that I didn't discover until I was an adult and my son had to deal with this as a child.
I do continue to look for reasons why my son has this disability because my daughter will probably have children in a few years and I want her to avoid taking any risks with the birth of her children. I am not depressed. In some ways I think having his disability has made my son more mature, with more empathy, and even smarter in some ways than average kids. I want to know if there was a way to prevent what happened to my son so it can be avoided with my future grandchildren.
I learned that the use of pitocin increases the likelihood of depressed fetal heart rate patters and increases the chances of fetal distress due to decreased oxygen availability. This doesn't happen to everyone, but I would never have risked my son's life if I had known there was such a risk. The cord was wrapped tightly around his neck also and I know that lots of babies have no trouble at all with that also. Same thing with the forceps delivery. But one of my son's doctors thought "possible mild birth asphyxia" might have had something to do with his problems and I want to know if my daughter can avoid having some of these same issues when she has children.
