Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional retained reflexes v. dyslexia, CAPD, ADHD...

I forgot to mention that DD also has low tone, as do I. I actually have either one of the milder forms of ehlers danlos, or benign hyper-mobility syndrome, which she has likely inherited. Well we have the OT this afternoon, it's been 18 months since our last visit, so it will be interesting.

Well, everything where she was below average is now above average, crossing the midline in particular was very good today. All but one of her retained reflexes have been integrated, the remaining one is only mild. In the OTs opinion there is no longer any sign of a visual based learning delay. The low tone and ligament laxity is there to stay but not effecting her, the only real issue being at higher risk of trauma injury to joints.

Which is all awesome news. And presumably means any other issues (dyslexia, CAPD, ADD, etc) are not currently effected by retained reflexes.

Did they give you any concrete advice on how to avoid this? I have read that this is a risk (both my kids are low tone and have the ligament laxity, though DS is worse) but don't know more than that.

Well, the OT and I only discussed this briefly because I already felt pretty clear on what (not) to do - don't work to increase the laxity and avoid sports with high speed direction changes and other activities that put joints at risk.

If they do dance, gymnastics, circus, or similar don't allow them to push their already flexible joints to new heights - because chances are when they are no longer as fit and strong they will still have the extra flexiblity/fragility in their joints that they worked to get. And perhaps avoid the sports that often lead to knee, ankle or elbow injuries - netball, soccer, tennis all come to mind. Netball is particularly harsh on knees and ankles so I am very happy that my DD does not enjoy it and I will not encourage her to persist.

I agree! Yippee!
Nice to get good news,
Grinity

I am reviving an old thread because of similar issues. DS5 has had ten months of OT for sensory integration, postural stability, handwriting, bilateral coordination and reflex integration. There has been improvement in all areas, however, the reflexes are still not integrated.

Thoughts?

A laypersons observations of him would he a kid who has an awkward running style, weak muscles, can't pedal anything, can't catch or throw well, has trouble with buttons, zippers, etc., is a sloppy eater who uses his hands too much and tends to drop stuff a lot.

This was my DS at 5 - add to it that he fell down a lot. He was clumsy, clumsy, clumsy. He also engaged in sensory seeking behaviours, like running and purposefully landing - cringe - on his knees (you could tell the difference between this behaviour and accidental falling). There was seeking in all sensory areas - I could write a novel-length list.

Anyway. His diagnoses are ADHD, Language processing disorder, and a piece of CAPD (binaural integration imbalance).

At 8 he's like a different kid. He's still not phenomenally athletic (can't seem to learn how to swim), but physically he's become very, very typical.

We've never done OT, but we have done skating, swimming and gymnastics. Plus we walk a lot, and at one point had a paper route. I read and read as much as I could about sensory/motor issues and came to the conclusion that the brain needs to be exposed to movement in order to learn how to modulate it... so I just kept DS active. Exposure, exposure.

Eventually his gross and fine motor weaknesses issues improved to the point where you can't pick him out of the typical kids in this regard (although I'm sure the jock kids can still leave him in the dust, lol). He learned to ride a bike at 6, he can skate quite well (level 4 in Canskate), he rides a scooter well, his printing looks like that of all the typical boys in his class, he can eat without spilling, etc etc. The last three years have been fantastic as far as his development is concerned.

(there's always hope ...just keep at it)

[quote=KJP]
A laypersons observations of him would he a kid who has an awkward running style, weak muscles, can't pedal anything, can't catch or throw well, has trouble with buttons, zippers, etc., is a sloppy eater who uses his hands too much and tends to drop stuff a lot. [/quote

I'm guessing there could be 1000+ explanations for this, but fwiw, most of this would describe my ds at 8 years old, and still today at 13. Dropping things isn't really an issue with him and he's not a sloppy eater, but the rest totally fits. He has learned to button and zipper but it was a sloooooowwww path to get it down and he's still very slow in his movements. In his case, these symptoms are due to developmental coordination disorder (dyspraxia). He did learn how to pedal when he was around 8 years old, and he actually enjoys riding his bike, but I know of other kids with DCD who have trouble learning to pedal.

Anyway, my thought is - it took us a neuropsych eval in 2nd grade to sort out what was up with ds. He had symptoms that an OT could have evaluated, that an SLP could have evaluated etc... but a neurospych looks at how everything interacts and fits in together and that's how we came up with a set of diagnoses that made sense for our ds.

polarbear

CCN, I am glad to hear your son has had a lot of improvement. I try to keep him active but maybe stepping it up a bit wouldn't be a bad idea.

Polarbear, are there therapies for dyspraxia or is it more of a different timetable/expectations thing?

We have an appointment in the fall with the Eides so I suspect it will all be sorted out then. Any combo of issues could be possible. As my DH put it, the more I try to figure DS out and read about various reasons behind issues, the more he looks like he has everything and nothing at all.

We plan on sticking with the OT at least until the assessment. We all really like her and she is a nice advocate at his school for us. The handwriting help has been huge. Six months ago he couldn't write his name and could only write a few letters and even fewer numbers. Now he is proud of his writing and his teacher is too.

I think I am just a little discouraged after getting the latest report. He is having a much easier time in school but it is hard to tell if it is because of age, new teacher or OT.

He has improved a lot on the recommended exercises but they have been practiced daily and he is almost a year older. Novel physical activities remain an issue. So his measurable improvement seems suspect. It would be like saying a WISC prep course increases intelligence because kids score higher after the course. I think some of the OT testing measures are things he practices every day so I am not so sure any improvement is of the type that transfers to a life skill.