Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Dyspraxia/DCD and giftedness

Hi,

I’m interested to hear from people who have or who have a child/children with DCD/dyspraxia and giftedness.

How did it manifest for you/them?

My 7yr old struggles with writing co-ordination, gross physical co-ordination and organisation of thoughts around writing. He has hand hypermobility, low muscle tone and poor core strength.

He can’t get a diagnosis. He meets 3 of 4 diagnostic criteria but the 4th (significant impact on daily function) he can’t meet as they say he is clever enough to mask/strategise through his day.

Irrespective of the diagnosis, we’ve started therapies to support the deficits found but a diagnosis would be helpful to access full support from school and for my son’s well-being…he doesn’t understand why he has to have all these interventions if there is nothing wrong with him and why he is so bad at Phys Ed and free writing.

Is this issue common in the 2E community- that high cognition delays or impedes diagnosis?

Thanks for your views and for sharing your experiences.

Welcome NT! So sorry no one seems to have seen this earlier.

We do not have a child with this exact profile, but several other posters here do. And yes, this is pretty common.

If diagnosis is of specific value in your situation, have Ehlers-Danlos or other ligament laxity syndromes been discussed? Those are often overlapping with the symptoms you've described. In any case, good to hear that you have access to therapies with or without a diagnosis.

As to why? Many schools view significant impact on function entirely through the lens of grade-level expectations, so a student whose intellectual potential is well above average is still not viewed as underperforming, because they are keeping up with ... grade-level expectations. In some regions, this is actually codified in regulations regarding educational disabilities.