Dyspraxic Discoveries

I have talked in the past about the relatively recent discovery that I have dyspraxia. It’s not something I really think about every day but having a special need which has affected me all my life feels like a big thing. Every now and then I discover that dyspraxia explains yet another small part of my life. I thought it would be interesting to take a dyspraxia questionnaire I found online and see just how much of an impact it had and has on my life.

As a baby / young child were you aware of any problem in the following areas:

Milestones: Crawling, Walking, Speaking: Nothing significant has ever been told to me about this milestones, that they were late or anything.

Dressing for P.E, managing small buttons, fastening zips: I can’t really remember as a child but I do have difficulty with these things now. I work with young children who often need these things doing for them and I find it really difficult, especially because I am doing it from a different angle to the one I’m used to.

Tying shoe laces, ties: It took me a long, long time to learn how to tie a tie and even longer for shoe laces. I still have major struggle with shoelaces even now and try to get non-laced shoes wherever possible.

Cutting with scissors, drawing, tracing with precision and accuracy: I certainly had trouble with scissors, although that has got better. I still find it really difficult to trace over a straight line without it wobbling and ending up wonky.

Holding pencil with conventional grip: Not sure.

Learning to write letters and numbers: I think I got confused between similar looking letters, like b’s and d’s.

Differentiating left and right: Definitely!

Colliding with people and objects: This happened all the time on the school playground and still happens fairly regularly in my adult life.

Hopping, skipping, jumping: I struggled not to fall over when hopping and it was well into my teenage years before I could actually use a skipping rope with even the slightest degree of success.

Using apparatus in P.E: I don’t remember any difficulties with this.

Playing throw/catch: I’m actually quite good at throwing and catching, better than most people I would even say.

Keeping time to a musical beat: I have always had problems with this. I remember doing music lessons where we had to clap to a rhythm and failing miserably.

Managing Stairs and escalators: No real problems.

Overactive, unable to sit still, fiddled with objects: This was probably true as a child- especially the fiddling and I still find it hard to sit without having something in my hands to fiddle with.

Liked/disliked fast rides: I didn’t really have any experience with rides when I was a child.

Easily distracted by background noise, movement outside classroom: Yes, especially if I was near a window.

Disliked waiting in line: No memory of this.

Took longer to complete work: Yes, I would often be one of the last to finish in my class, especially if it involving writing.

Upset by failure: Very, although isn’t everyone?

As an older child were there problems:

Learning to ride a bicycle: I couldn’t ride a bike without stabilisers until I was about 11, and even then I regularly fell off.

Bumping into things, tripping, falling, more than fair share of bumps and bruises: Yes, that’s very me.

Car sickness: I still get this, but as long as I can see out of a window I’m OK most of the time. There’s no way I could be reading or playing a game in the car though.

Needing to consciously think about planning movement to learn new and unfamiliar tasks: Yes, like when I learnt to sign recently.

Adapting to new or unexpected situations: I hate new situations and avoid them at all costs. I get really anxious when I know I will be in a new situation in the future.

Remembering information: Sometimes I have trouble with this, especially if it’s numeric information. I am terrible at remembering phone numbers so thank goodness for mobile phones!

Following instructions in the right order: I can do this but have to think the instructions through before I can go about following them.

Developing mature and efficient handwriting: I was the last person in my class to be allowed to progress from pencil to pen because my handwriting was so bad.

Copying from blackboard: I don’t think this happened much at my school, it’s a terrible teaching approach.

Completing work on time: I’d often not finish bits of work if I had a limited time to do it in.

Low self-esteem: Anyone who has regularly read this blog knows that remains true.

Articulation deficits: Yes, I really have a problem with this. I often know what I want to say but struggle to express it.

As an Adult:
Do you find any of the above areas still difficult: I’ve discussed this from a current viewpoint so you can see which things I have always found difficult. Quite a few are noticeably still things I struggle with.

Posture sitting/standing: I have really terrible posture. Really terrible.

Reaction to fabrics/clothes labels: I didn’t even know this was a recognised thing until now. I find some fabrics, especially woolly/fluffy ones really horrible to touch. It’s hard to describe but it makes me shiver and feel really uncomfortable.

Time management or prioritising: I think I am OK at this although perhaps I over-compensate because I am always early to things.

Cluttered work/study area: N/A, I don’t have one.

Organising, notes, having the correct items to hand:  I am not great at organisation but I’ve got better. If I need to remember something, I leave a note somewhere I can’t help but see.

Using a keyboard with speed and accuracy: I can do this but that’s probably from sheer practice. I do remember finding typing really hard when I first started as a child.

Reading: headaches, eyestrain, blurring of print, print moving: I sometimes get headaches from reading.

Find fluorescent lighting/computer monitors irritating and unpleasant: Nope, never had a problem with those.

Well, that was interesting. I found some things about me and I hope you did too. Every now and then I read something different about dyspraxia and discover something else I can relate. Virtually every website discussing adults with dyspraxia mention difficulties with learning to drive for example, so it’s no wonder I found it a really difficult experience. It’s always fascinating reading this stuff because I discover a little bit more of who I am!