Incredible
people doing incredible things: greetings and Kia Ora.
Data Base 3176
Media Statement
For immediate release
Monday, 28 August 2006
Anniversary of Inaction as
Grandparents Continue to Suffer:
Grandparents raising their grandchildren are still suffering as
they continue to wait on the government to fulfil its promise made
a year ago to increase kinship carer payments to the level given
to foster parents, says United Future deputy leader Judy Turner.
“I find it deplorable that the Labour Government is stone-walling
what should be a simple remedy to assist grandparents and other
kinship carers,” says Mrs Turner.
“Today I had yet another grandparent contact my office from
Dunedin, describing the hardship they have faced paying for extra
child-related expenses on the Unsupported Child’s Benefit,
since taking responsibility for their two grandchildren at the request
of CYF.
“They asked WINZ for financial assistance to buy school shoes
for their grandchildren, but were told that they are not entitled
to any help such as clothing allowances that foster parents are
entitled to receive.
“Because these grandparents and many others around the country
are selfless enough to step into the breach when these children
need them, the government thinks it can penalise them and offer
less assistance than foster carers would receive if they were looking
after the same children instead.
“It’s nearly a year since Labour promised to close the
gap and ‘offer grandparents raising grandchildren and other
carers on a pension, particularly those taking on caring due to
a family breakdown, to provide them with the sort of allowances
provided to foster parents’. Well why are they still waiting
a year on with nothing done?”
“It’s time the government stopped taking advantage of
people that are doing these children and society a huge favour at
considerable financial and emotional strain to themselves, and extend
to kinship carers the same provisions available to foster parents
as they promised nearly a year ago,” says Mrs Turner. ENDS
Contact: Judy Turner MP 04 470 6992
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Where are all your Important
Documents?
Having recently had an immediate family bereavement (father), I
was astounded at all the documentation needed for this. Birth certificate,
marriage certificates, (all if more than 1) full names of deceased
parents and date of birth, Solicitors name, finding the Will, (not
to mention the firm that did it, no longer existed), notifying Work
& Income and the IRD. A very simple service for 50 people, light
afternoon tea and funeral expenses came to $5600. So gather up all
these important documents and put them away safe and tell a trusted
family member where they are. It may pay to speak to your elderly
parents also if you have not already done so. Perhaps time to think
about pre paid funerals. (More on this in next newsletter)
Dunedin North Co reports:
Things are running smoothly down here with a few social activities
on the horizon. One of our grandmother’s has written and produced
a play so we are all off to see that early September. A picnic is
planned for the September holidays as well as a pot luck dinner
Labour weekend. We have also been lucky enough to obtain funding
from a local group and are now able to hold a children’s Christmas
party at Chipmunks in December.
Particularly well done, as this is just a new group!
Dunedin South Co reports:
This group, also new, have appeared on their local channel 9 TV
show.
Way to go Dunedin people!
Birthright Inc:
Through Birthright Inc. any 'sole/single parent/grandparent, male
or female' are entitled to have a brand new pair of shoes per child
if you are registered with them. There are branches throughout the
country. They can assist as Advocates on your behalf in areas of
your concern or needs.
Please contact any Birthright Inc. close to you
New GRG Group for Otago North/Waitaki:
We warmly welcome this new GRG group and thank them for undertaking
this role.
Adrian & Leonie Ph 03 465 1764 email omaandopa@slingshot.co.nz
Diane Kinsella Ph 03 437 0414 email diannekinsella@e3.net.nz
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Calling Grandparents in Tuakau:
We have a grandparent asking if there are any grandparents in her
area that would like to make contact. She has 2 ½ year old
twins and an 11 month old baby. If you would like to make contact
with her please phone Di in first instance.
In Rotary Newsletter:
An increasing number of grandparents are having to spend their retirement
years raising their grandchildren. This happens for a variety of
reasons, such as the misuse of drugs or alcohol by the parents,
or an accident, that can put the children at risk or render the
parent incapable of raising them.
These grandparents often feel very much alone in having to cope
with the stress of raising sometimes psychologically damaged children
in their retirement years. To provide support for these grandparents
the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren™ Trust was set up.
If any Rotarians know of grandparents in this situation please direct
them to the web site www.grg.org.nz where they can find helpful
information, including the name and phone number of the local coordinator
(incidentally these coordinators make good guest speakers who will
tell you more about the trials and tribulations faced). Your club
may also consider a community project such as raising money to send
the older children away on a camp and thus give the grandparents
a short respite. As individuals you may also be able to help out
by babysitting, or offering child’s clothing that your children/grandchildren
have outgrown (remember many of these grandparents only have a pension
to live on).
Yours in Rotary: Brian Faulkner Rotary Club of Kawerau
New Parenting Show for TV2:
Nought to Five is for all parents from all walks of life. It’s
an insiders’ guide to parenting the under-fives, and starts
on Monday 21 August at 2.30pm on TV2. The ten episodes run in consecutive
order from brand new baby through to almost-5-year-olds who’re
ready for school. Each episode features two families sharing their
stories about everyday life – sleeping, eating, and asserting
independence, toilet training, non-compliance and so on………...
Letter from a Grandparent:
My husband and I would like to say a very big thank you to you hard
working grandparents for the help we received when our 16 year old
grandson came to live with us after a family break-up. It wasn’t
easy for near 70 year olds to cope with a teenager in a world quite
different from when our own children were that age. Knowing you
were there and the excellent information in the newsletters have
been wonderful. We feel very proud of him as he now has a very good
job in Wellington and is quite settled. Thank you so much for sending
the newsletter to us.
P.S. I turned 70 last Saturday and M*** took two days off work to
come to my birthday tea which was held at Rotherham (North Canterbury)
because it was closer to all our family. I felt very delighted to
know that he appreciated what we did for him by making the effort
to come.
Colleen
Foster Care Federation ‘FREE’ Training;
November 2006. return to top
To register: please contact Maxine Carroll on 0800 227 305 or fax
04 9132168. One month in advance please.
Dyspraxia:
What is it, and does it concern my family? It's a condition that
affects a child's learning and can be mistaken for several other
conditions. It affects a child's gross motor skills: jumping, walking,
skipping, hopping etc, and fine motor skills: reading, writing etc,
and can lead to problems that can be mistaken with ADHD; ADD; Aspergers:
etc.
It's completely separate to these conditions, but unless you push
for a more complete examination, the medical Professions will leave
it at that. Our granddaughter has had many learning and behaviour
problems, and after pushing a lot, she was given an "I.Q."
test along with other tests, and we have finally gotten to the bottom
of her problems. She will always be about 1 - 1 1/2 yrs behind other
children, but now we know what we are dealing with, we can get the
right sort of help needed for her. You may be treated as an overbearing
and/or neurotic person, but keep on persisting if you feel there
is something more, only you can know what is happening at home,
and be prepared to discover that you may have a Dr Jeckell / Mr.
Hide child, behaves completely different at home than at school,
we were shocked at the huge difference between home and school behaviour.
A lot of this is because the child arrives home a lot more stressed
- tired out than the "normal" child. Hope this is of some
help to others out there wondering if you are being neurotic over
a child's behaviour, I did, and was made to feel I was. I'm now
pleased I did push. In spite of the fact that the Drs have known
off this condition for several decades, it's only been in the last
10 yrs or so that they are taking more notice of what caregivers
are saying about their children, as they find it easier to label
the children with ADHD etc. It takes extra time, and money, to test
the child for Dyspraxia. There is a good local web site:
www.dyspraxia.co.nz that gives the caregiver a lot of good information
and help. (Please see article below) Shirley Barrow
Dyspraxia:
In light of Shirley Barrow’s email we have done the following
research for you.
HISTORY
Developmental Dyspraxia has been recognised by doctors and therapists
since very early this century, when Collier first described it as
'congenital maladroitness'. In 1937 Dr Samuel Orton declared it
to be 'one of the six most common developmental disorders, showing
distinctive impairment of praxis'. Since then it has been described
and labelled by many, such as A. Jean Ayres, who in 1972 called
it a disorder of Sensory Integration, or Dr Sasson Gubbay who in
1975 called it the 'Clumsy Child Syndrome'. Other labels have included
developmental awkwardness, sensorimotor dysfunction, minimal brain
dysfunction, motor sequencing disorder, and most recently Developmental
Coordination Disorder. The World Health Organisation currently lists
it as Specific Developmental Disorder of Motor Function. Gradually
over the years professionals have become increasingly able to sift
out the symptoms and more closely identify the disorder.
Here in New Zealand it is felt that the term 'Dyspraxia' indicates
more the large range of processing difficulties experienced by our
children. We see them affected in most areas of development, with
pervasive motor planning difficulties at the heart of them. So,
for now, for us, 'Dyspraxia' stays. What it is called matters far
less to the child than does the understanding and help from those
around him/her. Whatever it is called, Developmental Dyspraxia causes
disruptions of major proportions in the lives of those whom it afflicts
and of the families and world around them.
DEFINITION
Developmental Dyspraxia (also known as Developmental Co-ordination
Disorder, and the Clumsy Child Syndrome) is a neurologically based
disorder of the processes involved in praxis or the planning of
movement to achieve a predetermined idea or purpose, which may affect
the acquisition of new skills and the execution of those already
learned. More specifically, it is a disorder of praxis, or the process
of ideation (forming an idea of using a known movement to achieve
a planned purpose), motor planning (planning the action needed to
achieve the idea), and execution (carrying out the planned movement).
Dyspraxia may affect any or all areas of development - physical,
intellectual, emotional, social, language, and sensory - and may
impair the normal process of learning, thus is a learning difficulty.
It is not a unitary disorder (like measles or chicken pox, where
all those affected share a common set of symptoms), and affects
each person in different ways at different ages and stages of development,
and to different degrees. It is inconsistent, in that it may affect
the child one day but not the next - as if sometimes information
is 'put away in the wrong drawer' - and it may affect children in
different ways at different ages and developmental stages.
It is a hidden handicap as, under normal circumstances, children
with Dyspraxia may appear no different from their peers, until new
skills are tried or known ones taken out of context, when difficulties
may become apparent. In many affected children, Dyspraxia occurs
with or as part of other neurological conditions so that defining
common symptoms may be confusing. Therefore a diagnosis, naming
the disorder, is often very difficult, and sometimes the closest
may be 'shows some Dyspraxic tendencies'. In New Zealand, following
a major international, multi-disciplinary conference on Dyspraxia
held here in 1997, it has become easier for parents to find a professional
who is confident in making a diagnosis.
INCIDENCE
The World Health Organisation states in their 'Diagnostic and Statistics
Manual-IV', that it affects 6% of all children to varying degrees,
while other estimates vary between 10-20%. It is commonly believed
by those in New Zealand who treat Dyspraxia that this number could
be as high as 10%, but as yet insufficient studies have been done
to confirm this number. Whatever the incidence, it is only those
children whose disorder markedly impairs their learning and development
who stand a chance of having their difficulties recognised, diagnosed,
and treated.
AETIOLOGY - DEVELOPMENT
The pre-birth growth and development of the baby follows a set pattern
and time-frame. At conception the fertilised egg begins to multiply;
very soon some separate from the rest and, taking a unique form,
continue to multiply at their own increased rate, as the nerve cells
(neurons) of the brain. By about six months gestation (3 months
before birth) the full complement of neurons, with their axons,
has been produced; after that time no further new neurons are grown.
They do not regenerate, so a neuron which is damaged or dies, or
does not complete its growth (and reach its destination) in time,
will not be replaced or renewed, as are cells in other parts of
the body. Thus, if a cell or group of cells, fails to complete its
growth and reach its destination within the time-frame, future sensory
information from that area will be impaired.
Development which does continue to occur (and does so until old
age) is that of the individual cells, as they grow dendrites and
connections within the brain. There are billions of neurons in every
brain, each with very many connections with other cells. For correct
functioning, neurons have to have developed in sufficient numbers
in the right areas of the brain, extending to the correct destination,
by the appropriate time or they never will. There are two kinds
of neurons - those carrying messages to the brain (sensory) and
those carrying messages from the brain (motor).
At about 3 months before birth the axons begin to develop an insulating
fatty sheath called myelin; this allows messages to be efficiently
carried along them - a bit like insulating an electric wire, without
it the messages or impulses may scatter everywhere, with it they
are concentrated, focussed and aimed at the right destination. This
sheath is in place by around 3 months of age; babies younger than
that can be observed to make random reactive movements, without
purposeful intent. After myelination movements may achieve a purpose,
eyes may become more focussed, and the baby may recognise or touch
a face and smile.
The connections between nerve cells (dendrites and synapses) continue
to increase throughout one's lifetime, their growth stimulated by
the demands of the environment, and as learning takes place.
The brain consists of neurons, connected (by nerve fibres or axons)
to their various destinations in the body, and arranged in convoluted
lobes in two halves or hemispheres. Each hemisphere is also divided
into lobes - the Frontal, Parietal, Temporal, and Occipital lobes.
The Limbic System is among other things the emotional centre of
the brain. Different functions of the body are controlled by different
parts of the brain. "Messages" and information travel
along nerve fibres by way of the Spinal Cord, Cortex, Cerebellum
and the Corpus Callosum. Incoming information from the senses -
touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing, movement, balance, warmth,
word, life, self - is organised and stored in the brain, to be retrieved
for use as it is needed.
PRAXIS
(from the Greek, praxis = movement process, e.g. 'practice') Praxis
is the skill or process that makes us human, the link between brain
and behaviour; it allows us to make choices, to plan our lives and
our actions. With it we can function in our physical world, dress
ourselves, eat with utensils, play, write, build, change our environment
to meet a purposeful goal. To do these things, one first needs the
idea of doing them (ideation), then to know how to do them (motor
planning), and then be able to perform the actions (execution).
That is Praxis - the ability to organise our activities in new and
creative ways, not automatically.
IDEATION
When we meet a new activity, like a set of blocks, for the first
time, we must first explore them, gathering sensory information
about them - how they feel, taste, look and smell, what shape they
are and how that feels and looks, how much space that shape takes
up, what the weight feels like, are they hard or soft, strong enough
to support each other, do they stay put or roll, balance, what we
can make them do, etc. When all that information and experience
has been explored, and sorted and stored in our brains, then (if
the frontal lobe of the brain is sufficiently well developed) we
may retrieve and use the knowledge of that experience to form the
idea of using the blocks to achieve a purpose - like a road or a
bridge. To be able to achieve this, a plan of action is needed.
MOTOR PLANNING
The motor planning area in the parietal lobe of the brain, having
received the idea, must work out and plan the positions of the body,
which arm and leg muscles must contract or relax, in what sequence
and how much, how delicately the finger muscles must move and in
which direction. To work this out it needs to recall sensory information
about our past experience with the blocks - feel, weight, size,
balance, length, space, about the floor, the blocks, and about ourselves.
It also has to plan the sequence in which the muscles are to work,
how still the rest of the body must stay, etc. When this plan is
made, messages are sent out for action.
EXECUTION
Muscles can only contract or relax, and for each muscle there are
nerve fibres bringing messages from the brain telling it which to
do, for how long, and in what sequence, (and sending messages to
the brain from the muscle with sensory information to monitor the
action). When the motor plan has been made, messages are sent first
to each part of the brain, and then to all the muscles to tell them
what to do to carry out (or execute) the actions.
Everything is interdependent. Ideation, motor planning, and execution
are each dependant on accurately recalling the neurological knowledge
(or 'gnosis') gained from experience and sensory information. (In
other words, we can't get the idea, plan the movements, or execute
them unless we know from past experiences that we can.) And all
are dependant on messages travelling the right pathways and making
the right connections.
Praxis develops, just as other skills develop. It does not build
or add up like blocks. Praxis at 2 years is not a miniature version
of Praxis at 5 years; it is rather a new version (because more connections
have been made and used in the brain), enabling more actions of
increasingly better quality, and allowing for more complicated and
refined plans of action to be made.
Animals do not have Praxis. An infant developing normally begins
by making random, uncontrolled movements, arms and legs waving without
intent or purpose. Gradually he learns to lift his head, roll over,
reach for a toy; when these actions are controlled by his will and
done with a premeditated purpose - to see mother or to hold the
toy - some motor planning, and early Praxis, has been involved.
The action is not reflexive, random, accidental, or automatic. When
a child learns to talk, he has to organise a specific set of muscles
(the oro-facial and breathing muscles) to produce the right controlled
set of sounds in the right sequence at the appropriate time, to
match a word pattern he knows, and to achieve a planned purpose.
To use language, he has to have the ability to organise his thoughts,
has to have the retrievable memory of the sequence of movement of
those muscles, and the meaning of the sound-pattern it produces,
so that he can repeat it. This is Praxis.
DYSPRAXIA
Dyspraxia is a disorder of Praxis, where somewhere between sensory
information gathering and storing, ideation, motor planning, and
execution, the messages are not getting through, are not producing
the right result. Maybe the information from the senses was not
collected, transmitted, or sorted and stored properly, or stored
in the wrong place, or not found, or even used but then returned
to the wrong storage area; or maybe the motor plan was incomplete
or unable to be made, or did not connect with the right nerve fibres
or muscles for execution. Whatever it is, Praxis is inconsistently
failing. Inconsistently, because yesterday or this morning the messages
may have been getting through, the needed information retrieved,
and the child may have been able to perform the task, but now he
can't, now the plan has been lost somewhere. It may turn up again
at another time or the child may have to relearn the plan, skill,
or task.
Because of the multiple nature of Praxis, there are a vast number
of possible sites of malfunction. It is not known at which point
along the 'practic chain' the malfunction(s) occur - it could be
anywhere from sensory information collection and storage to execution
of actions.
Developmental Dyspraxia is not an illness or disease from which
one can recover, but a neurologically based disorder which one gets
'around', not 'over'.
It is not a 'unitary' disorder. (Unitary means a disorder where
there is a specific set of symptoms common to each case, like measles
or chicken pox.) Each child is affected in different ways, and to
different degrees. It is possible for a child who is affected in
one developmental area to show symptoms in another area later, according
to developmental demands. Or several different sets of symptoms
may be present from the start. It may occur in isolation or (as
is frequently, the case) as part of another disorder. Skills learned
in one context may not be able to be transferred to a new context,
and need to be learnt anew, a point which shows clearly as the child
moves to a new developmental stage.
Developmental Dyspraxia (D.D.) is different from Acquired Dyspraxia
(A.D.) in that there is no memory of Praxis for the system to recall.
As treatment is given and Praxis learnt, it builds developmentally,
increasing the amount and quality of actions, the brain affected
in D.D. is immature, where that in A.D. has already matured, so
children with Developmental Dyspraxia have no neurological memory
of Praxis to work towards.
CAUSES
Dyspraxia is not the result of poor physical strength, impaired
primary sensation, delayed development, body deformity, or anything
that would show up on normal neurological examination. It can be
acquired through damage to the brain from a stroke, an accident,
or medical disaster to the brain. These people are often older,
and have a neurological memory of praxis to work towards. However,
damage acquired at an early age may also impair the normal course
of development, and thus be developmental. Developmental Dyspraxia
occurs from birth or an early age, thus affecting the normal development
of the child, and its causes are not obvious. There may be an inherited
tendency towards similar neurological disorders.
There may have been a glitch of some kind (illness, slight trauma,
momentary lack of oxygen, etc.) at the crucial developmental time
or at birth which caused damage to some cells. It may be that the
growth of the dendrites or the connections - synapses and neurotransmitters
- which connect the cells is at fault. It may be a matter of which
cells, and how many, failed to grow and develop enough to reach
their destination at the right time before birth. It often co-exists
with other disorders (e.g. mild Cerebral Palsy, Dyslexia, Attention
Deficit Disorder, etc.) This fact also makes diagnosis difficult,
as symptoms intermingle or are shared by more than one disorder.
The gathering, sorting, and storing of sensory information may be
faulty. Or the cause may remain completely unknown. In other words,
very little is known of the causes, despite considerable research
over the years.
ASSESSMENT AND DIAGNOSIS
"Diagnosis depends not on the severity of the motor disorder,
but also on the demands of the environment, social acceptability,
tolerance of errors, and on the child's ability to cope emotionally.
So it may not become apparent until the impaired planning and execution
systems are overtaxed." (Gubbay) Actions which are learnt sufficiently
well to become 'automatic' no longer involve praxis. Thus, a Dyspraxic
child among his peers doing familiar, learned things does not stand
out as different, seems just the same as the others. It is only
when new or unfamiliar tasks are involved that differences may become
apparent, although, as a Dyspraxic child quickly learns techniques
for covering his inabilities, even then it is not obvious unless
the observer knows what to look for. Different tests may be given
by occupational therapists, speech therapists, teachers, psychologists,
and paediatricians. As praxis affects many different functions of
the body, complete assessment and evaluation is complicated. Basically
it must - exclude other disorders, identify Dyspraxic signs and
symptoms, according to age and stage of development, professionals
examining the child should share findings to gain a whole, and more
accurate, picture, on a team approach. Because Dyspraxia may occur
in isolation (with no other obvious abnormality), or as part (or
a symptom of) another disorder, diagnosis can be complicated and
difficult. Additional problems can include hyperactivity, learning
difficulties, dyslexia, etc. Parents play a major role in assessment
by highlighting the ways in which the disorder affects the child,
themselves, and the family.
TREATMENT
The multiple nature of Developmental Dyspraxia means that therapy
covers many areas, and may include perceptual motor training (sensory
integration therapy), speech and language therapy, maths and numeracy,
reading and literacy, spelling, environmental. manipulation, behaviour
modification, and medication and treatment for any other disorders.
The aim of treatment is to teach the child Praxis - to be able to
form ideas of trying new things and familiar things in new ways
- to plan the actions, and to execute them. It also focuses on the
different stages of Praxis, and helps it to develop following the
developmental plan. Treatment should if possible be given with a
team approach, each aspect tying in with the others holistically.
Each child's program of treatment is individual to that child, and
regularly reviewed.
Occupational Therapists may use the Southern California Sensory
Integration Tests to test and assess the child, and in treatment
use Sensory Integrative based techniques, which reinforce and help
to integrate information gathered by the senses, so that it can
be stored and accurately retrieved as it is needed. It also helps
the child to use action to gain and organise sensory information,
and to use this information to plan and to achieve the intended
action.
Speech and Language Therapists help the child to gain control over
the speech muscles, so that controlled sounds can be produced at
will, to learn to plan language, to learn concepts with which to
form strategies, and to use these strategies to make connections
and to help form judgements.
Psychologists assess cognitive development and learning ability
and potential, and cognitive therapy aims to help the child to use
the gathered and stored information to form concepts, which in turn
help him to make sense of the world. Therapists also encourage fine
motor skills with toys such as puzzles, etc.
Remedial Teachers (Specific Learning Disorder, or SPELD teachers)
can help a child, on a one- to-one basis, with specific problems
- reading, spelling, maths, etc. This is often given in conjunction
with specifically designed sensory integrative-based exercises,
and using teaching methods suited to the individual child. Lessons
help the child to retrieve learned information for use. Teacher-aides
in the classroom, if obtainable, can help the child to achieve and
to learn, working on a one-to-one basis. Brain Gym exercises with
their cross-lateral element, can help the child integrate messages
between the hemispheres of the brain.
A Developmental Optometrist will identify problems with control
over eye muscles and eye tracking difficulties, and give exercises
to help. A child with eye-tracking difficulties will have problems
e.g. in copying from the blackboard or a book.
A Social Worker or Counsellor may be involved if behavioural, emotional
or family difficulties are present.
Classroom teachers need to understand Dyspraxia and the accompanying
learning difficulties children with Dyspraxia may experience. Both
their expectations and their individual teaching method for that
child may have to be adjusted. The Specialist Education Service
may arrange a needs analysis, and if it is deemed necessary, may
arrange any extra help the child may be seen to need.
Parents play the major role in continuing daily treatment routines
and exercises, as well as teaching self-care and life skills - dressing,
cleaning teeth, washing, making the bed, etc. Regular re-assessment
during ongoing treatment, to check on progress and adjust the program
as needed, should be given. Regular contact and discussion between
teachers, therapists, and family, to coordinate treatment and teaching,
is highly desirable. Above all others, the progress of the child
who has Dyspraxia will reverse if he is pulled in too many different
ways at once.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CHILD, FAMILY AND SCHOOL
Each child shows a different set of symptoms, possibly in different
areas - constructional, organisational, facial, ocular, verbal,
etc. As perceptual-motor abilities are central to all areas of development,
its malfunction may affect a wide range of areas at home and at
school, from life functions such as dressing or feeding oneself,
to playing, reading, writing, or maths, etc.
Dyspraxia is a hidden handicap. If a person wears glasses, or a
hearing aid, or a brace, it is immediately obvious that he or she
has a disability, and allowances are made. The Dyspraxic child appears
just like any other until learned skills are taken out of context
or new skills tried, when difficulties become apparent. It affects
all areas of development thus:-
PHYSICAL
The child may well be able to perform a task or skill, but unable
to plan the sequence of actions in order to do it. He is quite capable
of doing everything appropriate to his stage of development, but
e.g. pulling a chair to the right place at the table in order to
sit and do a drawing, requires planning which for the child, although
he could do it yesterday, may today be too difficult, 'lost in his
system'. And so with all planned, deliberate actions, from eating
with utensils and dressing himself, to talking, drawing, or manipulating
a puzzle. He may be accident prone, clumsy, lacking in co-ordination.
He may look awkward when walking, running, climbing, slow to learn
to ride a trike, walk, manage steps, put on his clothes, or clean
his teeth. He may have difficulty with eating and swallowing, be
a messy eater, be very fussy about food textures. He may have difficulty
gaining control over bladder and bowels. He may find it hard to
organise his body parts, e.g. when sitting at a desk, or have a
poor body image and be unable to identify the parts of his body
with his eyes closed. He may seemed threatened by new or unfamiliar
physical tasks, and be reluctant to try them, thus at school Physical
Education may be a problem. He may avoid trying new things or activities
which are too hard. Poor fine motor skills may mean poor handwriting
or drawing, or a dislike of puzzles.
INTELLECTUAL
The child usually has 'normal' intellect - is as intelligent as
he would have been without dyspraxia - but may have difficulty in
showing what he knows or integrating faultily stored sensory information
to form concepts. Many children with D.D. are of above average intelligence,
but have a low achievement rate. Without accurately stored sensory
information, he may not be able to form good concepts to help him
make sense of the world. He may not easily be able to make choices
(and may need to learn to do so), unable to follow a single (or
set of) instructions, or to do so in the right sequence. He may
seem easily distractible, seem to prefer activities suited to a
younger age-group, may be slow learning new games and their rules.
His memory may be excellent for some things, but unreliable; he
may have a poor memory for either things heard or things seen. He
may seem unable to plan an activity independently, may sometimes
be heard saying "I'm bored!" He may avoid or be unable
to play with things like Lego, blocks, playdough, etc., which all
require much motor planning. He may be unable to play by himself,
and have to learn to 'play'. Poor planning skills may mean that
he needs constantly to know what is going to happen today, tonight,
tomorrow, to plan ahead and repeat the plan often.
EMOTIONAL
An inability to cope with demands can lead to emotional difficulties,
stress, frustration, anxiety, tension, and failure, with resulting
low self-esteem, and possible behaviour problems. Without the reliable
use of information from experience and his senses, judgement and
awareness of others feelings, of his own feelings, and of situations
may be impaired. He may have difficulty in balancing and centring
himself emotionally. He is normal looking, so there may be unrealistically
high expectations of him. Because he is less in control, he may
become more demanding. He may show inappropriate emotions, or too
much emotion, may be unable to understand or express his feelings
or to moderate his interactions with others. Thus, a relatively
small setback can be a tragedy of the first order, or an exciting
event like a birthday or Christmas can make him physically ill with
excitement. He may have difficulty adjusting to new situations -
holidays, or a new class or teacher. Frustration and anxiety levels
can be high, affecting all members of the family. His self-esteem
is constantly at risk. Frustration, anxiety and tension may all
too frequently be a problem.
SOCIAL
Without the consistent ability to 'read' people, situations, or
the accepted behaviour in situations, friendships may be difficult,
as his ability to moderate his behaviour, modulate his actions,
or anticipate the results of his actions or behaviour (all highly
developed cognitive skills) may be impaired. All development takes
far more effort and work, so he may sometimes seem rather immature
if compared with his peers. It can be a challenge for those teaching
him to keep him motivated to learn for the extra time it takes him,
but on the other hand he has a very great need to keep up with his
peers, and to achieve. He may not be able to judge appropriate behaviour
for a situation. He may be the last one picked or the first one
picked on, open to bullying and teasing. He may tend to play with
either younger or older children rather than his peers, or sometimes
prefer to play alone.
LANGUAGE
Speech is the first consciously planned, voluntary motor skill,
the most obvious of learned voluntary skills, and often the first
disability to be noticed. The need to communicate is basic to our
lives, and the inability to do so sometimes leads to an assumption
that the intellect is also affected. It is not. The child may, however,
have a very strong body-language. Dyspraxia may be a language problem
because it impairs motor planning, which affects language production
by affecting those muscles which control speech and the organisation
of language in the brain. Poor sequencing skills may affect the
order of letters in words or words in a sentence, and unreliable
word-finding skills make telling a story or relating an event difficult,
laborious, and lengthy - or avoided! Many seem to present initially
as a speech problem, with good comprehensive and poor expressive
language. When the words do come, his speech may seem unclear, he
may have trouble getting sounds in words or words in sentences in
the right order. He may find imitating sounds, whistling, or blowing
balloons difficult. When relating a story he may seem to have trouble
organising his thoughts and relating events in order. He may have
had trouble learning to feed or suck. He may read fluently to himself
but not aloud. He may find it difficult to relate the letter symbol
with the sound, and with the sound in the word and he may have great
difficulty with spelling.
SENSORY
He may have a poorly developed (or over-developed) sense of touch,
or a poor auditory memory causing him to need things to be repeated
frequently. His sense of balance may be affected, so he may avoid
situations where it is challenged. He may have trouble with buttons
or shoelaces, because of an inability to judge the positions of
his body parts. He may have trouble blocking out extraneous sounds
to hear particular ones, or finding one item in a pile. Incoming
information may also not be moderated - the child may receive a
vast flood of information instead of a steady flow, thus may be
super-sensitive to touch; a supersensitive vestibular system may
cause motion-sickness; crowds may distress him (though his distress
may show in unexpected ways), etc.
School work may have its problems, even if not initially. Reading,
writing, maths, all require a great deal of planning and organisation.
Difficulties may not appear until the demands of later stages of
development show them up. Teachers may, find the child's ability
to retain learning inconsistent, may find sequence in all areas,
word-finding skills, communication, handwriting, reading (especially
aloud), and following instructions all affected, making it difficult
to gauge either what the child's intellectual potential might be,
or how much information the child has retained or can recall. He
or she will certainly need to discover the child's strengths and
encourage these in order to maintain self- esteem.
Inconsistency means that a skill or ability today may be a disability
tomorrow. This is not laziness - he simply can't. A perceived 'lack
of concentration' may simply mean that his planning (or praxis)
deserted him mid-task. He is an expert in covering his inabilities.
Pressure makes it worse, not better. These children need to learn,
would if they could, but - sometimes - can't.
They may become less articulate when they are upset or excited,
and need to tell you what's wrong. They may be inarticulate when
telling long stories, e.g. about what happened yesterday. Verbal
sequence may be affected; the right word may be known but unable
to be retrieved.
They may have difficulty in adjusting to new situations, things
out of routine or out of context, new people, places, classes. They
may be unable to spend a night away from home (e.g. school camps).
They may need to plan for birthdays or Christmas for a whole year
- and still not cope well. Having visitors, expected or not, may
cause confusion and difficulties for him.
Because difficulties may show in one area and not others, it is
sometimes hard for professionals who treat one area to see it as
a 'global' thing, and not specific to their own field of expertise.
It has been noted that there are different types of Dyspraxia (verbal,
motor, cognitive, etc.); a child may be affected in any or all areas
at various stages of development, and to different degrees.
At home, life can be a challenge, both for the Dyspraxic child and
for those around him. He may be incapable of being anything but
noisy at times! The constant need for repetition of his own statements
and questions, our answers and questions, and for overt planning
can be trying. He needs extra attention, which may cause contention
among other family members. Dyspraxia affects judgement in all sorts
of issues, and may affect the ability to pick up on subtleties.
Relationships between all family members carry extra strain. At
some stage the child will need to understand the disorder, as will
all family members.
Dyspraxic children are normal, bright, lovable, intelligent children
who have difficulty planning and organising appropriate actions
or behaviour. The understanding and help of all who deal with them
is an essential part of their learning process. He or she is not
dumb, not stupid, not lazy, and not often un-cooperative.
PROGNOSIS
As has been indicated, the main aim of treatment is to help the
child circumnavigate his difficulties, to learn and to achieve his
potential. Without the appropriate help at the right time, the possibility
exists of him growing into an extremely frustrated, and probably
unemployable adult. However, given early therapy and help he can
learn, achieve, and eventually become a happy, satisfied, useful
adult. There are those in many highly responsible positions throughout
our society who have achieved their ambitions and work successfully
within their particular fields of interest, in spite of their dyspraxia;
equally, there are those who, without early help, are a constant
drain on our welfare and prison systems, and live constantly with
frustration.
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
'The Clumsy Child', by Dr. Sasson Gubbay.
'Sensory Integration and the Child', by A. Jean Ayres.
Conference proceedings of the conference, 'Getting it Together',
Christchurch, September 1997.
'Planning to Move, Moving to Plan - Living with Developmental Dyspraxia
in New Zealand', by Judy Davies.
'Praxis makes perfect', by the Dyspraxia Foundation of the U.K.
'Dyspraxia, a Guide for Teachers and Parents', by Kate Ripley, Bob
Daines, and Jenny Barrett.
'Sensory Integration Theory and Practice', by Fisher, Price, and
Bundy.
'Dyspraxia', by Niklas Miller.
'The Cognitive Neurosciences', edited by Michael Gazzangia.
Dyspraxia Support groups in New Zealand:
Auckland Jane Carew, Phone 09 623 4010 Email: jpcarew@xtra.co.nz
or Bonnie Williams, Phone09 473 9055
Hamilton Karina Johnson, Phone 07 856 7700
Whakatane Sue Crarer, Phone 07 3157885
Hawkes Bay Carleine Receveur, Phone 06 878 7483
Gisborne Jenny Law, Phone 06 863 7012
Taranaki Region For now contact Michelle Murphy, 06 278 6926, who
would like to talk with others in her region.
Palmerston North Roseanne McGillivray, Phone 06 357 3647, Email:
macgillivrayfamily@infogen.net.nz
or Lynette Barlow, Phone 06 324 8823
Wellington/Hutt Valley Anna Sandle, Phone 04 384 7236
Nelson Suzanne Crewe, Phone 03 545 9051 or Victoria Robinson, Phone
03 548 7495
West Coast Miriam Rees, Phone 03 755 8187
Rangiora Tracey and Kevin Ching, Phone 03 313 5547
Canterbury Nicky Hanger, Phone 03 348 4936
Canterbury Fathers Group Garry Hanger, Phone 03 348 4936
Waimate Pam Snoxell, Phone 03 689 4966
Timaru Contact Bev Bennett, (Parent to Parent) Phone 03 688 1518
Invercargill/Southland Ann Heffernan, Phone 03 217 3335
Tip of the Day
Always keep several get well cards on the mantle...so if unexpected
guests arrive, they'll think you've been sick and unable to clean!
(I like this one!)
Di
National Convenor and the team.
E te Atua, aroha mai..... O God shower us with love
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Ka kite
