i've decided to write this blog after seeing the latest video from Krystal on the Paralympics and some disabilities not being included which you can see here http://bit.ly/2d88WQ8
im going to start by also linking to the article by the Guardian that krystal mentions in her video http://bit.ly/2cHmVOv it wasn't until i first saw this article a year or so ago that i was aware there ever was any sporting competition/category that allowed people with dyspraxia and similar conditions to compete against each other which is the S17 category.the dyspraxia foundation also put out a statement urging the international Paralympic committee to reconsider their decision http://bit.ly/2cI0d98
from what i understand from the article in the guardian,this category has not been included in the Paralympics but has been in other national and international disability events, but now the S17 category in the view of the international Paralympic committee (IPC) does not exist and in the article it is mentioned that the amateur swimming association and British swimming are not including/supporting this category anymore due to the fact that these disabilities are not internationally recognized e.g. Britain being the only country that recognizes these conditions as disabilities. however other sports may have different views and may be able to support a category for these conditions in their sport for example the football association in England has a section for learning impairments but these impairments have to impact sporting performance in some way i do believe in football atleast at an amateur level learning impairments are included in the cerebral palsy 7-aside game sometimes.
in my view this exclusion of disability seems wrong and especially so from the IPC as a comment in the article says the Paralympic legacy is inclusion and this seems to be exclusion especially as there is no event for those with dyspraxia and/or similar conditions to compete against each other as the special Olympics also does not have a category for dyspraxia or any SpLD and Asperger's (high functioning autism) and eligibility to the special Olympics is very similar to the Paralympic category of S14 for athletes with learning disabilities but is judged on IQ and as Krystal mentions in her video many people who are neurodiverse actually have quite high IQ's so those who were eligible for the S17 criteria are not likely to be eligible for the S14 category or the special Olympics whose criteria you can see here http://bit.ly/2cIkPwk
however having said all of this due to the nature of conditions such as dyspraxia and similar conditions such as they can affect different people to very different levels plus how common they are. this means that there is a good possibility that there are elite able bodied and para-athletes that may actually have dyspraxia (whether they are aware of it or not) but many sports have a culture of making sure there are no signs of weakness shown or anything that could be considered a weakness this leads to people not being open about it (especially during their careers) so there ends up being no role models for young aspiring athletes/sportspeople in the same situation causing a vicious cycle although i did recently see something about a rugby player being open about having dyspraxia which may over time become very helpful.
hopefully this blog has made this situation as clear as possible and ive tried to link to as many of the documents that ive used as well as using my experience having looked into this before.
Thursday 22 September 2016
Friday 16 September 2016
Dyspraxia and its links to other diversities (co-occurring conditions)
this blog post is going to focus on the other difficulties/disabilities that often seem to occur alongside dyspraxia with brief overviews of them.
i am going to start by saying there is some thought that it is extremely rare for Dyspraxia to occur in isolation as well as some thought that certain condition wont or shouldn't occur alongside dyspraxia due to similarities in my opinion i thin k there may be some truth to be both opinions and i wouldn't say it was definitive either way especially due to the wide array of things that can be apart of dyspraxia which could cause confusion over whether someone has multiple conditions or whether the difficulties they face are a part of their dyspraxia.
probably the most common or the most well known of the difficulties to occur alongside dyspraxia is Dyslexia which is predominately a difficulty with language and words there is also Dyscalculia which is a difficulty with numbers/maths and is sometimes referred to as number Dyslexia as well as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia there is Dysgraphia which is a difficulty with writing, mostly handwriting.
Autism or Autism spectrum disorder is another it is also the one that creates confusion as it is the disability that some suggest shouldn't occur alongside Dyspraxia due to how similar some aspects of both conditions are (however some people are diagnosed with both) there is also question marks over whether dyspraxia is or should be a part of the autistic spectrum. Natalie (the blog with one post) has done a blog on this http://bit.ly/2cOcPNu
another condition that often occur alongside Dyspraxia is sensory processing disorder which seems quite self explanatory as a difficulty with processing senses, this is another difficulty that could be causing confusion due to sensory difficulties already being quite a large part of dyspraxia for some people.
hyper and hypo flexibility is something that can occur on its own as well as many dyspraxics having it as well and this affect the range of movement you have in your joints with Hyper meaning more than the normal range of movement and hypo meaning less than the normal range hyper-flexibility may be more commonly referred to as double jointedness.
ADHD (attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder) is something that often occurs with many neurodiverse conditions including dyspraxia and is difficulty or poor attention span and this sometimes leads to hyperactivity however not all the time and this hyperactivity is not always obvious it could be just fidgeting such as moving tapping of the foot or hand.
there is also verbal dyspraxia which is difficulty with speech or making certain sounds or controlling volume and pitch of voice this is sometimes referred to as apraxia of speech which is slightly confusing as there is a difference between apraxia and dyspraxia, which is that Dyspraxia is a developmental disorders whereas Apraxia is Acquired dyspraxia this could potentially happen after a stroke for example.
a final thing to note is that it is suggested that people who have learning/neurological difficulties such as these mentioned in this post are alot more likely to suffer with mental health difficulties especially if they are not supported.
i hope that this blog has helped some people understand some of the things that can occur alongside dyspraxia and a very small amount of what these conditions are.
i am going to start by saying there is some thought that it is extremely rare for Dyspraxia to occur in isolation as well as some thought that certain condition wont or shouldn't occur alongside dyspraxia due to similarities in my opinion i thin k there may be some truth to be both opinions and i wouldn't say it was definitive either way especially due to the wide array of things that can be apart of dyspraxia which could cause confusion over whether someone has multiple conditions or whether the difficulties they face are a part of their dyspraxia.
probably the most common or the most well known of the difficulties to occur alongside dyspraxia is Dyslexia which is predominately a difficulty with language and words there is also Dyscalculia which is a difficulty with numbers/maths and is sometimes referred to as number Dyslexia as well as Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia there is Dysgraphia which is a difficulty with writing, mostly handwriting.
Autism or Autism spectrum disorder is another it is also the one that creates confusion as it is the disability that some suggest shouldn't occur alongside Dyspraxia due to how similar some aspects of both conditions are (however some people are diagnosed with both) there is also question marks over whether dyspraxia is or should be a part of the autistic spectrum. Natalie (the blog with one post) has done a blog on this http://bit.ly/2cOcPNu
another condition that often occur alongside Dyspraxia is sensory processing disorder which seems quite self explanatory as a difficulty with processing senses, this is another difficulty that could be causing confusion due to sensory difficulties already being quite a large part of dyspraxia for some people.
hyper and hypo flexibility is something that can occur on its own as well as many dyspraxics having it as well and this affect the range of movement you have in your joints with Hyper meaning more than the normal range of movement and hypo meaning less than the normal range hyper-flexibility may be more commonly referred to as double jointedness.
ADHD (attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder) is something that often occurs with many neurodiverse conditions including dyspraxia and is difficulty or poor attention span and this sometimes leads to hyperactivity however not all the time and this hyperactivity is not always obvious it could be just fidgeting such as moving tapping of the foot or hand.
there is also verbal dyspraxia which is difficulty with speech or making certain sounds or controlling volume and pitch of voice this is sometimes referred to as apraxia of speech which is slightly confusing as there is a difference between apraxia and dyspraxia, which is that Dyspraxia is a developmental disorders whereas Apraxia is Acquired dyspraxia this could potentially happen after a stroke for example.
a final thing to note is that it is suggested that people who have learning/neurological difficulties such as these mentioned in this post are alot more likely to suffer with mental health difficulties especially if they are not supported.
i hope that this blog has helped some people understand some of the things that can occur alongside dyspraxia and a very small amount of what these conditions are.
Friday 19 August 2016
My Arrangements + supports in Education
this blog post is going to go through the arrangements/provisions and supports that i have had throughout all my time in education.
starting with primary school has i mentioned in the primary school experience blog i was not diagnosed until after my primary years so i had very little/no support although my mum has told me i was put into the all the programs and lower level classes for special needs however as i mentioned in the previous blog (which you can find here http://bit.ly/2bNi289) my year 3 teacher was the only and first teacher in primary school who focused on the quality and content of the work rather than the handwriting or presentation whereas most other teachers did not bother marking the work if they were unable to read it.
in term of middle school (yr5-yr8) it was in year 6 that i was diagnosed with Dyspraxia however i still dont recall having many supports in place, i do remember an attempt at having a scribe (where you say the answer and the scribe then writes it down) at this point having a scribe didn't work i dont think i was comfortable having to say my answers out loud and it also makes kit slightly harder if you need to make notes or if its a long answer as you might forget some of it before the scribe has had a chance to write it all down but other than that attempt at having a scribe i dont remember any other special provision in place or attempted throughout the 4 years of middle school.
for high school and college (yr9 - yr11 + post 16/sixth form) my school attempted a few different supports the first of which i can remember was a word processor which i liked but it wasn't totally effective due to temperamental technology and because i wasn't good or fast at typing. the next attempt was having a transcribe for exams (which means that i sat the exam normally on my own then after the transcribe would come in and rewrite the bits that they were felt would be too difficult to read after i told them what was written down) i preferred this as i was able to focus on the exam however this became quite time consuming especially as the transcribe would do it on their own to prevent me from missing lessons although there was one point the entire english department weer unable to read my writing so they had to get me from the lesson i was in this eventually led to me having a scribe again at this point it did seem to work better than when i was in middle school possibly because i had the same scribe for all of my exams and someone i knew from lessons (a TA from the english department) this continued throughout the rest of my time at that school so through to sixth form/college.
at university the supports in place were mostly products that were received as a part of disabled students allowance (DSA) the equipment that i received was a dictaphone, laptop and standwith a laptop bag, a printer, keyboard and mouse also installed on the laptop was some software including audio notetaker for the dictaphone for recording of lectures and seminars dragon naturally speaking which allows you to speak and the software did the typing on to the laptop however i struggled with this as it couldnt understand my voice and as you have to train it to understand your voice by reading to it which i never really had enough time to do alongside this software for the first few weeks (i think) you also have training/tutoring on how to use all of the equipment (i never got used dragon naturally speaking however) especially the software based ones which can take a little bit of time to get used to. DSA also pays for the tutoring from within the university and their disability support department and for most of my time at uni i wasnt clear on what exactly i could go to them for most of the time it was just proof reading essays it wasnt until my dissertation in my third year that i had help that included planning and the layout of the work i also feel like there may have been more included in that but it was never made clear exactly what 'services' were 'offered' or in place.
starting with primary school has i mentioned in the primary school experience blog i was not diagnosed until after my primary years so i had very little/no support although my mum has told me i was put into the all the programs and lower level classes for special needs however as i mentioned in the previous blog (which you can find here http://bit.ly/2bNi289) my year 3 teacher was the only and first teacher in primary school who focused on the quality and content of the work rather than the handwriting or presentation whereas most other teachers did not bother marking the work if they were unable to read it.
in term of middle school (yr5-yr8) it was in year 6 that i was diagnosed with Dyspraxia however i still dont recall having many supports in place, i do remember an attempt at having a scribe (where you say the answer and the scribe then writes it down) at this point having a scribe didn't work i dont think i was comfortable having to say my answers out loud and it also makes kit slightly harder if you need to make notes or if its a long answer as you might forget some of it before the scribe has had a chance to write it all down but other than that attempt at having a scribe i dont remember any other special provision in place or attempted throughout the 4 years of middle school.
for high school and college (yr9 - yr11 + post 16/sixth form) my school attempted a few different supports the first of which i can remember was a word processor which i liked but it wasn't totally effective due to temperamental technology and because i wasn't good or fast at typing. the next attempt was having a transcribe for exams (which means that i sat the exam normally on my own then after the transcribe would come in and rewrite the bits that they were felt would be too difficult to read after i told them what was written down) i preferred this as i was able to focus on the exam however this became quite time consuming especially as the transcribe would do it on their own to prevent me from missing lessons although there was one point the entire english department weer unable to read my writing so they had to get me from the lesson i was in this eventually led to me having a scribe again at this point it did seem to work better than when i was in middle school possibly because i had the same scribe for all of my exams and someone i knew from lessons (a TA from the english department) this continued throughout the rest of my time at that school so through to sixth form/college.
at university the supports in place were mostly products that were received as a part of disabled students allowance (DSA) the equipment that i received was a dictaphone, laptop and standwith a laptop bag, a printer, keyboard and mouse also installed on the laptop was some software including audio notetaker for the dictaphone for recording of lectures and seminars dragon naturally speaking which allows you to speak and the software did the typing on to the laptop however i struggled with this as it couldnt understand my voice and as you have to train it to understand your voice by reading to it which i never really had enough time to do alongside this software for the first few weeks (i think) you also have training/tutoring on how to use all of the equipment (i never got used dragon naturally speaking however) especially the software based ones which can take a little bit of time to get used to. DSA also pays for the tutoring from within the university and their disability support department and for most of my time at uni i wasnt clear on what exactly i could go to them for most of the time it was just proof reading essays it wasnt until my dissertation in my third year that i had help that included planning and the layout of the work i also feel like there may have been more included in that but it was never made clear exactly what 'services' were 'offered' or in place.
Monday 15 August 2016
Education Part 4 (University)
this post is the final part (sort of) of this series of blogs about my experiences during education and at the moment university as an undergraduate is my last experience of education (it could change i may do a postgraduate course).
university is obviously quite different than compulsory education and even further education and in many cases it also involves living independently which was the case for me as i moved over 100 miles away from Kent to Southampton and i studies Football studies (yes it is a real course) at Southampton Solent University which is in the city centre. i think ive mentioned previously that as a part of living independantly at university i used to have a day which i did all the cleaning, washing up and laundry etc. although over time this changed quite a bit and became quite difficult due to other commitments (sports and uni work) especially throughout the later part of my 2nd year and my 3rd year. i also lived in student accomadation (shared flats) throughout all 3 years of my time at university which i think was probably a lot easier than having to find a student house to rent and share, im not aware of the reason (if there was any) for why i got a place in student accommadation for my 2nd and 3rd year there is a possibility it that it was due to dyspraxia but i cant be certain.
At the moment i currently look back on my time at university (its been just over a year now) as ok but nit brilliant or good im not certain as to why it may be that course wasnt right for me as i only liked a few of the topics that were covered this could change over time, it may have been different 4/5 years ago when i chose that course initially but at the moment i look at back the only stand out really good thing about my time at uni was a doing a handball coaching course and becoming involved with the Handball team at the University of Southampton over the rest of my time at uni and that has led to me doing some handball coaching and refereeing when ive come back home (which i find a bit ironic considering what i studied).
in term of actual university work and lectures etc. much of it was quite dull, i wasnt brilliant or terrible at any of it i always managed to get it done in time im not sure how with some of it and there was even some issues during my 3rd year so i had to change what my entire dissertation was going to focus on (and i know some people who will be reading this will have taken part in the survey about sports participation amongst dyspraxics so thank you).
as soon as i finished my uni work i went straight into all the details for my charity cycle ride for dyspraxia awareness.
at the present time overall university for me still feels like an ok option as i dont know what i would have done if i didn't go to uni and i may consider doing a postgraduate degree if i can find one that i like however some advice i would give to people looking at going to university or going a different route is to spend quite a bit of time really thinking about the options that you have (especially if your school was/is anything like mine where everything was aimed at university and very rarely spoke about the other options in any depth) and then if you decide to go to university spend as much time as possible looking at every course you like the sound of and compare them all to each other and look at everything about the course (as courses with the same title can be very very different from each other) , the university and the area it is in especially if you were to be able to move away from home
university is obviously quite different than compulsory education and even further education and in many cases it also involves living independently which was the case for me as i moved over 100 miles away from Kent to Southampton and i studies Football studies (yes it is a real course) at Southampton Solent University which is in the city centre. i think ive mentioned previously that as a part of living independantly at university i used to have a day which i did all the cleaning, washing up and laundry etc. although over time this changed quite a bit and became quite difficult due to other commitments (sports and uni work) especially throughout the later part of my 2nd year and my 3rd year. i also lived in student accomadation (shared flats) throughout all 3 years of my time at university which i think was probably a lot easier than having to find a student house to rent and share, im not aware of the reason (if there was any) for why i got a place in student accommadation for my 2nd and 3rd year there is a possibility it that it was due to dyspraxia but i cant be certain.
At the moment i currently look back on my time at university (its been just over a year now) as ok but nit brilliant or good im not certain as to why it may be that course wasnt right for me as i only liked a few of the topics that were covered this could change over time, it may have been different 4/5 years ago when i chose that course initially but at the moment i look at back the only stand out really good thing about my time at uni was a doing a handball coaching course and becoming involved with the Handball team at the University of Southampton over the rest of my time at uni and that has led to me doing some handball coaching and refereeing when ive come back home (which i find a bit ironic considering what i studied).
in term of actual university work and lectures etc. much of it was quite dull, i wasnt brilliant or terrible at any of it i always managed to get it done in time im not sure how with some of it and there was even some issues during my 3rd year so i had to change what my entire dissertation was going to focus on (and i know some people who will be reading this will have taken part in the survey about sports participation amongst dyspraxics so thank you).
as soon as i finished my uni work i went straight into all the details for my charity cycle ride for dyspraxia awareness.
at the present time overall university for me still feels like an ok option as i dont know what i would have done if i didn't go to uni and i may consider doing a postgraduate degree if i can find one that i like however some advice i would give to people looking at going to university or going a different route is to spend quite a bit of time really thinking about the options that you have (especially if your school was/is anything like mine where everything was aimed at university and very rarely spoke about the other options in any depth) and then if you decide to go to university spend as much time as possible looking at every course you like the sound of and compare them all to each other and look at everything about the course (as courses with the same title can be very very different from each other) , the university and the area it is in especially if you were to be able to move away from home
Friday 5 August 2016
Education Part 3 (high school and sixth form)
hopefully this post from my education experiences will be slightly longer than the previous two as i should be able to remember more from high school and sixth.
for me this was probable the best school that i had attended in terms of the provisions i required due to dyspraxia.
starting in year 9 i can remember using a word processor (keyboard with a small screen)that was connected to certain infared printers in the school like this
this did not really work for me at the time as i was not the best at typing or a particular fast typer.
then during year 9 i retook all of my SAT's exams again (not really sure why as id did well on most of them in year 8) and for these exams i had a transcribe so i would do the exam myself and at the end a teaching assistant would read through it and re-write the bits that they were unable to read after i told them what it said at first i would stay in the exam hall with the TA but then after a while i would go to my next lesson and the teacher/TA would then do it on their own which proved unsuccessful as they were unable to read my handwriting so i would be taken out of lessons to translate which then eventually led to me having a scribe so i would say the answer and the scribe would then write it down which i have had for every exam since then.
also another good thing about the school was my form (a 20-30min lesson everyday prior to lunchtime) teacher who it think may have been one of the 'specialists' for students with learning difficulties had a family member who was also dyspraxic.
to quickly talk about my GCSE's i mentioned that i had a scribe for all of my exams or handwriting assignments apart from french for some reason however moving on to my option subjects which i had 3 which for me were sports studies, geography and french alongside the compulsory lessons such as english, science, match, ICT and the two subject which had no exams or tests which were PE and ethics and i can remember when it came to choosing my options sports studies was the only subject which i actually wanted to do eventually just because i had to choose to other subjects i ended up choosing to do french (which i only chose because at the time my uncle lived in France) and geography (which i ended up enjoying). almost forgot that near the end of year 10 my english teacher kept me in at the end of the lesson to try and teach me how to write E's which makes up half of my name so if i hadnt been able to write the letter E by the age of 15 there was no way he was going to be able to teach me in 5mins.
when it came to choosing whether to go to sixth form/college either at the school i was already at or at another school or a college i did look into going to the local high schools sixth form (as i went to a school between 30min+1hr away from home) but i (and my mum) quite quickly decided on going to the sixth form at the school i was at due to the support they had provided throughout my time at that school and i ended up doing sports studies and science although i stopped science after the first year as i wasnt enjoying all of it or doing that well and to focus on doing my best at sports studies
for me this was probable the best school that i had attended in terms of the provisions i required due to dyspraxia.
starting in year 9 i can remember using a word processor (keyboard with a small screen)that was connected to certain infared printers in the school like this
this did not really work for me at the time as i was not the best at typing or a particular fast typer.
then during year 9 i retook all of my SAT's exams again (not really sure why as id did well on most of them in year 8) and for these exams i had a transcribe so i would do the exam myself and at the end a teaching assistant would read through it and re-write the bits that they were unable to read after i told them what it said at first i would stay in the exam hall with the TA but then after a while i would go to my next lesson and the teacher/TA would then do it on their own which proved unsuccessful as they were unable to read my handwriting so i would be taken out of lessons to translate which then eventually led to me having a scribe so i would say the answer and the scribe would then write it down which i have had for every exam since then.
also another good thing about the school was my form (a 20-30min lesson everyday prior to lunchtime) teacher who it think may have been one of the 'specialists' for students with learning difficulties had a family member who was also dyspraxic.
to quickly talk about my GCSE's i mentioned that i had a scribe for all of my exams or handwriting assignments apart from french for some reason however moving on to my option subjects which i had 3 which for me were sports studies, geography and french alongside the compulsory lessons such as english, science, match, ICT and the two subject which had no exams or tests which were PE and ethics and i can remember when it came to choosing my options sports studies was the only subject which i actually wanted to do eventually just because i had to choose to other subjects i ended up choosing to do french (which i only chose because at the time my uncle lived in France) and geography (which i ended up enjoying). almost forgot that near the end of year 10 my english teacher kept me in at the end of the lesson to try and teach me how to write E's which makes up half of my name so if i hadnt been able to write the letter E by the age of 15 there was no way he was going to be able to teach me in 5mins.
when it came to choosing whether to go to sixth form/college either at the school i was already at or at another school or a college i did look into going to the local high schools sixth form (as i went to a school between 30min+1hr away from home) but i (and my mum) quite quickly decided on going to the sixth form at the school i was at due to the support they had provided throughout my time at that school and i ended up doing sports studies and science although i stopped science after the first year as i wasnt enjoying all of it or doing that well and to focus on doing my best at sports studies
Sunday 31 July 2016
Education Part 2 (middle school)
part 2 of my experiences of education focusing on middle schools. i am aware that thismay not be relatable for many people as i went through the three tier system which is briefly explained in the previous post.
however this was probable one of the most important periods of my life to date because it was in year 6 (2nd year of middle school) that i got my diagnosis of dyspraxia which according to my mum had a large impact on me as prior to that i was an angry child.
i almost forgot year 5 the start of middle school i had to learn how to do a tie and this will probably the angry pre-diagnosis side of myself i remember getting frustrated that i was struggling to tie the tie and ended up doing it wrong and pulled it on really tight (so much so that i couldnt actually undo it) and my parents thought i was choking myself when i was actually trying to snap it off my neck.
prior to my SAT's in year 8 was the first time i had any experience of special provisions in placve which was having a scribe and at that time it did not seem to work and i dont think that school tried anything other than a scribe so that when it came to actually taking my SAT's im dont believe i had any special provisions in place for my exams like scribe/transcribe or even extra time.
however this was probable one of the most important periods of my life to date because it was in year 6 (2nd year of middle school) that i got my diagnosis of dyspraxia which according to my mum had a large impact on me as prior to that i was an angry child.
i almost forgot year 5 the start of middle school i had to learn how to do a tie and this will probably the angry pre-diagnosis side of myself i remember getting frustrated that i was struggling to tie the tie and ended up doing it wrong and pulled it on really tight (so much so that i couldnt actually undo it) and my parents thought i was choking myself when i was actually trying to snap it off my neck.
prior to my SAT's in year 8 was the first time i had any experience of special provisions in placve which was having a scribe and at that time it did not seem to work and i dont think that school tried anything other than a scribe so that when it came to actually taking my SAT's im dont believe i had any special provisions in place for my exams like scribe/transcribe or even extra time.
Tuesday 26 July 2016
Education Part 1 (primary school)
this post is the first in a 4 or 5 part series of blogs in which i will share my experiences of education.
first i am going to say that i went threw the 3 tier education system in the UK (primary school reception to yr4, middle school yr5-yr8, high school yr9-yr11 to sixth form yr12+yr13) and then went to university for 3 years to now (1year after finishing uni)
for this particular post i want to try and cover my primary school experience or at least try to. the few things that i can remember from my primary school is having the same teacher for everything only changing each year and that was probably not a good thing as i dont think any of my teachers were aware of what dyspraxia is and i know my mum has said that they were not very good at supporting the needs that i had even though i did not have a diagnosis of dyspraxia at anytime throughout my primary school years.
however the biggest standout memory of my primary school experience was when i was in year 3 and the biggest aspect of my dyspraxia was my very poor handwriting however during year 3 i had a teacher (happened to be the first male teacher i ever had) who did not care about the appearance of my handwriting and focused on the quality of the work, i believe he said something along the lines of i don't care how good your writing is i just want to see what it is that you can write. and this made a big difference as it meant i didn't have to focus on making my writing legible (or less ineligible) and i could focus on doing and completing the work.
first i am going to say that i went threw the 3 tier education system in the UK (primary school reception to yr4, middle school yr5-yr8, high school yr9-yr11 to sixth form yr12+yr13) and then went to university for 3 years to now (1year after finishing uni)
for this particular post i want to try and cover my primary school experience or at least try to. the few things that i can remember from my primary school is having the same teacher for everything only changing each year and that was probably not a good thing as i dont think any of my teachers were aware of what dyspraxia is and i know my mum has said that they were not very good at supporting the needs that i had even though i did not have a diagnosis of dyspraxia at anytime throughout my primary school years.
however the biggest standout memory of my primary school experience was when i was in year 3 and the biggest aspect of my dyspraxia was my very poor handwriting however during year 3 i had a teacher (happened to be the first male teacher i ever had) who did not care about the appearance of my handwriting and focused on the quality of the work, i believe he said something along the lines of i don't care how good your writing is i just want to see what it is that you can write. and this made a big difference as it meant i didn't have to focus on making my writing legible (or less ineligible) and i could focus on doing and completing the work.
Friday 22 July 2016
My Diagnosis
this blog post is going to focus on my diagnosis or what i can remember from being diagnosed and the testing process, although i may not be able to remember that much from either diagnosis or test.
first i am going to elaborate on why i have had two diagnosis' of dyspraxia the two tests took place quite far apart my first diagnosis was when i was in year 6 (so about the age of 10/11 i think) and the second test was done when i was in post 16 (16-18 yrs) directly before university so i was either 17 or 18 at the time and the second test was done to confirm i still had dyspraxia so that i was able to get disabled students allowance (DSA) but more accurately was to also assess/confirm the needs i had and to advise on the equipment i would need. this second test was done because because my first diagnosis was at a young age so the second diagnosis was to assess those needs and what support needed to be in place for me whilst at university so if you were diagnosed prior to the age of 16 you may need to get a second diagnosis if you wish to go to university.
for my first diagnosis/test i believe it was carried out by an occupational therapist at a hospital and i can remember being asked to do some writing tasks like writing my own name multiple times and writing sentences (i think the sentence that has all the letters of the alphabet in it) which i believe then led on to quite a few weeks of occupational therapy things i think im not entirely sure (it was a while ago).
for my second diagnosis i can remember doing a few writing exercises some reading things as well such as if i was able to read better with coloured overlays but most of all i can remember doing some physical things such as the finger tapping where you tap each finger to your thumb and then restart or you can go back and forth whilst your arm is stretched out, touching your nose with index finger from a stretched out arm with eyes closed another was walking on the inside of your feet (which i can remember not being able to do) and the outside of your feet and heel and toes.
unfortunatley thats all that i can remember from my diagnosis' but hopefully it helps some people especially the bit about potentially needed a second diagnosis if you wish to go to university.
first i am going to elaborate on why i have had two diagnosis' of dyspraxia the two tests took place quite far apart my first diagnosis was when i was in year 6 (so about the age of 10/11 i think) and the second test was done when i was in post 16 (16-18 yrs) directly before university so i was either 17 or 18 at the time and the second test was done to confirm i still had dyspraxia so that i was able to get disabled students allowance (DSA) but more accurately was to also assess/confirm the needs i had and to advise on the equipment i would need. this second test was done because because my first diagnosis was at a young age so the second diagnosis was to assess those needs and what support needed to be in place for me whilst at university so if you were diagnosed prior to the age of 16 you may need to get a second diagnosis if you wish to go to university.
for my first diagnosis/test i believe it was carried out by an occupational therapist at a hospital and i can remember being asked to do some writing tasks like writing my own name multiple times and writing sentences (i think the sentence that has all the letters of the alphabet in it) which i believe then led on to quite a few weeks of occupational therapy things i think im not entirely sure (it was a while ago).
for my second diagnosis i can remember doing a few writing exercises some reading things as well such as if i was able to read better with coloured overlays but most of all i can remember doing some physical things such as the finger tapping where you tap each finger to your thumb and then restart or you can go back and forth whilst your arm is stretched out, touching your nose with index finger from a stretched out arm with eyes closed another was walking on the inside of your feet (which i can remember not being able to do) and the outside of your feet and heel and toes.
unfortunatley thats all that i can remember from my diagnosis' but hopefully it helps some people especially the bit about potentially needed a second diagnosis if you wish to go to university.
Thursday 30 June 2016
Physical Difficulties
this blog post is the follow up to my mental difficulties post (which you can see here http://dyspraxiactivist.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/mental-neuro-difficulties.html ) and this one is going to focus on some of the physical aspects of dyspraxia.
the most obvious and well known physical aspect of dyspraxia is the 'clumsiness' co-ordination difficulties which for us dyspraxics its not that we cant do certain movements its a case of our body not doing what our brain is telling to do in the correct time sometimes this can be obvious and at other times less so however it can affect us in everything that we do whether that be walking, eating or playing sports and something that needs to be made clear is that clumsy does not mean stupid as some people seem to think.
these co-ordination difficulties affect both fine and gross motor skills, fine being the very small actions such as handwriting (that is not illegible) and shoelaces which are often difficult for people who struggle with actions based around the smaller parts of the body such as wrist, fingers and hands. whereas gross motor skills are the activities that require the use of the larger body parts such as arms and legs and this can make it difficult when learning different sporting activities such as cycling, catching, throwing and kicking and all of these actions are seen as basic by people who don't have any co-ordination difficulties whereas they are a lot more complex for those of us who do.
from my perspective these physical difficulties can be annoying but shouldn't worry us as there are things that can help improve or make things slightly easier for example you can get different shaped pens and pencil grips which people often find helpful or practicing certain things consistently that we find helpful and as many people with dyspraxia find mention is that as we get older we develop coping strategies or alternative ways of doing things that have the same effectiveness compared to others.
just remember that we can find ways to make life easier and if you are really determined to succeed (as us dyspraxics usually are) then you will, it may just take that little bit longer and require more work than it does for others.
the most obvious and well known physical aspect of dyspraxia is the 'clumsiness' co-ordination difficulties which for us dyspraxics its not that we cant do certain movements its a case of our body not doing what our brain is telling to do in the correct time sometimes this can be obvious and at other times less so however it can affect us in everything that we do whether that be walking, eating or playing sports and something that needs to be made clear is that clumsy does not mean stupid as some people seem to think.
these co-ordination difficulties affect both fine and gross motor skills, fine being the very small actions such as handwriting (that is not illegible) and shoelaces which are often difficult for people who struggle with actions based around the smaller parts of the body such as wrist, fingers and hands. whereas gross motor skills are the activities that require the use of the larger body parts such as arms and legs and this can make it difficult when learning different sporting activities such as cycling, catching, throwing and kicking and all of these actions are seen as basic by people who don't have any co-ordination difficulties whereas they are a lot more complex for those of us who do.
from my perspective these physical difficulties can be annoying but shouldn't worry us as there are things that can help improve or make things slightly easier for example you can get different shaped pens and pencil grips which people often find helpful or practicing certain things consistently that we find helpful and as many people with dyspraxia find mention is that as we get older we develop coping strategies or alternative ways of doing things that have the same effectiveness compared to others.
just remember that we can find ways to make life easier and if you are really determined to succeed (as us dyspraxics usually are) then you will, it may just take that little bit longer and require more work than it does for others.
Saturday 14 May 2016
Dyspraxia and Sport/ Physical Activity
this topic is quite a special one to me as a dyspraxic person that enjoys sport more than anything else and having done my dissertation at university on dyspraxia and sports (specifically sports participation).
having dyspraxia can make it difficult to participate in sport (or some sports) especially if you have major struggles with the co-ordination and motor skills however my guess would be that the biggest issue is more often than not the other people involved (if there are any) whether that be other players or even in some cases the teacher/coach all of which i think i've had issues with in the past i have just never shown it to those people having thought about it many times however i always try and ignore the other people as more often than not they don't understand the effects dyspraxia can have on sporting ability. when it comes to coaches and teachers especially it may be easier to explain the difficulties your dyspraxia may present whereas when it comes to other players they will not necessarily need to know but in all situations it is your decision about whether to tell any of the other people potentially involved.
actually within the sport if there is any situation that you find difficult coach/teacher should be able to help in suggesting different ways of doing some things.
i often see/ hear that people who aren't the best at certain sports or part of a sport (generally football) end up being put in goal which im pretty sure is what happened to me but i ended up enjoying it and it can potentially solve the problem of being being picked last especially if you end up being the only one willing to go on goal but i most cases people don't like being forced to go in goal and you could just refuse to if you have the opportunity or you could try to organise so that after a set number of goals people swap their positions this could be something that all teacher and coaches could introduce to people still in the process of learning a particular sport.
in general though when it comes to participating sport or some form of physical activity is that there is something out there for everyone and it can be just a case of finding that one thing that you enjoy by trying them certain forms of physical activity can mix that individual aspect with a social aspect as well something like cycling or running you can do in a group or keep it very relaxed on your own. it may take a while to find the activity that you enjoy and in some cases you may find that activity but not like the other people involved and that is where you can either keep searching for somewhere else that provides that activity or use the advice above if applicable to help those people understand and help with any problems you may be having.
there are many different ways in which you can find out about different sports and physical activities in your area such as https://www.sportengland.org (the national governing body of sport in England) your local sports centre may be able to help if you know the sport that you want then looking at the national governing body of that sport so the FA in engalnd for football, EHA for Handball etc. they should have links to all registered clubs in the country so you should be able to find a range of them in your area if your at university there should be somewhere that you can find all if the clubs associated with that uni in some cases university clubs also allow non students to play for them as well. so there aee alot of option out there if you just want to try a new sport or activity dont be afraid to even if you dont think you will be any good at it you might surprise yourself.
having dyspraxia can make it difficult to participate in sport (or some sports) especially if you have major struggles with the co-ordination and motor skills however my guess would be that the biggest issue is more often than not the other people involved (if there are any) whether that be other players or even in some cases the teacher/coach all of which i think i've had issues with in the past i have just never shown it to those people having thought about it many times however i always try and ignore the other people as more often than not they don't understand the effects dyspraxia can have on sporting ability. when it comes to coaches and teachers especially it may be easier to explain the difficulties your dyspraxia may present whereas when it comes to other players they will not necessarily need to know but in all situations it is your decision about whether to tell any of the other people potentially involved.
actually within the sport if there is any situation that you find difficult coach/teacher should be able to help in suggesting different ways of doing some things.
i often see/ hear that people who aren't the best at certain sports or part of a sport (generally football) end up being put in goal which im pretty sure is what happened to me but i ended up enjoying it and it can potentially solve the problem of being being picked last especially if you end up being the only one willing to go on goal but i most cases people don't like being forced to go in goal and you could just refuse to if you have the opportunity or you could try to organise so that after a set number of goals people swap their positions this could be something that all teacher and coaches could introduce to people still in the process of learning a particular sport.
in general though when it comes to participating sport or some form of physical activity is that there is something out there for everyone and it can be just a case of finding that one thing that you enjoy by trying them certain forms of physical activity can mix that individual aspect with a social aspect as well something like cycling or running you can do in a group or keep it very relaxed on your own. it may take a while to find the activity that you enjoy and in some cases you may find that activity but not like the other people involved and that is where you can either keep searching for somewhere else that provides that activity or use the advice above if applicable to help those people understand and help with any problems you may be having.
there are many different ways in which you can find out about different sports and physical activities in your area such as https://www.sportengland.org (the national governing body of sport in England) your local sports centre may be able to help if you know the sport that you want then looking at the national governing body of that sport so the FA in engalnd for football, EHA for Handball etc. they should have links to all registered clubs in the country so you should be able to find a range of them in your area if your at university there should be somewhere that you can find all if the clubs associated with that uni in some cases university clubs also allow non students to play for them as well. so there aee alot of option out there if you just want to try a new sport or activity dont be afraid to even if you dont think you will be any good at it you might surprise yourself.
Sunday 1 May 2016
Mental (Neuro) Difficulties
this blog post is going to try and go more into depth about some of the more mental or neurological (Hidden, cant quite think if the correct word to use) aspects of dyspraxia. first through i am going to start off by saying that Dyspraxia as a whole is a neurological disorder which means that all of the difficulties associated with dyspraxia are mental (neuro) difficulties but in this post im going to focus on things such as planning, perception, organisation, thought and memory.
for those who already know a little bit about dyspraxia it is well known that we often think in different ways than others such as often finding alternative solutions which can lead to being suited to design or innovative careers and we may have different ways of explaining things as well which can lead to some 'problems' in that other people are unable to follow our explanation of things sometimes.
moving onto memory for a lot of people with dyspraxia we have quite poor short term memory that could be forgetting things that happened in that day/week and for many people that could cause problems such as forgetting to do something for work or school forgetting what homework you've got or when it is due.
perception can be linked to both the thought difficulties and the more physical difficulty if spatial awareness such as our perception of the area around us and judging distances but in less of a physical manner perceiving someone attitude or the way in which someone says something too you for example judging whether someone is making a joke or is being sarcastic
for planning and organisation they are very similar in that keeping organised can be hard for people who have dyspraxia and sticking to a regular plan and routine can often help even though it may sometimes be hard to stick to that routine however that may just take time or trying different routines until you find one that works from my experience keeping it simple may be the best way as at uni i used to use Sunday as the day of the week i did all of my cleaning like washing up or doing the laundry.
im also going to quickly mention timekeeping as a part of organisation as a lot of dyspraxic people seem to struggle with their timekeeping often being late as some research from the dyspraxia foundation has shown i believe from the 2014 awareness week over 50% of teenagers had been late to school however for me lateness is very rarely a problem almost never but i am quite often extremely early for things as that gives me some extra time if something goes wrong.
to finish this post im just going to say that you just need to find what works for you and dont panic or worry if something doesnt work.
for those who already know a little bit about dyspraxia it is well known that we often think in different ways than others such as often finding alternative solutions which can lead to being suited to design or innovative careers and we may have different ways of explaining things as well which can lead to some 'problems' in that other people are unable to follow our explanation of things sometimes.
moving onto memory for a lot of people with dyspraxia we have quite poor short term memory that could be forgetting things that happened in that day/week and for many people that could cause problems such as forgetting to do something for work or school forgetting what homework you've got or when it is due.
perception can be linked to both the thought difficulties and the more physical difficulty if spatial awareness such as our perception of the area around us and judging distances but in less of a physical manner perceiving someone attitude or the way in which someone says something too you for example judging whether someone is making a joke or is being sarcastic
for planning and organisation they are very similar in that keeping organised can be hard for people who have dyspraxia and sticking to a regular plan and routine can often help even though it may sometimes be hard to stick to that routine however that may just take time or trying different routines until you find one that works from my experience keeping it simple may be the best way as at uni i used to use Sunday as the day of the week i did all of my cleaning like washing up or doing the laundry.
im also going to quickly mention timekeeping as a part of organisation as a lot of dyspraxic people seem to struggle with their timekeeping often being late as some research from the dyspraxia foundation has shown i believe from the 2014 awareness week over 50% of teenagers had been late to school however for me lateness is very rarely a problem almost never but i am quite often extremely early for things as that gives me some extra time if something goes wrong.
to finish this post im just going to say that you just need to find what works for you and dont panic or worry if something doesnt work.
Thursday 21 April 2016
Misconceptions of Dyspraxia
lazy, stupid and clumsy are probably the biggest misconceptions about people with dyspraxia especially prior to diagnosis and i would imagine that most people who have dyspraxia have been called at least one or all three of these at some point.
in terms of being called clumsy that probably has some truth to it for many people with dyspraxia as all dyspraxic people will have some level of difficulty with co-ordination however it is possible to improve your co-ordination to some degree or in most cases develop some form of coping strategy that may help to deal with anything that may be considered clumsy but having those difficulties should never be a problem to anyone.
however lazy and stupid are both very wrong descriptions of people with dyspraxia in term of laziness there is a piece of research that would only take a few minutes to find in a google which shows that people with dyspraxia (and most likely other neurodiverse conditions) have to work a lot harder and we use a different part of our brains to complete simple tasks compared to a neurotypical person and as dyspraxics we are often aware of that because we are trying are hardest to complete something but other people are not able to see that and it can then appear as laziness especially with the attention difficulties we can have alongside our dyspraxia.
the misconception that people who have dyspraxia are stupid often occurs prior to a diagnosis and normally in a school environment and more than likely stems from the other difficulties associated with dyspraxia such as thought processing, organisation and attention difficulties this does not mean that we are stupid or dumb or lazy it may just mean that the way in which we learn something takes longer and just like everyone else there will be some subject/topic that people are not particularly good at whereas due to the different process that occurs within a dyspraxic persons brain there may also be a range of tasks that we excel at.
i think ive covered some of the most common misconceptions about dyspraxia but im sure there will be many others that ive missed out so if you can think of any leave them in the comments below so anything that people seem to say about dyspraxia but you think is wrong.
and remember you are not defined by what other people call you and accept it if people do call you anything negative like lazy, clumsy stupid you have a choice of whether to ignore or to prove them wrong.
in terms of being called clumsy that probably has some truth to it for many people with dyspraxia as all dyspraxic people will have some level of difficulty with co-ordination however it is possible to improve your co-ordination to some degree or in most cases develop some form of coping strategy that may help to deal with anything that may be considered clumsy but having those difficulties should never be a problem to anyone.
however lazy and stupid are both very wrong descriptions of people with dyspraxia in term of laziness there is a piece of research that would only take a few minutes to find in a google which shows that people with dyspraxia (and most likely other neurodiverse conditions) have to work a lot harder and we use a different part of our brains to complete simple tasks compared to a neurotypical person and as dyspraxics we are often aware of that because we are trying are hardest to complete something but other people are not able to see that and it can then appear as laziness especially with the attention difficulties we can have alongside our dyspraxia.
the misconception that people who have dyspraxia are stupid often occurs prior to a diagnosis and normally in a school environment and more than likely stems from the other difficulties associated with dyspraxia such as thought processing, organisation and attention difficulties this does not mean that we are stupid or dumb or lazy it may just mean that the way in which we learn something takes longer and just like everyone else there will be some subject/topic that people are not particularly good at whereas due to the different process that occurs within a dyspraxic persons brain there may also be a range of tasks that we excel at.
i think ive covered some of the most common misconceptions about dyspraxia but im sure there will be many others that ive missed out so if you can think of any leave them in the comments below so anything that people seem to say about dyspraxia but you think is wrong.
and remember you are not defined by what other people call you and accept it if people do call you anything negative like lazy, clumsy stupid you have a choice of whether to ignore or to prove them wrong.
Saturday 9 April 2016
Disability or Not?
whether to view dyspraxia as a disability or not
for me when i am trying to explain dyspraxia i often find myself calling it a learning disability or difficulty (which it is) similar to dyslexia but it has physical affects alongside the learning and organisational difficulties so for me in that sense it is a disability and i believe legally it is classified as a disability under a discrimination act (atleast in the UK) which means that it is illegal for anyone to discriminate against you based on your dyspraxia (so not giving you equal opportunities)
as a hidden disability like almost all neurodiverse conditions it is not instantly recognisable like that of wheelchair users this may make it harder for people to accept and immediately understand that you do actually have a disability
however whether you would describe your dyspraxia as a disability depends on your view of what a disability is as you often see notable people who have a disability find the word to be negative but whatever their 'disability' may be as a positive because that is what it is.
there may be some situations when it is potentially worth disclosing your dyspraxia as a disability for example when applying for jobs or possibly once in a job to your manager as they may be more understanding if you do have any problems whilst in your role and that should then help them with being able to provide any sport.
however it is up to you whether you want to be open about your dyspraxia and whether you wish to view it as a disability or not.
overall for me i would have to agree with what i've seen from other people and what people may remember from one of my previous blogs about dyspraxia being a positive and rather than it being a disability looking at it as an Ability
for me when i am trying to explain dyspraxia i often find myself calling it a learning disability or difficulty (which it is) similar to dyslexia but it has physical affects alongside the learning and organisational difficulties so for me in that sense it is a disability and i believe legally it is classified as a disability under a discrimination act (atleast in the UK) which means that it is illegal for anyone to discriminate against you based on your dyspraxia (so not giving you equal opportunities)
as a hidden disability like almost all neurodiverse conditions it is not instantly recognisable like that of wheelchair users this may make it harder for people to accept and immediately understand that you do actually have a disability
however whether you would describe your dyspraxia as a disability depends on your view of what a disability is as you often see notable people who have a disability find the word to be negative but whatever their 'disability' may be as a positive because that is what it is.
there may be some situations when it is potentially worth disclosing your dyspraxia as a disability for example when applying for jobs or possibly once in a job to your manager as they may be more understanding if you do have any problems whilst in your role and that should then help them with being able to provide any sport.
however it is up to you whether you want to be open about your dyspraxia and whether you wish to view it as a disability or not.
overall for me i would have to agree with what i've seen from other people and what people may remember from one of my previous blogs about dyspraxia being a positive and rather than it being a disability looking at it as an Ability
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