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Dyspraxia - to tell or not to tell

  • 15-02-2018 10:06pm
    #1
    yellow hen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,031 ✭✭✭


    My 4yr old son was officially diagnosed with dyspraxia yesterday. We're very upset about it and scared as to what the future might hold whilst also (contradictarly) remaining positive and continuing with lots of therapies. My question is do we tell people or not?

    Reasons not to tell-
    He's very young and although he's well behind his peers he is consistently making progress and were hopeful with continued supports he'll be able to hold his own socially and academically.
    If we tell family and friends, it ultimately means we will have to tell him in time and if he made good progress, i suppose we'd hope that we might never have to.

    Reasons to tell-
    To explain why he has behaviour, movement and speech difficulties. He is not intellectually impaired or bold!

    Note -we have already disclosed to the school so we can apply to access all the supports he needs as he starts school.


Comments

  • #2
    looksee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,873 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Don't make a big secret of it. You will no doubt have to do exercises - both physical and academic - with him and the reason should be treated as though it is a perfectly normal thing, not a big deal. Don't talk about it at length to other people in his hearing, but if it is mentioned just treat it casually, not something to get wound up about.

    If you try to keep it quiet it will eventually get back to him as he gets bigger, and probably not in a kindly way. It is not something to hide, any more than if a child has, say, a food intolerance or some other minor issue. It might not seem like a minor issue as you are getting used to the idea, but on any scale of things it really is. I have a granddaughter with dyspraxia and she is doing really well. There is not a great deal of discussion about it, but at least we all are aware of why she sometimes has issues - increasingly minor issues - and know how to help her.

    It doesn't give the child a new identity, just because you have a diagnosis it doesn't mean everything has canged, he is still the same child, but now you can start to move forward helping him to cope with the issues that dyspraxia brings.

    All best wishes to you both, there is no reason for despair, you will have work to do, but you can help him and it will be very rewarding.


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