Dyspraxia

Pochahantus78

Hi
I am looking for advice from parents .
I am a full time childminder with childcare and child psychology education background.
At the moment a child I am caring for is (to me) showing many (not all) symptoms of Dyspraxia . I have also in my last care job cared for a child with severe Dyspraxia hence my recognising of the symptoms quite easily.
However I am clueless as how I am to approach the subject with the child's parents , I have suggested that there are some things that their LO needs work on at different times to maybe see do they begin to recognise these things but I feel for the child's sake that she needs to be assessed . I may very well be wrong, but knowing children with dyspraxia and having spent the last year researching the symptoms and behaviour and I would love to be proven wrong in this case but I also would want for the child to be diagnosed earlier rather than later . I am not a parent so I don't fully know how I would react to someone trying to tell me there might be something that my child needs help with. If anyone could advise me in how to approach the topic or wether I should just wait and see when the child goes to school in September do things improve ??

Samsgirl

The room leader in the creche that our then 3 year old attended approached us with concerns. She didn't come out and mention dyspraxia.

She said she observed A falling over a lot, having issues with pencil grip snd using cutlery.
She advised we contact phn and go from there.

We were very grateful to her for doing so as it gave us an opportunity for early intevention and diagnosis.

My advice from a parents point of view would be to take the approach our creche did and let the girls parents aware of your obsevations without giving a diagnosis. You could advise then to get in touch with phn and ask for an assesment.

qachel

maybe just talk to the parents about your concerns without actually mentioning dyspraxia, if the child is quite young, to get a diagnosis of dyspraxia can take some time. from my experience with my daughter i thought she had dyspraxia as she was a late walker and used to have lots of trips and falls. she had being attending a neurologist, doctors, occupational and physio therapists since she was 2 and only got an official diagnosis of DCD recently, shes now 7. they probably dont have any knowledge like yourself on dyspraxia and may appreciate your concern. as samsgirl said above they may well be grateful as it would give the parents an opportunity for early intervention.

byhookorbycrook

Outline the things you have noticed and suggest things the parent could do to help- particular fine motor skills etc. Do NOT mention the word dyspraxia. From what you say, it seems likely, but you aren't qualified to diagnose it (no more than any teacher) Proceed slowly, don't throw it all out there at once, then you can add a little more of your observations when they are ready to hear some more. If they want to do something then, you could suggest that they do the AON through the GP or go privately to an OT for help with the child's motor issues.