Dyspraxia and High Ability
By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D
Q:
My son is 5 and 2 months. The school are I feel heading down
the route of diagnosing dyspraxia based on the fact that he
has no dominant hand for writing and his writing is large
and messy and poor drawing skills. He is not a sporty child
and 'tunes out' in class and is apparently sensitive to
noise and slow to follow instructions. However I am
concerned. He is certainly one of the best boy readers in
his class (as I help out) knows all his times tables, asks
questions persistently like what would happen if you put
water on electricity? or how could you get a car to move on
its own?
Questions which most his age do not seem to consider, is
highly perceptive to others emotions and needs and although
a very happy child does not slot easily into the school
format. His father is a doctor and has a high IQ and was
suggested to be 'special needs' in the 70s. It also concerns
me as my son is mixed race and has possibly already been
labeled. I would be so grateful for an objective
perspective?
A: Dyspraxia is condition where
children are seen clumsy or manifest some inadequacy in
controlling objects (e.g., paper, pencil, etc.) in degrees
that vary. There is a possibility for some to be good at
hand-eye coordination while some are not able to. Medical
researches have indicated that dyspraxia can be the result
of very swift brain functioning which in turn fails to
translate into physical action. The end results are children
who may be very thoughtful and sometimes quick with ideas,
but at the same time, not able to put their thoughts into
action.
Often described and seen as clumsy, dyspraxic children may
have difficulties with handwriting. Giftedness is often
combined with dyspraxia (just like what some experts suggest
that dyslexic children tend to gear towards high ability).
Firstly, you need to get him checked to determine if he
indeed has this condition. From your description, there
isn't enough indication to consider him dyspraxic. You need
to act soon as if he is dyspraxic, there are treatments that
he would need to undergo and the earlier done the better the
results.
However, he appears to have high ability for his age, hence
possibly gifted. You can have him checked for his
intelligence especially since his father has a high IQ and a
good part of our IQs are determined by our genes. If he's
gifted and dyspraxic, you should respond in a manner
consistent with other children treated for dyspraxia, at the
same time given learning advancement based on his ability
level.
But the fact that behavioral difficulties are so often
associated with certain categories of children, and being
labeled with dyspraxia is one of them, it reinforces the
way teachers, parents and children themselves react to the
situation. Racial issues should not at all discriminate him
further and the best thing for you to do is to perhaps speak
to the higher authorities of the school regarding your
concerns. I am sure it will not turn to deaf ears as no
education system encourages any kind of labeling. Your
child psychologist would be able to refer and guide you
further on this matter.
|
Checkout these other
gifted children questions
