Survey of parents of children with dyspraxia (continued)
Statementing
- 45.6 per cent of children of members are statemented; 54.4 per cent are not statemented. Of those who are statemented dyspraxia is mentioned in 67.8 per cent of statements and not mentioned in 32.2 per cent of statements. Of the 54.4 per cent of children who are not statemented 23.8 per cent are currently obtaining a statement; 22 per cent failed to obtain a statement; 11 per cent do not wish to statement their child; 43.3 per cent reported that the child does not need to be statemented.
- 24.6 per cent of children of members are mildly dyspraxic; 43.1 per cent are moderately dyspraxic; 19.4 per cent are severely dyspraxic and 12.9 per cent do not know the level of dyspraxia.
Correlating the type of schooling with whether a child was statemented, the following results were obtained:
Type of school |
Yes |
No |
State mainstream |
54.9% |
68.9% |
Private |
6.7% |
24.8% |
Special needs unit in mainstream |
11.4% |
1.8% |
Special school |
21.2% |
1.3% |
Other |
5.7% |
3.5% |
Correlating type of schooling with degree of dyspraxia gave the following results:
Type of school |
Mild |
Moderate |
Severe |
Don't know |
State mainstream |
66.7% |
65.9% |
41.9% |
78.6% |
Private |
23.1% |
17.8% |
5.8% |
8.9% |
Special needs unit in mainstream |
4.6% |
6.5% |
12.8% |
1.8% |
Special school |
2.8% |
6.5% |
27.9% |
7.1% |
Other |
2.8% |
3.2% |
11.6% |
3.6% |
Finally we looked at the degree of dyspraxia and whether or not children were statemented:
Degree of dyspraxia |
Yes |
No |
Mildly dyspraxic |
18.4% |
81.6% |
Moderately dyspraxic |
46.3% |
53.7% |
Severely dyspraxic |
78% |
22% |
Don't know |
44.4% |
55.6% |
Conclusions
- It is disappointing that 65.4 per cent of parents reported that although they had recognised a problem before their child had reached 3 years of age, this had not been picked up or commented upon during the child's developmental reviews or pre-school review. This would suggest that the Dyspraxia Foundation has a vital role to play in informing GPs, Health visitors and all medical professionals to give more advice and training about dyspraxia and the symptoms associated with it.
- Parents are most likely (25 per cent) to consider first that their child might be dyspraxic. Only 9.4 per cent of teachers and 1.8 per cent of G.Ps are likely to consider this diagnosis. As most children are likely to be exposed to both teachers and G.Ps, we need to consider the importance of training them to recognise dyspraxia.
- Diagnosis of dyspraxia is most often made by a paediatrician or other healthcare professionals. G.Ps generally do not make this diagnosis. (3 per cent)
- 16.6 per cent of children have severe enough dyspraxia to require some kind of special need schooling - either in a mainstream school or a special school. 16.1 per cent of dyspraxic children go to a private school - significantly above the national average of children in private school of 10 per cent.
- Only one quarter of dyspraxic children are recognised as such when they begin school. This may have serious implications on the outcome of their schooling, especially if we consider the attitudes the schools hold toward dyspraxic children. It is of great concern that in 80 per cent of cases schools think the child will grow out of it. While some difficulties do seem to become less severe as children mature into their teens, dyspraxia is not something that a person can “outgrow”.
- Also of concern is the 75.5 per cent of teachers who think that dyspraxic children could try harder. It is true that most dyspraxic children do work harder to keep up and do well in school. But only when the child, parents and teachers understand what the problems are and get to grips with the strategies that can be used to deal with them that “trying harder” can be effective.
- Over half of schools think that children with dyspraxia are naughty. Dyspraxic children can appear naughty because they do not understand the rules, or they have difficulty following instructions. Their behaviour requires understanding on the part of the parents and schools to overcome. More than a third of schools blame dyspraxia on poor parenting can only be distressing to families. Parents naturally take the blame onto themselves: the message must be reinforced by all professionals involved with the family that it is not the parents' fault.
- On the positive side, parents reported that 76 per cent of schools wanted to help but did not know how. Nearly 50 per cent of schools had apparently never heard of dyspraxia. The Dyspraxia Foundation has an important role to play in educating schools about the condition.
- It is encouraging to see that the balance of help received from schools shifts dramatically from the time the diagnosis is first made. The questionnaire showed that when the diagnosis was first made one-third of schools were thought to have been helpful, one-third offered some help and a little less than one-third offered no help. Some time after diagnosis, parents reported that nearly two-thirds of schools had been helpful. Clearly having a diagnosis and beginning an understanding of dyspraxia is important to the quality of schooling received by children.
- It is reassuring that once diagnosis and recognition is made, 70 per cent of parents report that the child is happy at school. However this high percentage is not reflected by the number of telephone calls to the Dyspraxia Foundation's Head Office during which the majority of parents reported that their children were unhappy at school. Therefore the importance of diagnosis is paramount to the child's general well being.
It is important to note that this questionnaire was sent only to Dyspraxia Foundation members. By definition these are parents who have recognised the problem of dyspraxia and who have worked hard at securing help for their child. Daily phone calls to the Foundation's Head Office and to our Local Co-ordinators throughout the country indicate there are still many unhappy, frustrated children out there and many desperate parents.
With the right kind of intervention, support and suitable treatment the child with dyspraxia can be helped to overcome the continuing problems that they will undoubtedly face. Tricia Pullen RGN