Dyspraxic Adults

Hello everyone.

I joined this forum because I have suspected dyspraxia. I'm 20 years old and a female.

My mum suspected from me being very young that something wasn't quite right about me. I've never been able to tie my shoe laces, use a knife and fork and I couldn't ride a bike until I was 13 - even then I was very unsteady.
Not to mention that I've never really been able to run or play sports. My family would laugh at me and my 'funny run' as they called it. A few months ago before I sought out any form of diagnosis my mum mentioned my 'funny run' again when she saw me running to catch the university bus. She said it didn't look as though I had any co-ordination.

Of course my mum tried to get answers for me as I was growing up but it fell on deaf ears. I struggled in school, never fit in, had no friends. Just in general I was very misunderstood. Teachers didn't really know what to do with me, I was quite unruly and 'naughty' although I've always been very intelligent - just unable to apply myself to anything.

Anyway, 2 months ago my ex partner of 4.5 years dumped me out of the blue. This was the run up to things. I attempted to take an overdose and was referred to a mental health clinic.

My parents spoke to my psychiatrist and told him that they had concerns that I may have some condition, namely dyspraxia and that they had been worried for years.

The psychiatrist came to assess me for matters to do with depression and I mentioned to him that I wanted and NEEDED assessing for dyspraxia and I've just struggled my entire life. He didn't seem to take me seriously. He ran a few simple tests on me, such as telling me to draw and write my name on lined paper - I failed these tests, it was evident I did because my writing has always been all over the place..
He then turned to me and said "So if you can't write properly how do you get by at university?" I told him that I use my Macbook alot and computers. He responded with "Oh so you can type? You've not got dyspraxia then. Someone with dyspraxia wouldn't be able to type on a computer in the way you can OR use their mobile/cell phone"

So that was that. I was discharged and am now seeking a doctor out for a second opinion. I feel as thought I was completely shafted by these mental health professionals, just because I don't tick one box that means there's nothing wrong with me? I've struggled my entire life.

So could you guys please give me advice on what this psychiatrist said. I'm new here so go easy on me!

Hi and welcome to our community. Really sorry to read of your experiences. Not sure I can go easy on your psychiatrist though!

A Psychiatrist is not qualified to assess for/diagnose Dyspraxia and to be honest the one you encountered should IMHO at very least be reprimanded or possibly even forced to consult a member of his own profession! If he really did not know (he doesn't) he really should have admitted as much and suggested you obtain a referral elsewhere! Please do consider making a formal complaint to assist his professional development and help remedy his woeful lack of education/awareness about dyspraxia. [and calm 8-)]

Dyspraxia is a lot more complex than just simply being a bit clumsy uncoordinated or muddled and there's a very wide spectrum and crossovers with other conditions like dyslexia and ADHD

Yes it 's possible that some of us could/would struggle with some aspects of technology but since so many of us grow up with it and use it as part and parcel of our daily lives we're perfectly capable of coping and even being expert users. Our personal coping/survival strategies can in some cases make it difficult to spot the condition (More so if the person consulted has absolutely no idea!).

If you're still enrolled at university they would be a good first call to assist you in finding someone to assess you. Speak to someone from the welfare service/disability support service but if you hit a brick wall there or thats not appropriate, please do let us know.

Also please see http://www.dyspraxicadults.org.uk/forum ... f=1&t=4524

Your psychiatrist is grossly misinformed.

I figured as much.

I'm just so angry and frustrated because I've suffered my entire life with issues related to dyspraxia, but all of it has fallen on deaf ears. I'm from the UK where we have the NHS which is a free health care service - so getting a diagnosis for most things is very hard as most doctors just don't care.
It took them 15 years to diagnose my 18 year old brother with autism even though my parents had been saying something was wrong.

I don't really know where to go from here, I'm angry that just because I didn't tick one box they discharged me from the service and didn't look into things any further. Today, I came to this forum and I realised 'Of course people with dyspraxia can type, there's an entire forum for people like this!"

that's out of order- have you tried asking your uni for a diagnostic assessment?

needanswers96 wrote:I figured as much.

I'm just so angry and frustrated because I've suffered my entire life with issues related to dyspraxia, but all of it has fallen on deaf ears. I'm from the UK where we have the NHS which is a free health care service - so getting a diagnosis for most things is very hard as most doctors just don't care.
It took them 15 years to diagnose my 18 year old brother with autism even though my parents had been saying something was wrong.

I don't really know where to go from here, I'm angry that just because I didn't tick one box they discharged me from the service and didn't look into things any further. Today, I came to this forum and I realised 'Of course people with dyspraxia can type, there's an entire forum for people like this!"

I can completely understand your anger and frustration. The poor old venerable NHS and it's staff are a bit overstretched and sadly we're not a priority for resources and there isn't a cure. Even if you have a diagnosis there isn't always a great deal of tailored assistance/help to be found. Hopefully your now being a part of our community can help at least in part by suggesting some ideas about where you should try next and giving you a space to vent.

It's the logic which annoys me. The ability to type means that you can't be dyspraxic?

Heck! What next? Going by that reasoning you could argue that just because someone can walk with the aid of prophetic legs then then can't be disabled or an amputee.

I mean what utter tripe.

Personally I developed really quite slowly as a child. I was diagnosed with dyspraxic and dyslexia at a relatively early age. To this day my speech and motor functions remain a everyday struggle. But you know what? Not only can I type... I can touch type and rather well too.

Actually I find typing significantly easier than hand writing which I have always struggled with.

The ability to touch type has not magically cured me of my dyspraxia many of my cogitative and motor functions are still a big day to day challenge. So that doctor really was speaking nonsense.

You'd have to be a pretty poor psychiatrist to fail to recognise that just because a person copes well with a condition, that doesn't mean that the person doesn't have that condition.

Your psychiatrist is a bit thick. A while back I worked as a typist for about five years. I'm still fairly quick on the keyboard - probably around 70 wpm. Once you know the QWERTY keyboard system it's very easy. I can of course use a mobile phone too. Neither really involve hand-eye co-ordination,. It's one of the reasons, back before computers, that blind people frequently worked as audio typists.

yes they can type, even without good hand-eye co-ordination. I am probably four times the speed on the computer than I would be if writing this by hand.

still not fast, but an awful lot better than if I was writing it. the trouble that I have found with the NHS is they can't be bothered unless something unusually wrong with you, and they are the first ones to discover it in the whole world. then they will get on the front page of every news paper, the TV press, and have their own name in lights!! lol

the rest of us have got to suffer in silence. and get passed from pillar to post, because we don't cross the t's, and dot the i's in the same way.

as said many times on here before dyspraxia affects everyone differently, so you could be a brain specialist, but not so good in like 10 other areas of you're life. there is such a wide spectrum for dyspraxia that just because you are good at one thing the 10 things out weigh the 1 thing, or 2 things.