Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

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Jamsand
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Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Jamsand »

Hi all,

In need of some important advice. I've been working as a cleaner for a holiday company for three years now; I've recently come out of a mild depression battle (NOT linked to the dyspraxia) which used to heavily affect my motivation at work, college and most other aspects of my life.

I have always been certain I have dyspraxia (it was picked up from the age of 5/6 by my teacher) as I have suffered from co-ordination and concentration difficulties all my life (you all know what I mean; very scatty).

In recent weeks my work motivation has been fine, as I'm not letting the low moods get to me anymore :) Despite putting 100% effort into my cleaning duties in one of the kitchens at work, I cannot complete the task within the 2 hour time frame my supervisor gives me (the quickest I have ever done it is in 2 hour 13 minutes). Today I took 2 hour 25 minutes! She has been complaining about this and has told me she will stop my overtime if I don't speed up. She is fully aware I have dyspraxia and says she takes this into account; although this was a few months ago.

MY QUESTION to all of you: Do you think Dyspraxia is the reason why I am slower than other people? From your own experiences/general knowledge of the condition?

(P.S. With glass cleaning, I feel I have to look harder as I know I'll miss something, but I always do a thorough job. Does this sound familiar?)

Thank you :)
Desert Rose
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Desert Rose »

Jamsand wrote:Hi all,

In need of some important advice. I've been working as a cleaner for a holiday company for three years now; I've recently come out of a mild depression battle (NOT linked to the dyspraxia) which used to heavily affect my motivation at work, college and most other aspects of my life.

I have always been certain I have dyspraxia (it was picked up from the age of 5/6 by my teacher) as I have suffered from co-ordination and concentration difficulties all my life (you all know what I mean; very scatty).

In recent weeks my work motivation has been fine, as I'm not letting the low moods get to me anymore :) Despite putting 100% effort into my cleaning duties in one of the kitchens at work, I cannot complete the task within the 2 hour time frame my supervisor gives me (the quickest I have ever done it is in 2 hour 13 minutes). Today I took 2 hour 25 minutes! She has been complaining about this and has told me she will stop my overtime if I don't speed up. She is fully aware I have dyspraxia and says she takes this into account; although this was a few months ago.

MY QUESTION to all of you: Do you think Dyspraxia is the reason why I am slower than other people? From your own experiences/general knowledge of the condition?

(P.S. With glass cleaning, I feel I have to look harder as I know I'll miss something, but I always do a thorough job. Does this sound familiar?)

Thank you :)
Based on my own experience, yes, without a doubt. For most jobs I always seem to take longer than most to complete a task, due to my poor co-ordination. Quite basic tasks can require alot of effort to get them done in an average time frame, and for me that's quite a push to do that. I've definitely been told in the past that I've taken a long time to get something done or that I need to hurry up, and this seems to cause me quite a lot of stress because I can really struggle to do a good job while speeding up my pace. I'd say this is a combination of co-ordination, concentration span and fatigue, although mostly co-ordination.

Do you have a formal diagnosis of dyspraxia?
Jamsand
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Jamsand »

I was assessed by someone in middle school and they, according to my mum, said "I quite likely have it".

I'm getting assessed within the next few weeks for my suspected aspergers and dyspraxia after going to the doctor about the OCD/depression struggle I mentioned I've been through.

Have you been formally diagnosed, if you don't mind me asking? Is your dyspraxia similar to how I've described my general difficulties?
Desert Rose
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Desert Rose »

Jamsand wrote:I was assessed by someone in middle school and they, according to my mum, said "I quite likely have it".

I'm getting assessed within the next few weeks for my suspected aspergers and dyspraxia after going to the doctor about the OCD/depression struggle I mentioned I've been through.

Have you been formally diagnosed, if you don't mind me asking? Is your dyspraxia similar to how I've described my general difficulties?
Yes, I was diagnosed at a very young age, I remember being assessed for it when I was 3-4 years old (I'm 22 now), but as it turns out I may have been diagnosed for it when I was even younger as apparently I took much much longer to reach certain developmental milestones; crawling, walking etc.

And yes, I would say it seems very similar, going by how long I take to complete cleaning and other similar tasks.
Tom fod
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Tom fod »

Hi Jamsand and welcome.

I've moved this into the Work Section. I've just finished a response to a post in another thread and it might be worth a read http://www.dyspraxicadults.org.uk/forum ... =10&t=5800 as it might potentially be helpful?

All the best
Tom
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With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
(from Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Foot Full of Bullets)
Jamsand
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Jamsand »

I was apparently an early walker (9 months) but I've always largely struggled with co-ordinated tasks; sports, untangling wires, putting tapes back in casette, general organisation of movement, etc. This has been picked up on by other people, at school mainly (where it embarrased the hell out of me in P.E.) so it's not just me.

I learnt to ride a bike fairly quickly when I was 11, but I avoided it for years when I was younger after hating attempting to learn at a young age; maybe the dyspraxia was a barrier at that age and why I put it off?

I passed my driving test 5 years ago and have been driving successfully for 4, but I was a slow learner at the beginning; struggling with everything. Even my instructor, who I didn't tell I had dyspraixa, noticed I had a serious concentration problem.
Ram
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Ram »

Jamsand wrote:
MY QUESTION to all of you: Do you think Dyspraxia is the reason why I am slower than other people? From your own experiences/general knowledge of the condition?

(P.S. With glass cleaning, I feel I have to look harder as I know I'll miss something, but I always do a thorough job. Does this sound familiar?)

Thank you :)
I'm sorry to have to say that dyspraxia probably is the reason that you are slower than other people in a practical job like glass cleaning. That certainly was the case when I worked in a catering job while I was a student. Given that people with DCD have a slower processing speed it is not surprising.

Actually, come to think of it, I'm extraordinarily inefficient at cleaning my little apartment, which really ought to be a doddle to keep spick and span. In fact some of my friends seem to be able to do the garden and put an entire house in order in the time it takes me to make a feeble attempt at cleaning my kitchen!

On the whole, I think that a large number of us DCD folks are not cut out for jobs that require a large amount of manual dexterity (without over generalizing too much).

The only manual work that I seemed to be able to cope with was highly repetitive factory work where the range of movements required is far less than is needed for cleaning. Unfortunately, with globalization such jobs are becoming few and far between in the western world today.

I'm sorry if my answer has been less than positive.
Jamsand
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Jamsand »

Sorry to hear you've been struggling too, but you shouldn't see it as too much of a barrier. Like I always say, we all need to learn to live with our issues (whether that's Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Depression) rather than against them; employers should be doing this too by making reasonable adjustments under discrimination laws!!

I have always had poor concentration (e.g. 3 years ago, my manager told me the correct button to use on sports courts machine, a minute later I've forgotten and using it same way as before) and had poor co-ordination (sports, skipping, wrapping, general organisation of my movements, slow grasper with driving etc). This has lead to embarrassing moments at school and college.

Does this sound like the type of symptoms you experience and, if you don't mind me asking, do certain ones affect you more than others?
Ram
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Ram »

I haven't had a manual job for over 20 years, so my difficulties are well and truly past me. I went back to university at rather a late age and my life blossomed since.

I think a lot of dyspraxics benefit from sticking out the education system for as long as they can, so that they can get into work that is somewhat less 'speed orientated'.

Getting back to you, I've had all the same problems as you including poor short-term memory. I can't say that one particular problem predominates.

It could be due to nerves or poor concentration. But I've also heard that us DCD folk have an inadequately function cerebellum (the part of the brain that deal with automatic tasks) meaning that the thinking part of our brain has to do some of the cerebellum's work. As a result, our thinking brain is often overworked. Thus, it frequently has less capacity for concentration on new input than neurotypical folk's especially in busy and fast moving environments.

Hopefully, in time as your work environment becomes more and more familiar, you'll feel more and more comfortable where you are. I think on the whole, we DCD people take many times longer to adapt to situations than others and therefore should change our environments as littles as we reasonably can.
allesandro
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by allesandro »

It takes me forever to get documentation of sessions finished online. I get about ten minutes between sessions to do it but I have to walk clients to the door and usually have to go to the bathroom between sessions, reducing that to about four minutes. Very little time ti navigate this complex non-user friendly computer system. I started this job in September and quite frankly it's been a f-----g nightmare.
Tom fod
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Re: Dyspraxia affecting work speed?

Post by Tom fod »

How might your employer react if you requested a 20 min gap between sessions for all. Could this benefit your colleagues and clients too?
Tom
Moderator/Administrator

With a foot full of bullets I tried to run faster but I just hobbled on to the next disaster.
(from Peter and the Test Tube Babies, Foot Full of Bullets)
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