Dyspraxic Adults

Hi, I'm new here. I have all the clumsiness problems (I've hit my head 3 times already in the last 2 days!), dropping things, struggled to get things down on paper at school, short term memory probs, difficulties with light sensitivity (esp fluorescent lights) & all sorts of other symptoms that are listed on all the dyspraxia sites.

But I also have some other odd little things which I wondered if other people have noticed:
I can't pick out our car in the car park (esp if my husband's parked it) or pick out familiar faces in a crowd.

Also sometimes, if I'm writing (which I do as little as possible!) I will find that letters pop up in the wrong word - it's not just spelling problem, I don't seem to struggle with that too much, but I will sometimes be thinking about the next word I'm about to write and suddenly I've written it's first letter in the middle of the word I'm writing now! I hope that makes sense. Anyone else heard of that one? My hubby thinks that's mad! (In a supportive kind of way!!)

Can't think of any of the others right now but I will pop them up when they come to me.

The first things you wrote are all symptions of dyspraxicia so that dosent surpise me.
I don't know if I havent had the same issue with identifing a praticular thing in a group but I can realte to letters popping up in middle of words - this can often happen if I am not fully focusing on what I am writing.

The reason why you have difficulty in picking your car out in a crowded car park is that many Dyspraxics have poor scanning ability . You can also have poor pupilary reaction to light ,difficulty with black print on white paper, photosensitivity, and individuals may tire under flourescent lights.
When writing and you add a following word into or at the end of a previous one is because your thoughts are racing ahead and your hand cannot keep up with what your brain is thinking they are out of sync and primitive reflexes are present usually the Moro reflex,Palmar Reflex the ASsemetrical tonic neck reflex, to name but a few .

Yep, my friends laugh (in a nice way) because I can never pick out the car in the car park. I also have difficulty pacing peoples faces if I see them somwhere where I don't usually see them- even really close friends. And my brain races much faster than my hand, this isn't so much of a problem when I'm writing but rubbish when I'm typing. I hate typing! It's also worse if i'm tired...

Thanks for your answers.

I do have really bad problems with light / fluorescent lights and computer screens and eye-strain is increasingly becoming a problem for me. & had thought that it might be due to the scanning thing. It's just the way my GP reacted when I showed her the sheet (if you see my bit on the intros page you will understand more) I was beginning to think I was barking mad, suggesting I may have dyspraxia. But the more I read on this forum, the more it confirms to me that this really is it - my life just makes so much more sense if you add dyspraxia to the picture!

The thing with letters in the middle of the preceeding word is definately because of my brain racing ahead of what I can write, I am still pretty slow at writing although not bad at all at typing - I rarely write if there's a way of typing something! (I think the piano helped me there, and learning to touch type on a typing tutor programme.)

I too have issues with light sensitivitie - not so much with artificial light but more natural light / brightness so when I am outside I constantly were sunglases.
I have gone to the optitions to sort out cloured lenze glases and they are matched to what is best for me and should be really good but I havent got them yet as I am still saving up for the remaining amount needed.

I would suggest asking / reashearshing optitions for clourometery tests and see if this can help at all.

Almost i have all the issues

I have those problems as well, it's become a joke when we leave the shop etc, hubby says "where's the car?" I've got no idea even which direction to go, let alone find it! I wear sunnies outside all the time and when I write, letters and words appear where they shouldn't. I had to write our "story of the day" last week (I work in childcare) as our computers were all down. All I can say is thank goodness for white out I've been off sick since so I hope those computers are working next week!

Another oddity has come to me this evening - any one else experienced this:
I cannot wear a digital watch as I can't remember the numbers for long enough to work out what the time is!

The thing with letters in the middle of the preceeding word is definately because of my brain racing ahead of what I can write, I am still pretty slow at writing although not bad at all at typing - I rarely write if there's a way of typing something! (I think the piano helped me there, and learning to touch type on a typing tutor programme.)

I completely empathize with the spelling and writing issue, my spelling has never been all that good, but I have often found myself writing the first letter of the next word in the one I'm still on. My hands just never write fast enough for my mind I guess, it's never been something I've really been bothered about but now that you mention it I'm sure I've got the same thing. You're typing and spelling seems pretty good on here, perhaps like me you find it easier on a computer as there's always 'delete' and 'spell check' to fall back on- which I use a lot! I tend to take my time a bit more too, just to make sure I get it right.

shakey wrote:Another oddity has come to me this evening - any one else experienced this:
I cannot wear a digital watch as I can't remember the numbers for long enough to work out what the time is!

I prefer reading digital time, but I like wearing analogue watches, cause they look prettier and more feminine, and they suit my style. What I can't stand though is watches with no numbers on their faces, they look so great and minimalistic, very modern and chic, but if all I can see is two hands in the middle of a blank face, then its just a mechanical bracelet- pretty but kinda useless for me to tell the time on. So I tend to be a bit picky with watches, it has to be small, pretty, but functional- with numbers- try looking in a watch shop or catalog and you'll soon see what a challenge it is to fit those criteria!

I don't have too much problem with knowing how to spell words nowadays (did sometimes at school, I used to say that I could spell all the complicated words, it was the easy ones I always got wrong! Never sure about double letters & i's & e's & things like that!) I can be pretty inaccurate with the keyboard though and I'm very grateful for the delete key, and being able to rearrange what I've typed to make things make more sense - Hopefully!

I relate to BinaryBovine on this one - I find writing on the computer a lot easer then paper as people can achulie read it. Using the spell check / read and write program helps to make things correct where I wouldent really see them otherwize.
With the watch thing I am fine with a digital watch or raver a digital display watch as it tells you exactly whats going on there is no guessing involved. The type I have is a chunky G-shock one which I chose beceuse of the industrial and genralie practial side of the technical work i used to do / study.
However currently I am just using my phone and my watch is a bit reduntent untill its really needed.

Reading this site is a revelation to me! The more I read, the more things over the years fall into place, or rather, into the 'Aah! So it was the dyspraxia all along!' box.

When working in an office I would get migraine headaches, in the end I had a tint added to my reading glasses and that helped a lot. In Summer I noticed that I was getting headaches at the start of the season, and even during other seasons there are days when I cannot look up at the sky because it hurts my eyes, I have to keep my sight low down.

I have dyspraxia and have dyslexic traits too so deffo can relate to what you're saying about the spelling missing letters thing, probably one of the places where the conditions overlap?
My sense of direction is awful too can get me into some amusing situations with my bf.