Dyspraxic Adults

Hi all,

I came across this form when I was looking for help about how to be a coder/data analyst with dyspraxia. I would like some reassurance because I went for a test for dyslexia and they said I might have it but need further work done but never for dyspraxia. I have been told I might be a bit autistic and have ADD but hey who knows. I suffer with anxiety which they say could be linked to dyspraxia...

Ill go into myself a bit here...

I am a 28 yo female and I have always always had problems with some form of dyspraxia. I have not been tested, but I have had multiple people (friends, academics, people who are in the medical industry but not my doctor so I couldnt go further with it).
When I was in primary school, I was taken out of class with a few other kids because we needed extra support. I went through some old school books recently and I would get all my bdpq's the wrong way around as well as numbers such as 5 and 9. This went on for a long period and I am not sure when it stopped... My mum had taken me to a speech and language therapist as I couldn't talk properly and I didnt start speaking until a bit later than everyone else.

I have always been in the lower sets/classes at school... I didn't do well... I never understood what was going on and by the time I got it the teacher had moved so far on I couldnt catch up.. I gave up in the end and thought what was the point... I got very bad grades and my mum had to convince my headteacher to let me carry on. It didnt feel great always being the stupid one (let alone my dad who is a horrible man and I dont speak to anymore telling me all the time) and I thought there was no point in trying!

I also have other problems such as always tripping over and walking into things, I stutter sometimes and trip up on my words and I cant think of a word and I will have to sit for a long time and think about one word.. I drop things all the time (ive smashed countless phones) and I dont walk correctly according to my friends I walk with my arms swinging around and I always gravitate towards people as well as having a spring in my step.. It sounds weird but I dont think it is as bad as I am making it out to be. I am terrified of loud sounds and they make me so uncomfortable. I hate strong smells like insencse it makes me feel sick!

I get very angry very easily I find it hard to control my emotions and I am not sure if this is dyspraxia or something else. I get frustrated when I try and explain something that makes sense to me but no one else. I used to have bursts of emotions as a child and destroy my bed and throw stuff but I might have just been an angry child.

I get massive brain fog as well and everything gets muddled in my head. I have bad organisation too.

ANYWAY. I have my Masters from a great university (college) and I am currently doing a Data analysis and coding course. I know that what I have said does not make me stupid I just learn different which is why I done well at university because I could teach myself a lot of the time. But at the moment I am doing an intensive course and I dabbled with statistics coding and analysis in my masters which I enjoyed but I am struggling to keep up with this course.


What are peoples thoughts on this? Does anyone have any tips on how to learn fast with analysis or coding (so the opposite of me because I take my time but as this course is intensive I need to keep up) ? Is anyone else like this?

Sorry I have never gone into so much detail about myself at once haha.

Hi ESN

It will all feel familiar in a lot of ways to people here. though I'm not nearly as qualified. I did A Levels then NVQ Business Admin up to level 2. The very idea of coding is way outside my comfort zone!

We're all unique and there are some traits that are common to all the different Neurodivergent conditions. If you have enough traits of one of these conditions, you can be assessed as having that condition. However, these labels are to aid your understanding of yourself, not to define you.

Have you spoken to your tutors and/or Student welfare/disability services about your difficulties/concerns about keeping up with the course? They may be able to arrange for you to have formal assessment and/or offer some reasonable adjustments to help you.

I believe there are more neurodivergent people than we think working in the fields of data analysis and coding. The likes of Google and Apple are becoming more open to attracting people who think differently. Your childhood difficulties with emotional regulation and frustration are likely now 15 years ago? You're a different person now, compared to then. The challenges are different too, but some, like keeping up when learning can resurface and haunt us. All our anxieties about not being good enough come rushing to the surface and the brain fog sets in because suddenly we're overwhelmed. and can go into panic mode (panic levels are relative). My tips would be, be patient and kind to yourself, recognise the situations and ways in which you learn best and try to ensure these factors are present.