By Julie on Friday, October 20, 2000 - 03:04 pm:

My son Lee who has Hypermobility Syndrome also has Dyspraxia (developmental co-ordination disorder). There is a possible link betwen them according to Lee's physiotherapist and they can often go hand in hand. Does anyone else have this problem? If so i'd love to here more.

By Johanna on Friday, October 20, 2000 - 03:39 pm:

Don't know if this is the same but my co-ordination has always been terrible. Some examples: writing, catching a ball, walking through a door instead of bumping into the doorpost, cycling, walking without tripping over your own legs I have never been good at any of this. Thought it might be related with our decreased sense of what prof. Grahame calls 'proprioception' in his article on the HMSA page.

By Julie on Saturday, October 21, 2000 - 05:46 am:

This sounds very similar to Lee, as it can involve Gross Motor-big movements, Fine motor-small movements, eye movements, learning difficulties, speech and language, behaviour and emotion. Dispraxia can also be known as clumsy child syndrome, perceptuomotor dysfunction and motor learning difficulty. There are also web addresses which i'll get back to you on if anyone is interested.

By Johanna on Saturday, October 21, 2000 - 02:15 pm:

I am very much interested, Julie.

By natasha on Friday, October 27, 2000 - 09:12 am:

check out the article by Dr Amanda Kirby in fragile links spring 2000 on the UK ehlers danlos site -- www.ehlers-danlos.org
under latest news
http://www.ehlers-danlos.org/Fragile%20Links/Spring2000/dyscovery_centre.htm
http://www.ehlers-danlos.org/Fragile%20Links/Spring2000/dyscovery_centre.htm

it says -
We see children that have often been labelled as having Dyspraxia but when we look at them further they have been all thrown into the same " bucket" When we look more closely at these children we see that they " look" different. The two main groups of children we see with co-ordination problems are individuals with low tone (floppy) and those with increased ligamentous laxity( bendy). The low toned children seem to be more pot bellied and tend to become overweight. The children with increased laxity tend to be taller and slimmer, and have a family history of similar appearance and difficulties. We see at the Centre about 3 times as many boys as girls, and this maybe because the boys tend to have more problems with co-ordination than the girls. When we see the girls they seem to have even greater problems.
For further details about courses, assessment, or support, please call on 01222 222011 or write to The Dyscovery Centre 12 Cathedral Rd,Cardiff CF1 9LJ or Amanda.Kirby@btinternet.com

By Julie on Friday, October 27, 2000 - 12:22 pm:

Good article, Natasha, I am in contact with the centre, but you may need to pay privately for assessment, or can be referred through the proper channels. The information from the discovery centre is comprehensive, and they are also very helpful if you phone. Another contact point is the Dyspraxia Foundation, 8 West Alley, Hitchin, Herts SG5 1EG TEL 01462 454986
Website http://www.embrook.demon.co.uk/dysprax/homepage.htm