Hi - Is there any rule in replying to a 4 year old thread? I just joined this forum and found this thread highly relevant. My son has DCD, diagnosed in summer between Kindergarten and 1st grade. We are 2 years in to public school, lots of tears and me spending endless late nights on the internet trying to figure out how to help him. I would just so love to be in contact with other parents who understand this. I feel like the our story is that I have been "fighting" for my son since he was 2 but because the range for motor skills is so wide at this age everyone thought he just needed more practice. It really infuriated me. I am a single parent and we live in townhome. I literally had providers assume I didn't play ball enough with him because I'm not a "dad" and he didn't get outside enough, due to our lack of yard. In comparison, I have a 20 month old who is already using a scooter and I've done nothing different. To Displace's post, if I could go back, I wish I would have advocated more about what I was seeing when he was in preschool and that I would have done more practicing of fine motor tasks in our loving home environment. Instead I ended up adapting the environment without realizing that I was doing it. Like Displace, I just assumed he didn't like to draw and every child is different, right? In the 2 years of school, my child became a different person. He has major anxiety, breaks down into tears and hides under the desk the moment he perceived any task as difficult - motor or academic - and is so bouncy in the classroom they have no idea what to do with him. He entered school with an IEP for speech and OT (for "sensory" issues). I was always frustrated because the OT would send him to a swing or wrap him in a "body burrito" versus actually work on handwriting. I know there are kids with real sensory issues, so I am not saying that isn't something to consider, but in the case of my son, he didn't need "body burritos" in his curriculum based Pre-K. Things fell apart in kindergarten and continued downhill with behavior and peer issues. My son is highly social and takes it very personally when kids say not nice things to him. I should have made a change the moment it started, but his school was one of the most prestigious charters in our district that we won a "lottery" to get into. I thought we were in great hands. Knowing what I know now, my son needs explicit instruction and this school's charter philosophy was the direct opposite of that - and entrenched regardless of his IEP. So many things I could say there, but fast forward to today. I found this forum because I am looking at a homeschool option. He is also in a summer camp at a private school which offers small group direct instruction in core subjects that we are considering. I cannot believe the change in just a few days at camp. My question for you DCD parents: - Should we be, or is anyone already, advocating our legislature about DCD being considered a learning disability? In the UK it is considered such. - In Canada there is an OT practice that runs a 2 week summer camp for children with DCD. And also UT Arlington has a DCD clinic. I've spoken with the director. I would love to get something similar going in Southern California (we're in San Diego). Any other parents interested in this? - My child now has an ADHD diagnosis which I am not 100% in agreement with because prior to kindergarten my child was not hyperactive. The symptoms became progressively worse as the school year/s progressed. My theory is that this is manifestation of stress/anxiety. I realize it's highly co-morbid, but I also saw the way ADHD was diagnosed - no testing just parent/teacher observation forms - and I wonder if that might catch some "false positives." My parent form would not have qualified him for ADHD but the psychologist observed him in non-stop motion at school because it was a school evaluation felt it was hindering his ability to learn. I would love to hear from other parents with children of DCD and ADHD about what your experience has been. - Any parents with kids with DCD, withOUT and ASD diagnosis, how are your child's pragmatic skills? My son is social, but really struggles to understand social norms - stands too close, doesn't get nuance, humor, has black and white thinking, etc. For example he thought "having a rough day" was when he was "rough" on the playground, or if another kid had been rough with him. - Lastly, if any parents had a child who "went downhill" upon entry to Public School and was in a similar situation to my son in that there was a lot of anxiety about going to school, peer issues, etc, how have things changed with homeschooling? or change in schools? What I'm looking for here is a picture of how things can look mental health wise a few years down the road with the right "interventions." I'm very concerned about my son's mental health because, as other posters have mentioned, he sees other kids pick up skills easily and feels inadequate. Sorry to be so long. Thank you for reading to the end!

Do you notice any coordination and fine or gross motor issues? My son has Developmental Coordination Disorder. He initially at 3 started being seen for speech but that was the tip of the iceberg. I find that DCD is very misunderstood (and unknown) in the the US and I am constantly educating people. For speech he was diagnosed with Phonological Speech Disorder, but his real issue is with connected - complex speech. For that reason many have thought is my be Apraxia (CAS) but if so he would be considered mild and never formally diagnosed. I recently learned that they American Speech and Hearing Assoc (ASHA) is reviewing adding a component which would be "Motor Planning Speech Disorder." This would fall somewhere between phonological speech disorder and CAS and that about sums up my son. I'm curious about "language" in general with your son. More than straight articulation, his your child able to express himself with language, proper grammar, sentence structure, etc. There is much more to speech than just articulation. If you haven't already, it might be worthwhile to find out what assessment was done to determine "graduation" and ensure you are in agreement that the evaluation addressed the issues you're seeing.