this topic is quite a special one to me as a dyspraxic person that enjoys sport more than anything else and having done my dissertation at university on dyspraxia and sports (specifically sports participation).
having dyspraxia can make it difficult to participate in sport (or some sports) especially if you have major struggles with the co-ordination and motor skills however my guess would be that the biggest issue is more often than not the other people involved (if there are any) whether that be other players or even in some cases the teacher/coach all of which i think i've had issues with in the past i have just never shown it to those people having thought about it many times however i always try and ignore the other people as more often than not they don't understand the effects dyspraxia can have on sporting ability. when it comes to coaches and teachers especially it may be easier to explain the difficulties your dyspraxia may present whereas when it comes to other players they will not necessarily need to know but in all situations it is your decision about whether to tell any of the other people potentially involved.
actually within the sport if there is any situation that you find difficult coach/teacher should be able to help in suggesting different ways of doing some things.
i often see/ hear that people who aren't the best at certain sports or part of a sport (generally football) end up being put in goal which im pretty sure is what happened to me but i ended up enjoying it and it can potentially solve the problem of being being picked last especially if you end up being the only one willing to go on goal but i most cases people don't like being forced to go in goal and you could just refuse to if you have the opportunity or you could try to organise so that after a set number of goals people swap their positions this could be something that all teacher and coaches could introduce to people still in the process of learning a particular sport.
in general though when it comes to participating sport or some form of physical activity is that there is something out there for everyone and it can be just a case of finding that one thing that you enjoy by trying them certain forms of physical activity can mix that individual aspect with a social aspect as well something like cycling or running you can do in a group or keep it very relaxed on your own. it may take a while to find the activity that you enjoy and in some cases you may find that activity but not like the other people involved and that is where you can either keep searching for somewhere else that provides that activity or use the advice above if applicable to help those people understand and help with any problems you may be having.
there are many different ways in which you can find out about different sports and physical activities in your area such as https://www.sportengland.org (the national governing body of sport in England) your local sports centre may be able to help if you know the sport that you want then looking at the national governing body of that sport so the FA in engalnd for football, EHA for Handball etc. they should have links to all registered clubs in the country so you should be able to find a range of them in your area if your at university there should be somewhere that you can find all if the clubs associated with that uni in some cases university clubs also allow non students to play for them as well. so there aee alot of option out there if you just want to try a new sport or activity dont be afraid to even if you dont think you will be any good at it you might surprise yourself.
Saturday 14 May 2016
Sunday 1 May 2016
Mental (Neuro) Difficulties
this blog post is going to try and go more into depth about some of the more mental or neurological (Hidden, cant quite think if the correct word to use) aspects of dyspraxia. first through i am going to start off by saying that Dyspraxia as a whole is a neurological disorder which means that all of the difficulties associated with dyspraxia are mental (neuro) difficulties but in this post im going to focus on things such as planning, perception, organisation, thought and memory.
for those who already know a little bit about dyspraxia it is well known that we often think in different ways than others such as often finding alternative solutions which can lead to being suited to design or innovative careers and we may have different ways of explaining things as well which can lead to some 'problems' in that other people are unable to follow our explanation of things sometimes.
moving onto memory for a lot of people with dyspraxia we have quite poor short term memory that could be forgetting things that happened in that day/week and for many people that could cause problems such as forgetting to do something for work or school forgetting what homework you've got or when it is due.
perception can be linked to both the thought difficulties and the more physical difficulty if spatial awareness such as our perception of the area around us and judging distances but in less of a physical manner perceiving someone attitude or the way in which someone says something too you for example judging whether someone is making a joke or is being sarcastic
for planning and organisation they are very similar in that keeping organised can be hard for people who have dyspraxia and sticking to a regular plan and routine can often help even though it may sometimes be hard to stick to that routine however that may just take time or trying different routines until you find one that works from my experience keeping it simple may be the best way as at uni i used to use Sunday as the day of the week i did all of my cleaning like washing up or doing the laundry.
im also going to quickly mention timekeeping as a part of organisation as a lot of dyspraxic people seem to struggle with their timekeeping often being late as some research from the dyspraxia foundation has shown i believe from the 2014 awareness week over 50% of teenagers had been late to school however for me lateness is very rarely a problem almost never but i am quite often extremely early for things as that gives me some extra time if something goes wrong.
to finish this post im just going to say that you just need to find what works for you and dont panic or worry if something doesnt work.
for those who already know a little bit about dyspraxia it is well known that we often think in different ways than others such as often finding alternative solutions which can lead to being suited to design or innovative careers and we may have different ways of explaining things as well which can lead to some 'problems' in that other people are unable to follow our explanation of things sometimes.
moving onto memory for a lot of people with dyspraxia we have quite poor short term memory that could be forgetting things that happened in that day/week and for many people that could cause problems such as forgetting to do something for work or school forgetting what homework you've got or when it is due.
perception can be linked to both the thought difficulties and the more physical difficulty if spatial awareness such as our perception of the area around us and judging distances but in less of a physical manner perceiving someone attitude or the way in which someone says something too you for example judging whether someone is making a joke or is being sarcastic
for planning and organisation they are very similar in that keeping organised can be hard for people who have dyspraxia and sticking to a regular plan and routine can often help even though it may sometimes be hard to stick to that routine however that may just take time or trying different routines until you find one that works from my experience keeping it simple may be the best way as at uni i used to use Sunday as the day of the week i did all of my cleaning like washing up or doing the laundry.
im also going to quickly mention timekeeping as a part of organisation as a lot of dyspraxic people seem to struggle with their timekeeping often being late as some research from the dyspraxia foundation has shown i believe from the 2014 awareness week over 50% of teenagers had been late to school however for me lateness is very rarely a problem almost never but i am quite often extremely early for things as that gives me some extra time if something goes wrong.
to finish this post im just going to say that you just need to find what works for you and dont panic or worry if something doesnt work.
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