What a 13 year old with DCD thinks teachers need to know

I was diagnosed with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD/dyspraxia) when I was 7 years old and I am now 14 years old. In June this year I went to Ghent in Belgium to speak at the DCD15-IMDRC6 international conference about my experiences of being a teenage boy with DCD/dyspraxia. I wanted to share my experiences of what it is like growing up with DCD/dyspraxia, to let teachers know how it affects everyday life and to help them understand how they can make a difference. This is what I told them:

It was pretty obvious that I had DCD/dyspraxia when I was younger. I was the kid who always had ‘bump notes’, my handwriting was poor, I struggled to get changed after PE, putting my trousers on backwards and shoes on the wrong feet and I never managed to finish my work on time. A lot of these things are still problems for me now and I think these are the things that most people think DCD or dyspraxia effects. But, I really want teachers to be aware of the less obvious stuff and for them to think about how they can support children like me to reach their potential.

need lots of help at home and this is something that teachers do not see. My parents help me to be organised for school, they pack my bag, sort out my uniform and make my lunch. I want to be more independent, but it is exhausting. I like the idea of trying to be organised, but I really cannot pull it off. My parents remind me to look for things that I have lost every day, like my planner or my PE Kit. I am sure this is the same for lots of teenagers, but it is constant for me. I just cannot seem to plan my time and remember everything. I like to be involved in school and do extra things like guitar lessons, but that adds to the list of things to remember. I really want to impress my teachers and want them to think that I am good enough, but I worry about getting things wrong and embarrassing myself. I might fall over, or get my words mixed up.

One of the more obvious signs of me having DCD/dyspraxia, is how difficult it is for me to sit still, especially without being able to fidget or chew things. Sitting still and listening to teachers talking for long periods is really hard. I find it easier to slouch when I am working, it might look like I’m not listening because I am not sitting up straight and am fidgeting or doodling, but it is actually the opposite, this really helps me focus on what is being taught. When I cannot do these things and have to just sit and listen, my mind focuses on other things that are going on. If there is a noisy lesson nearby, I will hear everything going on there, rather than what is being said. This is particularly bad when I am doing tests. If there is a long set of instructions at the start of a lesson, I have to check with my friends what we are doing, because I do not want my teachers to know that I am struggling.

get really exhausted, I want to do more, but I physically ache and feel really heavy and get mentally upset. This does not feel like tiredness, it is much, much worse and means that I need a lot of sleep to cope with daily life. If I have tests coming up, I have nightmares and I sleepwalk, this makes me even more exhausted. As the term goes on, I start to get more and more tired. If there are tests at the end of term, I often do not do well because of how exhausted I am. I cannot seem to just breeze through the school day like my friends and after school I zone out because having to concentrate and get through a school day is exhausting. I am much better when I get to move around, do regular exercise and have lots of snacks, nice drinks and take lots of breaks.

I have some great friends, but I do sometimes struggle to be around other people. I feel like I need to prove myself, especially when it comes to sport, computer games and test scores – I wish I could be less bothered, but it is so difficult because I am much better at things in my head than I am in real life. Things just never seem to work out like I think they will. Like when I think that I have done really well in a test and then I realise that I miss-read some really easy questions, or when I do not do well at FIFA because my hands and my head do not seem to match up or when I concede a really easy save playing football, because I panic and act without thinking. My body and my brain just do not seem to communicate, especially when I am tired, if there is a time limit, when everyone is watching or when something really matters.

I have had lots of good experiences at school too. At Primary School, one teacher created ‘special jobs’ for me that I could do when I needed a quick break. Some teachers have really got to know me and understand what I am good at, rather than focussing on my struggles. Other teachers have involved the whole class in activities like making posters and talking through our ideas, which means I do not feel singled out. Physical learning really works for me, I learn loads more when I can move around or touch things. I love practical lessons, like science, drama, music and P.E and a great example of one of my teachers making my lessons more physical is when we used clay in geography to demonstrate erosion. I learnt a lot and can still remember it all clearly.

My school has tried to make my learning more accessible, and some teachers have gone the extra mile by making worksheets and ready-made graphs, meaning that I can focus on the important parts of the lesson. I can use my laptop in all my lessons, and I get extra time for tests. This means that I can think about what I am writing, without getting tired straight away because my hand hurts. It makes getting the ideas out of my head much easier and stops me panicking about running out of time.

I think I am succeeding at school, but with some difficulties. I do not fit in a square box, I am a creative thinker, I see lots of information, my parents call me the ‘all seeing eye’ because I notice everything, but that can be exhausting. I learn much better from having a go and do much better when my teachers and classmates encourage me, rather than pointing out what I cannot do. There is nothing wrong with my IQ, I just struggle to learn in a traditional way, like loads of other kids.

I do not think improving learning for me needs to be hard. Small things make a big difference, like when teachers recognise effort and not just marks. Working differently makes it better, not working harder. I already work hard, so if school can help me, rather than making things more difficult, then I can succeed. Cheat sheets, short dates, typing, being able to move, talking tests rather than writing, all help. Having to get everything down on paper is exhausting, but I have some great ideas.

Please do not assume that children with DCD/dyspraxia cannot do things, think about your teaching style and maybe it is time to change things up. I am pretty sure this would benefit everyone because the lessons that I get the most from are often the ones that the whole class has enjoyed.

I think that learning and school should be fun and accessible for everyone. I don’t think that school should just be about test scores, but making it the best time in our lives, giving us an opportunity to find out what we like, what we are good at, and where we want to go!

written by Joe Copley