SEN and dyspraxia in the news
The Dyspraxia Foundation responds to recent media coverage
There was much media coverage following the recent decision of Ruth Kelly, who was previously Labour�s Secretary of State for Education, to educate her child outside the state education system. The private school she has chosen specialises in teaching children with learning difficulties.
We understand that Miss Kelly�s son has dyslexia and dyspraxia and that �he is facing more than one serious learning difficulty�. As we know, children with learning difficulties are, more often than not, in a �syndrome mix� of co-morbid disorders. Indeed I have never met a child with only dyspraxia.
The Dyspraxia Foundation has written to Alan Johnson, the present Secretary of State for Education offering to engage in dialogue about what children need from schools to help them access the support they need to become emotionally secure and develop their skills to the best of their ability.
My own thoughts on the matter focus on the dire lack of exercise in most schools. The links between movement and learning have been scientifically researched and are clearly understood. The many privately run therapy programmes that are springing up across our nation offer testimony to the fact that children need to make a variety of repetitive small and large muscle movements in order to integrate and make sense of the stimuli around them.
A child who is hyperactive, always running, jumping and pushing may have an immature proprioceptive sense, i.e. awareness of his body parts in space. His inappropriate big movements arise from his inner drive for deep muscle stimulation. How do we help this child, who needs to be on his feet, heavy-lifting, pushing, pulling and bouncing by seating him at a desk? This child needs to be working with his hands and carrying out daily life activities and practical tasks. He needs to dance, swim, run, skip, construct with large objects. If he did not commando-crawl or four-limb-crawl as a baby he may not have developed the upper girdle muscle movements which help to mature the proprioceptive sense.
A child who is dyspraxic, always clumsy, unable to balance, run, cycle or manipulate small fastenings may have an immature vestibular sense, i.e. sense of balance. His clumsiness and lack of co-ordination arise from his innate need for movement in all three planes, i.e. swinging and rocking backwards and forwards, side to side, up and down, circular and diagonal movements. The child who spends his day in a car seats, buggy or baby walker, or who misses out on the traditional rough and tumble of childhood and knee-bouncing action songs which promote these movements will not integrate the multi-sensory perceptions necessary for coordinated movements, good short term memory, attention, concentration and reading and writing skills.
None of this is new. This is why the specialist schools and the therapy programmes work. This is why children in Scandinavian countries where �schooling� proper does not start until age 7 do so well emotionally, socially, physically and cognitively � they spend their early years developing and maturing the sensory integrations, or brain skills, necessary for academic learning.
The recent Education & Skills Select Committee took evidence from many special needs organisations and charities. The Select Committee report to the government suggested ways in which special needs provision and the statementing process could be bettered. Very little has been taken on board.
If the government is not listening to its own think tank do we really believe it will act on our recommendations? Perhaps it is time for the Dyspraxia Foundation to develop a therapy programme for parents and schools.
Wendy Barbara Fidler
Education Panel Chairman