One of the early clues to possible Dsypraxia can be a child not following instructions, not because they didn't hear, and not because they don't understand but....................... This is the bit that can be hard to figure out. You are sure that they understand, you thought their hearing was okay, and yet nothing is happening. The child might be ignoring you.
By the way, if your child is ignoring you, there will be a reason - such as being engrossed in what they are doing (a good thing don't you think?), or they didn't hear, or you haven't got their attention, or that they can't stop briefly to attend to you. There are many such reasons, rather than wilfully trying to ignore you. Anyway, main clue: the child appears to be ignoring you. So you then repeat what you said and still no response. So you reword the instruction in case different words will help with understanding. Trouble is, this actually makes it worse for them. If a child is having a delay in interpreting what you said, and you then reword, there is now a completely different set of words overlaying the first instruction which creates confusion. The child's brain is trying to process the first instruction and another is added. The instructions don't stand in queue but pile up in their brain. Looking at it from the child's point of view, this delay in processing verbal information can be like hearing sounds that have no meaning and some time after, it suddenly clicks. The sounds suddenly change into words and have meaning. Then the child can do the required action. But when there are more instructions coming at them, they need to be able to hear and remember the next sounds while processing the first lot. Difficult for anyone. Getting a child's attention first is always a helpful thing. I know, you can't do this everytime, sometimes instructions just need to be given from where you are. But it is helpful, because you then know that they are ready to listen. You may have interrupted them but this was going to happen anyway, and you can do it respectfully. And remember to give the child time. When they are ignoring you and this happens often, it is probably that they have a slow proceessing time for auditory information. This may well improve as the child matures. Or, as so often with Dsypraxia, processing times will be faster at some time and slower at other times, with no clues as to what makes a difference.
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February 2019
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