Also referred to as “pathological clumsiness,” dyspraxia is an impairment in the development of motor coordination. In practice, a dyspraxic child (often a boy) has difficulty programming and planning their movements, both in space and in time. Here are 3 tips to help them get organised during the school year.
Tip 1: Choose a planner for a dyspraxic child
Even if the school supply list mentions buying a homework notebook, it’s strongly recommended to choose a planner for a dyspraxic child instead. While organising by day of the week may seem easier to grasp, it is actually a source of many complications for them. For example, what happens if last week’s homework wasn’t crossed out? They won’t know whether they still need to do it… Conversely, homework assigned in advance isn’t necessarily easy to spot, since every tab has to be checked to find it…
With a planner, the timeline is clearer – the following pages correspond to the days ahead. Ideally, choose one page per day, giving your dyspraxic child enough space to write. Cross out school holiday days too, and regularly remove detachable tabs so they can go straight to the right page.
Tip 2: Sort books and notebooks by subject
To help them organise their school year, assign one colour per subject for both books and notebooks. Ideally, buy a piece of furniture that keeps this classification for storage – for example, one with different storage bins, similar to what’s traditionally used for toys.
In practice, if you choose to assign red to maths, take a notebook in that colour, put a large red label on the book and on its spine (or even use a red book cover), then place both items in the red bin. Note that you can also slip in the supplies for that subject, such as the set square, protractor, compass…
Tip 3: Set up a colour-coded timetable
Finally, your dyspraxic child will limit the risk of mixing up subjects when packing their bag if you make them a colour-coded timetable. Naturally, you’ll need to use the same colour code as in the previous tip! To use the earlier example, red for maths…
Once the timetable is colour-coded, slip it into their school diary so they can check it whenever they need to. Note that you can also include their after-school activities there…
On the Ora-Visio platform, professionals are familiar with all learning disorders: as part of school support, they can also give you more tips to support your dyspraxic child and minimise their difficulties as much as possible.
