I have had a busy couple of weeks. I feel a lot needs to be done and I will carry on doing it. I am in the process of putting together a book that looks at how I have got where I am today. I have two articles that are coming out in the next couple of weeks .One in the Dyspraxia foundation news letter and one in the local Surrey Teaching Support magazine.
I will also be giving a talk on April the 17th in Kensington London . But for now and for peoples interest is an extract from my upcoming book. I feel it captures a lot about what I want to say with regards to the Dyspraxic individual.....
Please feel free to post any questions and I will try and answer as best I can.
What is Dyspraxia ?
The definition Dyspraxia comes originally from the word praxis. Praxis means to do or to act Dys means with difficulty. Dyspraxia can affect every part of a person’s life, from how they plan tasks right through to seeing them to completion. Dyspraxia as I will later go on to discuss is also connected with areas of perception, thought and language. Many Dyspraxic individuals have something known as processing difficulties, which effects their overall perception, language and thought processing.
However, I must stress it does not mean that people can not go on to achieve highly and overcome many of their struggles. As my book is about to show.
You are special
I want to dedicate this first page of the book to Dyspraxic individuals be it they are or due to attend a mainstream school environment or higher education establishment and wish to speak to you all individually in saying that you are special and capable of doing very well . A lot of the approaches that I have mentioned over the coming pages are ones that were used with regards to me and I use in my practice. I am sure you have heard or maybe at times been told that you can’t do something or wont go somewhere with regards to your life. I am here saying that you can and will. You just have to want to do it and believe you can. Right from day one I have never given up on myself and neither should you!
You have just got to have the strength of character to say that you will not just settle , will not just accept situations as they may already exist and constantly want to change, improve and better yourself . A lot of my achievement was due to a caring and supportive network that have backed me up through out my life , pushing and encouraging me to do well and telling me I would do so .
It has been drummed into me that I should speak to myself with positiveness under all situations and tell myself I will do it, can do it and can get there. I refuse to tell myself I can’t, I will not, wont, or I am not clever enough. It is important to tell people that you are not stupid, nor are you slow! You are capable of doing well it just might take you a bit longer.
Many of the concepts in this book may challenge what many believe with regards to practice and what is attainable. I believe it is always important to accept challenges and challenge yourself. Never give up I have always been told I am special and you are special too!
If someone tells you that you can’t. Tell them you can and you will and do not give up. Dyspraxia is possible to live with and live alongside. So therefore when looking at practice and what can be achieved much can be learned through looking initially into the difficulty.
Updated: Saturday, 5 April 2008 7:57 AM BST
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