Before I start my story, I should let you know that on the Isle of Wight when I was a child we had Primary school (reception to year 4) Middle School (year 5 to year 8) and High School (year 9 to year 11) very confusing I know!
I'll be classifying my "childhood" from ages 2/3 to the end of middle school time, which I was about 12 years old.
So I don't remember too much about my younger years and dealing with dyspraxia, so a lot of this information I had to ask my mum about.
Since a baby, I always struggled with eating food that was soft with no texture. I would struggle to eat yogurt, rice pudding, mash potato etc. I also struggled to play with toys that you had to put in order. Apparently I used to refuse to play with bricks or anything involving building.
My parents never thought anything was wrong with me, this was just me as a person.
It was around 2006 time when my parents started to realize something wasn't quite right. I was roughly 8 years old and in Year 3 of Primary School.
I came home from school one day and starting to talk to my mum about the Romeos! My mum thought I was talking about Romeo and Juliet, until I started talk about them wearing hats, armor etc. My mum asked me "Do you mean the Romans"? But I said no, they were the Romeos! My mum tried to correct me and tell me they are called Romans, but I was adamant they were Romeos. Apparently I started to become very distressed and upset and this was the key point that got my parents to go into school and speak to my teacher.
I remember just before leaving primary school, a learning support staff took me into the Library and showed me these little cards. I remember sitting there having the place cards into certain orders. My mum says that this was a sequence game and they were testing to see how I would do.
It wasn't until the end of Year 5 that I was diagnosed with Dyspraxia. When Middle School came, everything changed. I went from a Primary school that wanted to help me, to a Middle school that just saw me as a number. I started not wanting to go to school and used to pretend to be ill ALOT to get out of school. I would also keep things to myself, such as if I didn't understand something I wouldn't ask for help. This is what got my parents to go hard on the system. They took me to the
doctors and demanded help. I saw a lot of specialist people and they confirmed it is Dyspraxia I have and explained to me and my parents what that is.
My parents then told the school about this learning difficulty I had. But did they care? Nah. Its thanks to my middle school that I was never fully statemented to have Dyspraxia because they didn't do their part of paperwork etc. (this made it hard in high school when exams came around. I'll explain in more detail in my teenage post)
By the time I started to get help in school, I already educationally taught myself well enough to read and write, and because of that, I didn't need "extra help".
The only problem was, I didn't struggle to read and spell etc, I struggled to get the words from my head onto paper. I could never get out what I would be trying to say. This is what I needed help with the most.
So overall I can say my middle school was an awful experience. I was bullied, I struggled a lot, and I had hardly any teachers believe in me.
I did show them all wrong in year 8 though. My year was the first to be chosen to take their year 9 SATS early. One of the SATS was about Shakespeare. My teacher automatically assumed I was not ready to take the real test, so put me down to do the mock test.
Well I proved her wrong. I completed the test, and got higher marks than anyone in my class, including the people that took the real test! I could have done my SATS before I started High School. and I could have given my middle school a higher percentage, but because they had no faith in me, I lost out on what could have been a great SAT result!
Funny enough, now this is going to sound so strange; but the only thing I exceeded in in Middle school was individual sports. Yes, I couldn't read or write as well as other students, but I could outrun them all. (including some boys) I won medals and competitions with my running and long jump. This was because I didn't have to coordinate with anybody else. I could do my own thing without anyone in the way.
Team sports though, well that was a nightmare.
Throughout Primary School and Middle School I would never show how I felt in school, but would erupt like a volcano at home. I would become very frustrated and would be known to bang my head against the wall. This made it harder from my parents.
If i wasn't as shy as I was in school, and I showed my true colours and caused a bit of trouble, I could have had all the help I would have needed. But because I was quiet and just wanted to get on with my life, I was left in the corner to struggle.
So that's my childhood story. Not that interesting I know, but the idea of me writing this was to show and give awareness of Dyspraxia and to hopefully help someone who is going through or knows someone going through this kind of situation.
It was a struggle physically and mentally with me and my parents having no support. So if I can help just one person feel less alone or give them any tips. Then my job is done!
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