DCD identification, intervention vital tools in learning to cope

LIVING with Aileen is hard, her mum Siobhan admits.

Her rigid thinking means she lives in a world where everything is black and white. Her parents battle to introduce shades of grey to their daughter’s thought process, but she remains a slave to precision.

Aileen is one of hundreds of children in Ireland who suffer from dyspraxia/DCD - developmental co-ordination disorder - and an estimated 6% of the population suffer from it. People with dyspraxia are often clumsy and find it hard to co-ordinate movements, such as running or climbing a stairs. It turns often simple tasks such as tying a button or writing into barriers.

They are usually immature for their age and demand that people live to exacting standards, where you say what you mean and mean what you say.

For the Corcorans, it means nine-year-old Aileen has to be constantly guided.

“Life is hard with Aileen. She is a lovely little girl, pleasant, sunny, but her immaturity, well, you often feel like she’ll never catch up. You have to keep guiding her socially about how to behave. It doesn’t come naturally to her.

“She can’t physically come down the stairs without help. I have to be there if she wants to come down.

“Her way of thinking is not the norm. I don’t like to use the word normal, but she thinks differently. She has very rigid thinking,” said Siobhan.

Siobhan and her husband Eamonn, from Montenotte in Cork, realised something was wrong when their toddler was slow to learn to speak. Her co-ordination was poor and she was very clumsy.

“There was no smoothness to her running. I’m not talking about athlete standard, but she flaps her arms when she runs, she just can’t get the hang of it,” Siobhan says.

It took two years to fully identify her symptoms from the time she was referred by a doctor to a specialist.

“There is usually a two- year waiting list to see the specialist team, which is absolutely ridiculous. Aileen was in junior infants when her rigid thinking and co- ordination problems were identified, but she was in first class before she was seen by the DCD team in St Finbarr’s Hospital, which is a long time in a child’s life.”

The DCD team consists of an occupational therapist, medical doctor and psychologist and they determine the level of intervention a child needs. It usually consists of an hour-long session over eight weeks, with parents doing more work with the children.

A person doesn’t grow out of the condition, but learns better coping skills.

Siobhan finds her daughter’s immaturity the hardest to deal with.

“You have to keep teaching her how to behave socially, keep guiding her. For example, Aileen is obsessed with dogs. If she meets someone she asks if they have a dog, if they like dogs, if they have books or videos about dogs, and then tells them all about her dog, her books and her videos. That conversation might be fine for 20 minutes, but she could keep going all day.

“I try to explain she can’t talk about dogs all the time, but she finds it hard to understand why not. You are constantly teaching her how to behave,” Siobhan said.

She dreads sending her daughter back to school.

“It will be a nightmare. It’s hard work getting her out on time in the morning. You just can’t hurry her,” the full-time school secretary says.

Aileen’s condition also puts pressure on family life.

“Eamonn is not as soft on her as I am, which can lead to disagreements. He tries to get her to do things, insisting she is able, and I don’t like to push her.”

Last year, Siobhan got an extra special 40th birthday present when she gave birth to another girl, Cliona, who she says is a blessing.

“With Aileen I felt cheated. The joy of having a little girl is immense. There is something special about having a daughter; you plan going shopping with them, meeting them for a cup of coffee and chat. I can do that with Aileen, and we enjoy it, but it’s not the same. Then I found out I was being given a second chance. Now she might break my heart as well ... you never know.

“Life could be a lot worse,” Siobhan says, “but it could be better as well.”

The Dyspraxia/DCD Association is hosting a one-day seminar in the Ambassador Hotel in Cork city, on August 28, from 9am. Members of the DCD team in St Finbarr’s Hospital will attend. The seminar costs €30, which includes lunch.

Contact the association on 021 4291046.