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Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners
Is my child just being lazy? If they tried harder would they improve?
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Serving the interests of children and young people with childhood language and related disorders View Profile
This is a common misconception of children with Apraxia of speech. If a child can talk they will. Dyspraxia affects a child’s ability to coordinate the movements needed for speech. As with any motor skill, practise and repetition is the key, and progress can be inconsistent until the skill has been fully consolidated by the child. The time this takes is individual to each child and it is repetition and continued encouragement that will reap positive results.
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Shannon Storey
Occupational Therapist (OT)
My passion for working with children with disabilities and their families has developed over the past five years. Since graduating from Sydney University, I have … View Profile
Motor planning is the ability of the brain to conceive, organize and carry out a series of unfamiliar actions. It is an essential aspect in new skill acquisition. Efficient motor planning requires accurate information from all the sensory systems of the body and the coordination of the different body parts to reach a desired goal.
In the absence of any specific motor weakness, motor planning problems are characterised by an inability to perform smooth, coordinated, purposeful movements. Problems in motor planning can affect many areas of a child’s ‘occupations’. Academically a child may fall behind as they lack the ability to follow learning routines or to independently problem solve. A child with difficulties motor planning may appear clumsy as they are unable to move their body in a coordinated way.
When you have difficulty successfully doing the things that are expected of you, it can cause feelings of frustration, sadness or anger. A child may choose to avoid tasks all together, hence looking ‘lazy’. As a result of this, a child may developed avoidant strategies and behaviors. These may look like negotiation, verbal protesting, emotional manipulation, removing themselves from the situation or an explosive tantrum. Ultimately a child is communicating through their behaviour that the task is too difficult.
This is when successful task completion and confidence building is important.
As an Occupational Therapist, this is a central theme to the therapy that I provide.
For more information visit www.liveactiveclinic.com.au
Kind Regards
Shannon Storey
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