# Oh no, just done something stupid. Help! Dispraxia?



## smurff

Hi, my dd is 3 and a half, she has global development delay and possibly learning difficulties and speech delay, I mentioned to hv the other day that she seems to fall over easily, she said a word which could explain why that is. I forgot word so I stupidly Googled it! I found the name but I also seen that it could be cerable palsy or something called dcp or dcd I think, now I'm so scared she could have early onset of cerebral palsy, when she's walking home from nursary she will just suddenly trip over and she won't have tripped on anything cause there would be nothing there, she doesn't run or jump and can't walk Down the stairs without holding my hand. She puts one hand on the wall and with other hand catches hold mine and takes stairs one step at a time. She doesn't constently fall over and she doesn't bump into things, she had her muscles checked by paediatrion a while ago to check they weren't stiff, at least I think she did, I'm questioning everything now. She doesn't change herself as I have to do all that and she is all floppy when I change her trousers so no her muscles ain't stiff. Does this sound familiar to anyone


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## SucreK

Is it possible she has hyper mobility?


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## _Meep_

Just wanted to say that cerebral palsy doesn't come out of nowhere - you either end up with it during your development in utero, or acquire it during or after birth due to an accident or injury that results in damage to the brain.

It also doesn't start out mild and then progress to a severe condition or anything like that. The brain injury doesn't change, but the effects can become more apparent without regular management and intervention, especially in hypertonic (stiff) individuals. There are different types of CP. Some people are stiff, some have weakness, others lack coordination, balance and control.

If your daughter DOES have cerebral palsy, assuming there have been no serious injuries to her head or incidents (e.g. choking) where she was deprived of oxygen for a significant period of time, or any obvious changes in her health and ability such as may be caused by a stroke, she will have had the condition from her time in utero, or acquired it at birth or soon afterwards when she was tiny. 

Considering she is three and a half, this would be pretty late for CP to be detected, so again, if she DOES have it, it is likely mild enough for it not to have a severe impact on her life, though she would of course benefit from appropriate physiotherapy and other therapies designed to maximise her potential.

I think dyspraxia or hypermobility are probably more likely explanations but you never know. I don't have personal experience with CP, but know there are quite a few mums on here who do, so hopefully someone will be along soon.

I apologise in advance if I have written anything inaccurate - I have done a lot of research and spoken to a lot of professionals due to my own fears about my daughter and CP (which turned out to be unfounded), but I have never actually lived with it.

Hope some of this is helpful anyway!


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## smurff

Thankyou both for your replies, apart from her development delay and speech delay the only other thing I worry about is when she's walking outside of home she trips quite a few times and she can't walk Down stairs on her own, she takes one step at a time but likes to catch hold my hand, She does kinda run, it's between walking fast and running if that makes sense, she definitely doesn't have any stiffness in her limbs and they don't seem weak, when I'm changing her her legs go floppy but that could be cause it's easier if she just goes floppy and let's me get on with it. She's never had a brain injury or been starved of oxygen, she had plagiocephely with was a big flat spot behind her right ear so it kinda moved her head around so her right ear is more forward than her left but she seen paediatrion about that and said it was normal fir the head to be pushed around slightly if there is a flat spot, she was signed off from paediatrion soon after so pead must have thought she was ok. During labour she was stuck so she was delivered by forceps but nobody said she had been starved of oxygen and surely I would have been told that.


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## Springflower

Sound like hyper mobility to me


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## kealz

^ Yes, me too. My son has hypermobility in his hips and your description sounds similar to my child. He is 3 and very floppy, flexible, trips a lot, limited control on stairs and not a natural run. You said you think your dd had her muscle stiffness checked? I would ask if joint mobility was also assessed or ask gp for a referral to a physio to check for this.


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## wantabean2

I too have a son who has Benign hypermobility joint syndrome and really weak muscles. He was a late walker, falls all the time and gets really tired and sore. He can barely walk 100m. Defo ask to get checked for hypermobility. Another thing to get checked and it sounds daft is her eyes lol we thought ds2 was just clumsy. Turns out that not only did he have hypermobility and weak muscles but he really really really needed classes. I would never have thought to get his vision checked as he was so little at the time xxxx


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