Parents Visual motor disability

[Gymnasticsmom4]

my gymnast, level 6, just got diagnosed at school through testing with a visual motor weakness. They seemed to think this would not only affect her learning but also sports. Just wondering if any other parent has a similiar story. Looking for advice/resources.

 

[gymgal]

I do not have a child with this but I have come across it in my field of work. Some children just have the dysfunction in their fine motor skills, which mostly affects school and work performance. Others also have gross motor difficulties, which is why/when it would affect sports. How old is she and how easy is it for her to learn new gymnastics skills? Given what I know about visual-motor dysfunction, you most likely would have already seen the difficulties relating to gymnastics, given that she is in L6, which requires a high level of gross motor skill.

 

[Gymnasticsmom4]

She is 10. Her best event is beam, which I would think she would struggle on, with motor issues?
She doesn’t struggle necessarily with new skills but with certain skills and I wonder if this has anything to do with her disability or if it’s going to be a problem for her in the future. Jumping/rebounding has always been an issue. giants, shifting the wrists is hard....it took her a year and a half to get her kip because of that. I’m wondering if this is related and what to do to help

 

[funny_farm30]

We are undergoing testing now as my daughter suffers from a type of dyspraxia, to do with planning... this means she struggles with receiving the instructions for skills and then can't retain the feedback/ corrections given. So bars, for instance, are suffering enormously at the moment due to all the instruction required for each skill in the bar routine. She simply can't remember more than one part, which means she will focus on keeping her arms straight in her kip, but then can't connect the next skills as it overloads her brain... would love if others have had kids similar, because how do you tell a kids with memory & instruction issues, to remember the feedback for when it's her turn next (even if it's 5 minutes later)

 

[raenndrops]

We are undergoing testing now as my daughter suffers from a type of dyspraxia, to do with planning... this means she struggles with receiving the instructions for skills and then can't retain the feedback/ corrections given. So bars, for instance, are suffering enormously at the moment due to all the instruction required for each skill in the bar routine. She simply can't remember more than one part, which means she will focus on keeping her arms straight in her kip, but then can't connect the next skills as it overloads her brain... would love if others have had kids similar, because how do you tell a kids with memory & instruction issues, to remember the feedback for when it's her turn next (even if it's 5 minutes later)

We had a gymnast once that had to keep a dry erase board with her... she would write down the feedback. It made it easier to remember because she could read it just before her turn (and I don't know, but she may have also been one that learned better by writing things down).

Maybe that would help your DD.

 

[rmankini]

We are undergoing testing now as my daughter suffers from a type of dyspraxia, to do with planning... this means she struggles with receiving the instructions for skills and then can't retain the feedback/ corrections given. So bars, for instance, are suffering enormously at the moment due to all the instruction required for each skill in the bar routine. She simply can't remember more than one part, which means she will focus on keeping her arms straight in her kip, but then can't connect the next skills as it overloads her brain... would love if others have had kids similar, because how do you tell a kids with memory & instruction issues, to remember the feedback for when it's her turn next (even if it's 5 minutes later)

OMG! We are dealing with this exact issue!

 

[funny_farm30]

We had a gymnast once that had to keep a dry erase board with her... she would write down the feedback. It made it easier to remember because she could read it just before her turn (and I don't know, but she may have also been one that learned better by writing things down).

Maybe that would help your DD.

Thanks, I did end up suggesting some private lessons to go through things slower, and recorded on the iPad along with he corrections she needed to remember. It has helped a lot, but probably also as in a private there was no one else in the gym to distract her, or have to go do drills while you wait your turn on the bar- which inevitable by the time it was her turn again, she'd forgotten all the corrections. She just had a comp and did amazing on all other apparatus, but bars was a hot mess again, and so vastly different from the other apparatus... Paed appointment is coming up in 2 weeks, so hopefully more help then

 

[funny_farm30]

OMG! We are dealing with this exact issue!

It's like swimming through mud... her brain simply cannot cope. But give her beam, floor and vault, and she shines... getting her bar corrections recorded on the iPad has worked well the last 2 weeks, but not enough time yet to make a difference in her comp today- it was shocking, and does not reflect her ability... it's very frustrating for her as her bar routine is 1-2 whole marks lower than her other apparatus scores, which are always consistent, and her bar routine is dragging down her overall : ( The iPad with her corrections is going well, but need more time!