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Dyspraxia Foundation Conference
This was held on Thursday 26th September to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Dyspraxia Foundation and to coincide with dyspraxia awareness week, and was sponsored by Equazen. I was pleased to see that the speakers not only included professionals h but also young people and an adult who lives with dyspraxia. It was held in the Tower of London so Mary Colley and I were on our best behaviour, in case we were beheaded for being very ND - interrupting the speakers with criticism!
Dr Madeline Portwood presented Develop -mental Dyspraxia Current Research and Practice’. Barbara Hunter presented her 101 gizmos and
gadgets some of which could be helpful to
students with ND.
Dr Delyth Howard presented dyspraxia and related ‘neuro-developmental’ conditions the medical term for ‘neurodiversity ‘.
Marian Hankey presented ‘ The benefits of physiotherapy for children with dyspraxia’.
Nicola Werenowska, author and playright talked about her experiences of living with dyspraxia from childhood to adulthood. She told us how she was affected by depression and anxiety until 7 years ago, when she was diagnosed with dyspraxia and began to understand her neurodiversity.
Dan Marsh presented the thought-provoking talk about living with dyspraxia from a child’s perspective. This focused on his transfer to high school and how his hidden disability was mistaken for challenging behaviour in school.
Liam Plumridge gave a very inspiring presentation about his trek across Ecuador as part of the ‘Beyond Boundaries Three’ programme. Over a period of four weeks and 400Km, he was one of the 10 young people with disabilities to fight their way from the edge of the Amazon Basin; climb up to over 5000m to reach the snowline on Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world, and then descend down to sea level, wading through miles of swamp before reaching the Pacific Ocean. The programme will be featured on BBC 2 during January 2008. However there would be some people who are supportive of the inclusion of disabled people who would question the BBC as to why all young people in the TV Programme had disabilities; and that this was stereotyping the ‘tragic but brave’ image the media gives to disabled people. Nevertheless Liam gave an entertaining presentation and has given young people with dyspraxia a positive role model as well as raising awareness of dyspraxia on TV.
Website www.Liamplumridge.com
Matt Alden-Farrow is a 17 year old student with dyspraxia, who was bullied by his fellow pupils and teacher. He was diagnosed with dyspraxia, with this he finally thought that his teachers would understand his difficulties, and would stop picking on him. Unfortunately, dyspraxia was and still is not well understood in schools. Finally, in 2001, he was removed from school and home educated for the next 5 years. During this time, he set up Matt’s Hideout http://www.matts-hideout.co.uk to tell his story and offer support to others like himself. Over the next couple of years, the website received an overwhelming response, and it became increasingly clear that young people like him were in desperate need of support. And so, Dyspraxic Teens was born as a place for young adults with dyspraxia to socialise and share stories and advice with one another.
When Matt and Liam drew the raffle they were a wonderful double act. They could well be the next Ant and Dec with their rapport and humour.
This was held on Thursday 26th September to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Dyspraxia Foundation and to coincide with dyspraxia awareness week, and was sponsored by Equazen. I was pleased to see that the speakers not only included professionals h but also young people and an adult who lives with dyspraxia. It was held in the Tower of London so Mary Colley and I were on our best behaviour, in case we were beheaded for being very ND - interrupting the speakers with criticism!
Dr Madeline Portwood presented Develop -mental Dyspraxia Current Research and Practice’. Barbara Hunter presented her 101 gizmos and
gadgets some of which could be helpful to
students with ND.
Dr Delyth Howard presented dyspraxia and related ‘neuro-developmental’ conditions the medical term for ‘neurodiversity ‘.
Marian Hankey presented ‘ The benefits of physiotherapy for children with dyspraxia’.
Nicola Werenowska, author and playright talked about her experiences of living with dyspraxia from childhood to adulthood. She told us how she was affected by depression and anxiety until 7 years ago, when she was diagnosed with dyspraxia and began to understand her neurodiversity.
Dan Marsh presented the thought-provoking talk about living with dyspraxia from a child’s perspective. This focused on his transfer to high school and how his hidden disability was mistaken for challenging behaviour in school.
Liam Plumridge gave a very inspiring presentation about his trek across Ecuador as part of the ‘Beyond Boundaries Three’ programme. Over a period of four weeks and 400Km, he was one of the 10 young people with disabilities to fight their way from the edge of the Amazon Basin; climb up to over 5000m to reach the snowline on Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world, and then descend down to sea level, wading through miles of swamp before reaching the Pacific Ocean. The programme will be featured on BBC 2 during January 2008. However there would be some people who are supportive of the inclusion of disabled people who would question the BBC as to why all young people in the TV Programme had disabilities; and that this was stereotyping the ‘tragic but brave’ image the media gives to disabled people. Nevertheless Liam gave an entertaining presentation and has given young people with dyspraxia a positive role model as well as raising awareness of dyspraxia on TV.
Website www.Liamplumridge.com
Matt Alden-Farrow is a 17 year old student with dyspraxia, who was bullied by his fellow pupils and teacher. He was diagnosed with dyspraxia, with this he finally thought that his teachers would understand his difficulties, and would stop picking on him. Unfortunately, dyspraxia was and still is not well understood in schools. Finally, in 2001, he was removed from school and home educated for the next 5 years. During this time, he set up Matt’s Hideout http://www.matts-hideout.co.uk to tell his story and offer support to others like himself. Over the next couple of years, the website received an overwhelming response, and it became increasingly clear that young people like him were in desperate need of support. And so, Dyspraxic Teens was born as a place for young adults with dyspraxia to socialise and share stories and advice with one another.
When Matt and Liam drew the raffle they were a wonderful double act. They could well be the next Ant and Dec with their rapport and humour.
