Better yet: When your brain speaks Spanish, your body Portuguese, and your brain says "Esta persona... es muy molesta" (molestar meaning 'to bother' in spanish and 'to SA' in portuguese
Before being diagnosed with Aspergers, my son was tested for possible dyspraxia. I remember the clinician throwing him a ball and he stood arms by his side with the ball bouncing off his chest. You're supposed to try to catch it, she said. Well, you never said that, he replied.😂 Unfortunately, this person didn't pick up on that. It was another year before the mother of a child with ADHD told me that she thought my son might have Aspergers. He doesn't have dyspraxia but he dislikes sports and loves swimming.😊
@@karenholmes6565 Aspergers wasn't widely talked about then. I'd never heard of it until my friend told me. The information was there but there wasn't a lot of detail. I have also found out that different departments don't cross-reference each other. Once we had the right experts, it was fine. This was in the noughties.
@@katzenbekloppt_mf even funnier was the fact that she did it twice! After the first thock off his chest, she picked it up, said OK let's do it again. Thock, bounced off again before she said You're supposed to catch it. 🤣🤣🤣 I had my sleeve stuffed in my mouth as I imagined him thinking ' OK, if you want to do it again 🤷'
Yes! I still rue the day the doors in our house got changed from knobs to handles. I complained about it at the time and everyone just said I was complaining for the sake of it. Barely a day goes by when I don't crash into the handles or end up getting hooked to them with my shirt sleeves.
I tell people i have a negative dexterity modifier instead of saying i'm clumsy. In part because clumsy is always so negative in connotation, and in part because the flash of recognition on the face of my fellow RPGers gives me something to talk about.
I regularly have bruises from limbs hitting furniture and there are often banging and smashing sounds as crockery hits surfaces because of badly planned trajectories. Then there is handwriting..
Bruising easily (in the sense of "I barely touched the [thing] yet look how dark this bruise is!") can be related to weak / loose connective tissue, which is more common among us autistics. For example, Ehlers-Danlos syndrom conditions (there are a baker's dozen of them) and other hypermobility conditions are far more common among autistic people than in the general population.
@@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023I'm pretty sure I have both dyspraxia and EDS. I think both are probably much more common than is currently believed, just like autism
I was diagnosed fairly early with Dyslexia and "social issues" that look an awful lot like Autism. They put me in Gross motor training and I was put into ballet (care to guess what my first hyper focus was?) I still am awkward at running and inanimate objects still attack me out of nowhere 😂
My daughter is an undiagnosed but painfully obvious dyspraxic diagnosed ADHDer. On your point about diving- my daughter said that swimming in deep water is the scariest thing she's tried and that she feels more than ever that she can't tell directions of up and down.
When I was a young adult I would have never passed a sobriety test. I couldn't stand on one leg with my eyes open for even five seconds with a physical therapist. I then went under intense balancing therapy and eventually could stand on one leg with my eyes closed for a full minute. Being older now, I don't balance quite as well anymore, but I still can stand on one leg for a full minute, and still on one leg with my eyes closed for ten seconds despite my neuropathy problems. I got a late autism diagnosis at age 62. I have terrible handwriting. I have problems driving a car, but eventually passed my driver's test (five years later than my peers). I had problems catching a fly ball. My savings grace is that I was a good sprinter and jumper. Thus, I could do certain sports well despite my gym teacher embarrassing me in front of everyone by yelling "You run like a cow!"
I tried balancing on one leg as a coordination exercise for a while once, and discovered that after 5 seconds, my attention would wander and I’d lose my balance; however, if I had a second hand on a watch to stare at, I could go “”5… 10… 15… 20… 25… 30…” all the way up to 60 by refocusing my attention every 5 seconds! I’m AuDHD-PI. This was when I wasn’t medicated for ADHD, and was how I realized y attention span is literally 5 seconds! No wonder living is difficult! 😬
Wow, if I stand on one leg my foot gets tired before I lose balance, so I expected to ace this test. But with my eyes closed I'm over in a couple of seconds. I never guessed vision was such an important factor.
Definitely relate to the game controller paradigm. What if we take that a little further? The term "bandwidth" gets used often, so... If we explain monotropism as having insufficient downstream bandwidth to handle incoming data in real time, then the data that makes it to us is missing chunks of the "big picture" similar to say ... dropped frames on the monitor we're watching, or the audio in our headphones cutting in and out. Then, there's the additional processing time necessary to figure out what's going on from this incomplete data, and decide what action or actions to take. Also, depending on what's causing the downstream bandwidth congestion, there could also be upstream bandwidth congestion. This results in our avitar, (whether masked or unmasked) to appear jittery and glitchy, sometimes missing pathways, taking damage from environmental obstacles, and even triggering mobs we aren't prepared for. Depending on the exact circumstances, stimming could be the equivalent of attempting to recalibrate our controller or reset the network connection... But either way, to an outside observer, it would look like the "lag-man's jig."
Ah, writing neatly: my solution was to draw letters instead of writing them... still do it. Needless to say that my writing speed was/is not up to par...
@duikmans oh that's an interesting way of looking at it and something I'd never considered, but it really makes sense! I have had so many writing styles, especially at school/college which were very stylised and each letter was thought out. I've never thought of that as 'drawing' but that's exactly what it is, in the same way someone would do calligraphy. It was always slow, intentional and uniform, I spent more time caring how it looked than getting it done in time. My actual 'quickly write it down' writing is and was almost unintelligible, even to me. I've never had one specific handwriting style, it has regularly changed, even on the same piece of writing at times, but it's not something that I ever really thought about as being different or using it as a way of compensating for my neurodiversity.
I was diagnosed with Aparaxia of Speech (aka Verbal Dyspraxia) as a child, and it was treated in the same distorted way that autism diagnoses are: that it was something I would outgrow through enough therapy and practice. Spoiler alert: I didnt outgrow it, or other dyspraxic symptoms I had, I just learned to manage them well enough that adults didn't find me a bother anymore. Nowadays I can speak "properly", but when Im low on energy or overwhelmed my speech is the first thing to turn off. I wonder what percentage of non-vocal/ limited-vocal people with autism also have comorbid dyspraxia. Its hard to find out, because once a child is diagnosed with autism or dyspraxia, the tendency is to stop there and not find out if there are any co-occuring conditions.
With both ADHD and ASD I've had a unique experience with coordination. I definitely am below average. Even if I spent 2 times longer writing and my handwriting still looks terrible. My experience differs from others on the spectrum in that I do have elite genetics for power and muscle building. And if I become especially interested in a physical task I can become way above average. I can do intermediate level butterfly knife tricks. And I love twirling weighted staffs and I can do a color guard routine on a 10lb weighted staffs. I got interested in the gym and got to the point where as a 5ft 7 160lb man I can bench 260lbs squat 350 and deadlift 450lbs. And I became a personal trainer for about a year. My life is very orientated towards coordination but when I learn a new coordination task I always still have to start back at 0. Like I tried to learn the one wheel recently and just ate shit over and over without even getting it going. But I know if I take the time to learn it I'll get it eventually.
I have the same diagnosis, and am very similar. I was often chosen last in school sports, but being pushed to do out-of-school sports by my parents (and enjoying it) I've learned to be very dexterous when I put my mind to it - including experiencing the slow-motion effect of assessing a situation and reacting to it. I might have a tendency to knock things over by accident, then I can quickly catch it with my hands or let it bounce off my feet. My handwriting is still terrible, though.
Ever since I was a small child, I can remember how free and much less clumsy i felt, when i was wearing tight hugging clothes. But my mother was projecting her own need for veeeeery loose clothing on me, such a misfire! Today I still feel safest, and much less clumsy in skin tight jeans or leggins, and I wonder now if it is because of the pressure, as you mention. I likwise feel free while svimming. My mother is most certainly undiagnosed (unaware) autistic, and strangely her sensory needs are the opposite as mine, but she would interpret my needs as being the same as hers. Bright lighting everywhere, loose clothing, lots of leather texture that would stick to ones skin, no aroma or perfume, only food smells allowed in the house 🥲 Navigating conflicting autistic needs is a whole topic on its own!
I worry about this, as an autistic mother to (probably) autistic children! I want to help them get what they need, and push back against what's normal and expected when that's not helpful, but I don't always know when that's what they need, or what I need/ needed. It's tricky to figure out
@@melissaheaton2706 it really is! Atleast until an age where one can just ask the child about preferences and needs. It does though make a major difference for the child, that parents are open to embracing the childs needs, rather than pretending nothing is ‘wrong’ with their child, causing the child to mask a lot. I bet the fact that we are even concerned with these factors, mean we are doing allright ❤️ atleast I hope so, and I am willing to learn ❤️
I have always joked that I was safer on a horse then I was on my own feet. Now I think that the movement of the horse under me helped me understand where my body is. Unfortunately, I don't ride anymore (chronic pain and my beautiful mare died in December), but I am at least still able to be around horses.
I'm sorry to hear your horse is gone. That's gotta hurt. 🫶🏻 I've never had horses but my grandma did and loved them so deeply. Such special companions.
Omg - thank you! The exact example- my 3rd grade teacher whom I worshiped - Mrs Turner- told me off in front of the class when my best effort cursive was judged to be willfully bad - I took out a pencil from my own little gift case from my auntie and started block printing the assignment she told me to redo better. She ordered me to stop and I said those are my personal property and she lost her temper grabbed my pencil out of my hand and yelled at me to go to the principals office for punishment. I said and I quote “you go to hell I’m going to get you fired!!!!!” (At 9 years old! Cheeky me!) Then faked sick at the office and my sisters walked me home - they knew I was faking but it got them out early so they didn’t care - they were thrilled I was actually rebelling for once. The pediatric neuro my mom took me to because she had brain bleeds and understood my predicament a bit more than the average bear I think- he diagnosed me w a “mild case” of cerebral palsy and my mom was told to have me play lots of physical sports but not say anything about the condition to others even my siblings to avoid stigma. I got the bully nickname “hypochondriac” and if I walked up to a group on the playground they would all chorus “hi hypochondriac” which stuck til about 5th grade when I had a popular best friend starting in 4th grade who helped me not care about the other kids. She became a top autism researcher and now I’m waiting on appt for formal diagnoses so I can have a serious conversation w her about it once it is not just my own self diagnoses. Thank you so much- it is astonishing to find so many people out there who had experiences like mine. I played along and goofed on my clumsiness my whole life wo much compassion for myself about it or ever telling anyone off for teasing me about it even though I am also a very graceful dancer. It is a relief to know I was not alone in this kind of bullying and to have a place to tell that story to people with the ears to hear. Now that I’m getting old I bruise a lot more easily. Rose hip oil seems to make the bruises heal faster so my arms aren’t mottled purple 24x7. Much ❤️ to all - such a relief to find community on these pages.
Oh my gosh, Julia! Go you! Nice bit of PDA there, perhaps? Rose hip oil you reckon? Alright! We have rose hips growing nearby, I might pick some and Google how to extract the oil. -Mike
Idk about the pda … thank you so much for this channel. I’ve been just letting my body move/ discharge energy/“stim” much more often as an experiment and I’m SO much calmer, happier, more functional just from this one adjustment and insight. Appreciate all my TH-cam creators for bringing me this awareness and possibility. Thank you and the community so so so much!!!
Oh wow there’s actually a word / condition for this!!! I’ve always been clumsy and it’s only once I’ve gotten used to a house / apartment that the clumsiness calms down (most cuz I’ve already got a mental map of the house and I also lift my legs higher than needed when walking over obstacles. So when we put in the baby gates in my house, it was everyone else tripping over the gate). But once I’m at someone else’s house, I’m often back to being super clumsy. A few months ago, I was sleeping over by family, and the bed had legs. I walked into them so often within a 24 hour period, that my feet were sore and I struggled to walk til my feet had a chance to recover. I can’t play any sport where the ball / object is coming in my direction, especially not fast. I tried to play hockey, as a teenager, and I was terrified both of the puk and my fellow players. Teachers automatically assumed it was slow or something, fuelling their determination to help me get sports like badminton, without success. I’m not so good at swimming on the surface of a pool / ocean, tho I won’t sink. But I’ve always preferred swimming at the bottom of a pool. So I’d make a game out of finding stuff at the bottom of the pool. My balance has always been terrible which means that stairs of any sort are a source of intense anxiety for me. I do have to use them regularly to keep the anxiety down, but I also need to walk slowly and to either hold a railing or stuck my elbow out so it touches the wall as I go down. Thank you for sharing this and in such a clear, easy to understand format without music!
Oh, the "swimming on the ground"-thing is interesting! I was always bad in long time swimming or running (no condition), but good at short sprints and very good at diving at school sports, so to dive deep and get something from the ground or to dive long distance. I was much quicker and it was easier for me to follow a straight way in diving as in swimming. It's more then 40 years ago so I completly forgot. It would be interesting if this is a thing connected to the pressure under water Mike told many times about. I myself and sports-teachers never understood when there was something I was good at😅. The other was that I was very flexible.
@@katzenbekloppt_mf Yeah now I also have a suspicion it could something to do with the pressure. I’m not the best at diving but I did enjoy diving (untrained so probably with bad form) into my childhood pool, especially since it automatically took me to the bottom of the pool. I never timed my swimming but I did get to the other end pretty quickly. Re distance running, I am atrocious as correctly determining distance between myself and a point in the distance (likely due to adhd), so I wouldn’t run as quickly as I should’ve for shorter distance tracks lol. Long distance, no hope there lol I’d be dizzy / lightheaded shortly after starting 🙈😅 So I’m kinda relieved I’m not the only one. What’s weird is that a treadmill tricks my brain into believing it’s a short distance (again due to failing to correctly comprehend the distance), so I’ll run only to feel lightheaded after I get off 🙈😅
I think there is strong correlation between autism and dyspraxia. It was one of the key factors when discovering autism in myself. I find your experiences with diving quite interesting. I have a similar experience when playing musical instruments, its like my dyspraxia is diminished or reduced in that specific moment. I would be interested to see studies performed on hyperfocus and flow states and how they may influence dyspraxia, if at all.
Hey Adam - yes, there is definitely a strong correlation between autism and dyspraxia/DCD. Ahh, that's interesting. Yes, maybe hyperfocus/flow state might well be part of it. Also, rehearsed (pardon the pun) motor movements. That could be part of it too, some sort of muscle memory, needing less planning to execute an action? I wonder...
My child and I are both more regulated in the water and the pressure from being underwater gives my body the proprioceptive feedback I need to be able to move better. In the water I am a seal, on land I'm like a seal on land. I should have been a selkie
I was such a clumsy child, and very inflexible (stiff, tight muscles etc). However, put on some upbeat dance music and I am transformed. (husband: how can someone so clumsy be such a good dancer?!)When you mentioned vestibular I had an aha moment. That fits. If I turn my head or look up while walking I’ll veer off course. I still struggle to tie shoelaces at age 63!
Its the controlled silencing with, i mean usually swimming isnt noisy and can block out and , no wonder it felt so chill listening on a phone , its , the controlling imput, right? Not to mention music unlss its extreme punk is orderly
Ditto for the dancing!! Been wiggling to music since before birth according to my mom. 😂 In my thirties now and it's still an instinctive mode of movement and my most preferred mode of exercise and stress relief and stimming and all of the good things! When I don't dance for long periods, things get really weird and discombobulated.
Yes I know this well. How can someone so clumbsy have such lightening fast reflexes. Toss a ball at me and I'll catch it but ask me play catch and I miss the ball every time. Seem to me if something I have think about I miss it but if I have quickly react to it I catch it.
i remember in elementary school my teacher told me i wrote my paper backwards (still dont understand what they meant) so I rewrote the entire paper....backwards...i got into more trouble. I was so upset.
I walk slowly and watch my step very carefully after a childhood of twisting my ankles frequently or tripping. Horrid at sports. Never figured out how to tie my shoes. I definitely have a hard time with my handwriting, but it is legible. The other day though someone complimented it and I was happy.
Hi Mike, love your content as always. For me learning about dyspraxia and how it relates to my autism gave a surprisingly a lot to unpack but to not make it too long, it was obvious for people to notice that I've been clumsy as a kid, bad at team sports, poor hand writing, had huge trouble with learning new hands-on skills therefore had a lot of social embarrassment. However, when it comes to my special interests like trail running I could let gravity pull me downhill in jungle terrain with roots and stones that I could easily trip if a small mis-step, somehow I do could it faster than a lot of people (except the elites of course). Not sure I got good because of special interests beat dyspraxia or just because I've trained a lot. Same thing applies to guitar building.
Are you vigilantly scanning while running? Maybe it has to do with the speed of running matching brain speed? Something that feels similar from my perspective and where I get my theory - I have a really hard time following along and understanding what someone is talking about if someone speaks slowly in a video, but if I turn up the playback speed to 2x and even 3 or 4x in some cases I just absorb it all! I'm clumsy handed, but I do a lot of things well if I just go faster- like chopping veggies with a chef knife.
@@ZhovtoBlakytniy interesting experience you shared about audio speed, that kinda relates to Mike's dyspraxia having less effect when he's diving. About running downhill, not at all, in fact I felt like I was going way too fast than my brain could register and let my feet and gravity take over, the effort was only scanning 5 meters ahead not right in front of me (I have bad eyesight and usually take contacts off when running).
wow, this is just amazing to look more into. i've always known i fell into the criteria of asd that impacted certain motor function, but it's connecting dots from the past that really gets me. my step dad once punished me for still having my grandma tie my shoes around 1st grade. i had to sit for hours on a chair until i gained the muscle memory. i also cut my head open later in elementary on a bathroom sink corner because i crouched down to check if my friend was still in there and didnt sense my close surroundings! i never even thought to relate that to this!
My school report cards are a testament to my suspected dyspraxia - constant mentions of my atrocious handwriting, & woeful physical education grades & participation scores.
Great video Mike. I've been on a GP waiting list for a DCD assessment for over a year now. I was put on an autism assessment waiting list at the same time. In the end I decided to go to a local private assessor, partly because I get very impatient once I commit to something, but also because I was advised to contact them and see how it went. Cutting a long story short (yeah, right!), I got a positive assessment and then a formal diagnosis. At the tender age of 57! But I know for sure that I have dyspraxia/DCD and I just want a professional diagnosis for my own personal peace of mind.
That's really weird, I walked very early and once I was steady enough I ran everywhere. I was bad at swimming not only because of asthma but my leg arm coordination was off. Like the upper and lower half was from 2 different people. Until we started diving for rings. It was so easy. My coordination was perfect. In sports I was awful at throwing balls or catching. Anything that needed strength I was terrible until about 6th grade. Bicycle no problem. I passed my driving test the first time. But I am still extremely clumsy. Walk in doorframe, stumble over my own feet and I have fallen over because I didn't have a clue anymore where my legs were, especially after fast head movements. I keep dropping stuff and sometimes get really annoyed but I soldier on. It's funny that most of my hobbies include a lot of fine motoric tasks. And yes, I do have ADHD and autism.
Could this be in any way related to why I want pressure up against my body when sleeping, like a heavy pillow against my abdomen, or a heavy blanket above me? Without that pressure I feel like my body is...well, isn't anywhere.
Potentially! And me too! I have loved weighted blankets for years. And I recently was finally able to purchase two weighted sweaters. It's the absolute best for helping me remember my body and not just float away, it seems. ☁️
I have always been bad at sports, I feel like I don't really know which muscles I have to tense to do the movement and stretching feels always wrong as I'm tense at wrong places. I always wish someone could name every particular muscle I have to tense for the movement but nobody knows their names and can't tell. It's stressfull to hold fragile things because I feel like if I command myself not dropping it or not squeezing it too tight, the opposite will happen. I have hit my shoulders so many times on doorframes etc., I have learned to turn my upper body a bit sideways by placing my left arm to my back and right arm in front of my body, some people make fun of me for doing that every time I pass someone but I have to do so or else we will collide. I'm mixed handed, I can do things with both hands but my left hand is better at fine motoric movements like drawing and right is better at strength needing tasks. I prefer to write with my left hand, I'm very quick at writing but my handwriting is terrible. Some teachers intimidated me that I won't pass my finals with my handwriting, but I did. I'm very good at drawing and handcrafts and can easily learn new crafts and to use tools. I can't run correctly, I have inbalance in my leg muscles and I got strain injury from trying to run as a hobby.. so no running for me anymore. I love swimming, it feels great in my body and repeating the movement relaxes me so much! It may be the only sport I really like. I like dancing freely but I'm bad at learning choreography, I can't see what they did and my body won't do the movement that I'm trying to copy. Football is maybe the hardest thing I ever tried, running, watching where I have to kick the ball and kicking the ball and not tripping or kicking off of it, can't all happen at the same time. I never learned to kick where I wanted or moving the ball in front of me while running. I very easily tip over drinking glasses and other stuff from the table and sometimes my fingertips just stick to the glass and drag it off the table even tho I already let my grip off of it.
Whaaat, that literally makes so much sense now lol. I've always had issues with balance and motor control skills. Bad at handwriting, bad at sports, bad at playing instruments (sadly) and overall just being very clumsy. The stuff you mention like standing still causing a lot of stress is something I've always had and never knowing why, always connecting it to issues with my muscle tension I have. Might do some reading later to see if there's a connection between muscle tension and dysphraxia. Very interesting stuff.
I'm nowhere near dyspraxic enough to warrant a diagnosis, but a lot of this resonates. I was terrible at throwing and catching and learning to ride a bike, and my mum spent ages working with me on those skills. In sport I was always picked one of the last two (along with another child in a group that one teacher called "the fatties" - he used to bully us in other ways too, e.g., regularly asking if I'd "got my lipstick on" because I had a persistent mouth rash). People used to laugh because I'd get hit by a ball I was supposed to catch. I had bad handwriting (still do, mostly I block print if other people need to read it). I was called "bone idle". I had two strategies (for sport anyway). One was to lean into it, become the "class clown" for the subject, though they didn't always recognise it: my report one year said that "he appears a little confused by this subject". The other was avoidance. I managed to get out of it altogether eventually by taking on an extra language course which ran in the same timeslot. That strategy carried on into adulthood. When I eventually wanted to ride a bike again, it wasn't "just like riding a bike": I couldn't do it at all, and had to relearn it (though it was quicker second time around), and I was never very good at it. Some friends persuaded me to try ice skating; I went once, had a horrible time, never went again. On the other hand, I have very quick reactions in some circumstances, and I'm really not bad at table tennis, which does not compute. (I'm quite impressive at getting my bat to the ball, though not so good at angling it right.) I don't stand still naturally. Mostly I do a sort of figure of eight movement shifting my weight in a repeated pattern.
Thank you for doing this video. There are so many videos about autism on YT, but hardly any on dyspraxia. Last time I searched before you posted this, I think I found a grand total of 3. It was really interesting to hear about these studies looking at the connections between autism and dyspraxia, and it makes me question more than ever whether I am on the spectrum or not. I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was 7. Pretty lucky really because back then, it was such a very little known condition. My school didn't understand it at all. I got called out for my bad hand writing (partly blamed on being left handed), and I always struggled putting my uniform on (shoe laces, buttons, ties). I received occupational therapy, and went to a new school that specialised in teaching kids with dyslexia and other neurodivergent conditions. This helped a lot at the time but ever since I entered adulthood, I can't help feel like the progress I made started to regress because I struggle so much in the real world environment. I don't just struggle with coordination, but also a lot with social interactions, hyper sensitivity, etc. I have never been diagnosed with autism but, over the past few years, I've wondered whether everything is down to my dyspraxia, or if I might be on the spectrum as well. I really identified with the information in this video, so thank you.
Straight up does anyone else just randomly fumble with &/or drop things that they're holding, for no apparent reason or cause whatsoever? Doesn't happen often, but at completely random times.
Thanks Mike for another great video! Its nice to know its not just me that took lots of attempts to get my driving license. 🙂🚗 I got there in the end and so did you. Yay! I am really glad the police have alcohol and drug testing kits here in Australia. I hope they do elsewhere too. I suspect I never would have passed that intoxication test, but now with disautonomonia, my balance is so poor, I would be likely to fall over! As for hand writing, I used to be "just" able to write neatly if I tried really hard, but it caused lots of tension and pain in my hand. Now, with neuropathy, its even harder. And even my typing is suffering. Dropping things has gone from often, to daily. Sad but true. 😿
I was diagnosed with autism about a month ago. I struggled with clumsiness my entire life. I am also ambidextrous, so my writing difficulties and clumsiness were blamed on my both handedness. My 3rd grade teacher told my parents that I was mentally retrded (which is what they used to called those with intellectual deficits), I suffered a lot of trauma from my 3rd grade teacher and her abusiveness surrounding my both handedness. She would have an aide stand over me while I would write and disapprovingly tap my hand when I would switch while writing. I was kept in at recess to practice writing if I switched hands in class, like I had done something wrong. I still tear up when I think about how I was treated. My parents were incensed by it, but back in this era there was little they could do (I am in my 50s). Unfortunately I heard my dad yelling about this teacher and how she had labelled me as intellectually disabled because he was so upset over it and he thought I was asleep. So I grew up thinking I was intellectually disabled. This caused me to overcompensate greatly. It devastated my self-esteem because I am twice exceptional, not intellectually disabled, meaning I am actually mentally gifted and learning disabled at the same time. I grew up to be a literal scholar. Perhaps I wouldn't have went that direction without that label. I was always overcompensating for being clumsy as well. I was almost always picked last at sports until I discovered one thing I was good at, which was basketball. My ambidextity aided me. But because of your video I am beginning to think there was another talent that helped me become a truly excellent basketball player, I knew where the basket was in relationship to myself at all times. I could make half court shots. In high school PE I would play with the boys because I was so good, and they'd pick me first. I had like this echo location skill where I just knew where the basket was and I could sink the ball effortlessly. Also, like you I was an excellent swimmer. I did not compete in swimming, but I loved the water and loved to swim under it. I have one more weird talent. If I am hiking in the forest it is like I always know where I am in location to a trail, I know where to go. I used to hike a lot and my sense of direction was exceptional. You could drop me anywhere in the wilderness and I could get back to civilization. I have kept hiking buddies from getting lost more than once and they always trusted I knew where to go. If there is one savant skill I have it is that one. And I have no idea how I do it. Perhaps it is my dyspraxia? Because I have zero doubt I am dyspraxic. I am always injuring myself and I can't drive. Thank for this video. I am going to enjoy reading others to see if they have similar experiences.
Oh my god, what a sad story. I'm so glad the world is starting to recognise all these conditions and what they mean for a person instead of just trying to press children into a form they don't fit in.
@@xaisthoj My son thinks that my locational abilities are my brain's way of compensating for dyspraxia. It is a roundabout way to keep myself from being more clumsy than I would be otherwise, like blind people having acute hearing, or deaf people sensing sound through vibration.
5:52 - I've heard that trying to make someone write too early actually damages their handwriting and it can take a long time to correct afterward. I think in my own case that was part of how things worked. I can write neatly now but it takes a degree of manual focus.
This was a really interesting video Mike :). I had problems with writing and went trough therapy for that and other motor skills problems as a child, and have always been clumsy. After I discovered I was Autistic and went trough my diagnosis prosess and learning more about my self things made so much more sens😅.I remember like it was yesterday from 1st grade when we all was supposed to cut out a paper clock with scissors and I couldn't do it, and it ended up in me having a meltdown.
This makes so much sense to me. I've always been far less, frustratingly less, deft and graceful and masterful in my movement than all my instincts told me I should be. I was always thin, lithe, flexible, and possessed of a quite fine aesthetic taste. Plus very musical (very good singer, much less adept at playing instruments). It was always like there was this "ideal me" who'd excel naturally at things like gymnastics, dance, even running. But reality was....NO. Somehow it just didn't work. Handwriting was always a trial, ALSO completely baffling because I was extremely verbal, always the winner in spelling bees. Yet teachers would constantly hector me about my illegible scrawl. In short, there was the profoundest disconnect between naturally-should-be and reality. It all makes so much sense now.
Since I've been exploring ADHD, then autism in myself, I've started hearing about connections with dyspraxia too, and that also makes sense to me. I was one of the ones picked last for sports teams too, and I struggled with craft classes. Music helped me a lot, though - maybe the regular practice and the clearly defined movements acted as therapy somehow. I love dancing, too, but not any kind that requires you to get movements exactly right (eg ballet) - I prefer discos and celidhs. I manage fine now, aged 53, probably because I have managed to get work and hobbies that avoid needing fine motor skills. Dyspraxia may be a big reason why I had to leave lab science, and I wish I'd known about others back then.
Anna, welcome! And you've just reminded me about failing my A-Level Chemistry practical, because my titration experiment failed. Argh. It would have been significantly easier if it were programming lab equipment to do the mechanical movements rather than doing the plate spinning myself! I'm sorry you've had to leave the laboratory, I can see how disco ordination challenges might well contribute to that. -Mike
@@Autistic_AF I managed to get a PhD and a career in science communication and training, so it's worked out OK. But I always wonder what might have been...
I believe that.. PT can help strengthen that connection between the brain and body. While it may not be totally “fixed”, it can definitely help with body/motor coordination.
Mike, You have a great way of putting things so we can easily understand the subtle differences. The scene with your dear sweet lens dropping is terrific. I also, love the water. We had a 12' deep in ground pool growing up, my dad rigged up a home made air mask. I could have stayed in there all day. Thanks for another great show. hUgz from Ohio, Lee
I've always had the feeling that my legs didn't belong to my body and felt it much strongly during puberty, bc, well, i was growing up. I lost count of how many times i was simply walking and tripped on my own foot (in fact this still happens today) and also lost the ability to ride a bycicle (i could ride, with assistance, up until i was 6, after that, my bike broke down and i never went back to riding bycicles again). If i ever try riding a bike nowadays, i immedeatly lose my balance as well kinda... forget???... how my legs work. I keep tripping over my own feet, keep accidentaly hitting myself with household appliances... the list goes on. I'm also a late diagnosed autistic adult! Ever since i got my final diagnosis i've been looking up the co-occurence of other disabilities and dyspraxia has to be the one i related the most (along with dyscalculia)!
I think the intense ballet training I had as a child must have helped me enormously with my co-ordination but still to this day I can't throw a ball to save my life and it's a family joke. Handwriting is an interesting one as I have several different styles I can write in thanks to each teacher thinking they knew the best way to teach left handed writing. I think my attention to detail allows me to replicate handwriting but I really have to concentrate to get it neat....
I don't know if it's a common thing but the accuracy of my movements greatly depends on my mood which is itself disregulated thanks to ADHD. It directly influences my handwriting which ranges from quite aesthetic to utterly disgusting. The fun part is when the mood enhancing effect of alcohol massively overtakes the coordination impairment effect which means I'm better at any task that has high motor control requirements while a bit drunk. I'm not advocating for that poison but it's a fun paradox. Oh you reminded me of that punishment of writing a sentance many times, fun times. Yeee the sports thing of getting picked last, memories popping too, now I utterly despise team-based sports. I just ran around trying to intercept the ball and throw it asap to the closest teammate as any attempt of making a play failed miserably for some self-sabotaging reason. Oh I didn't know you were diving, I need to try someday. It's super fun but there's a little (lot of) thalassophobia to overcome first. I'm utterly terrified of not seeing the bottom in any water body.
I have no doubt I have dyspraxia. I found the term probably 20 years ago when I was doing research after I got my ADHD diagnosis. I don't think it was even recognized as an actual disorder in Canada at the time. I have an overwhelming number of symptoms. Oddly, I'm really good at accurately throwing trash in waste baskets from across the room. In school I could get a better than average number of basketballs in the net if I was just throwing the ball from a standing position. I was also a mean volleyball server. Those were my only athletic skills. I can't catch a ball, return a volley, or hit a baseball with a bat. 😊
Thanks for talking about this! I always felt I was great at fine motor skills and not great at gross motor skills (I was put in a dance and movement class when I was 4 specifically because I was clumsy. I loved that class because even though they taught us skills, it was free movement and no one got mad at me.) But also, I hate typing. I can do it, obviously, but not quickly or accurately my handwriting is nice though. Which makes me wonder how special interests interact with dyspraxia. Do I love handwriting and other hand skills because I like them? Or do I like them because I am good at them. I just love making stuff. Typing clearly falls into the hand skill category, but it does not make me happy and the delete button is gonna wear out soon. So I wonder about diving? I love being in water, and identify with what you say about how it feels. I've never had the opportunity to learn to dive, but it does interest me. Also flying. Love flying, the smaller the plane the better. Wish I had the money to learn that. Cycling on an open road gives me that feeling too. But my favorite part of living in a big city outside of the US is that I do not have to drive any more. I actually enjoy driving a stick shift in the countryside. But the results of a small error are too great in a car, and the stress of that is there even when everything is fine. And a good proportion of my childhood trauma comes from mandatory sports.
Great informative video. I've been diagnosed with ADHD Combined as an adult, but I've always had the symptoms of DCD growing up and still do as an adult.
I have ADHD, ASD, and EDS (which also has issues with this). But before I knew any of that, an actual thing my podiatrist said to me after asking me to walk in a straight line down the hall so he could assess my posture and such: "Wow, don't get pulled over cuz you would NOT pass the line test"😂😂 I have never been able to keep my posture or balance in my entire life. It's a fun time😅
When i really realized just how clumsy I was I was in a fancy secondhand shop trying my best to NOT bump into something in a cluttered area, and I still knocked a pot over and my mom had to pay for it 😂 Then the ususal spilling of water while carrying a glass and stuff happens daily.
Not noticed any dyspraxia in myself or my two autistic children, we're all adhd too. I'd say I'm way more the other way, really hyper good coordination etc. As a very young child at school in handwriting practice I'd get praised for having every letter perfect and exactly the same. I excelled at any sport that involved aiming or throwing, like throwing a cricket ball at the stumps from distance or throwing darts at a dart board. I can often pick up my darts and throw a 180 with no warm up, just yesterday I aimed at the bullseye and threw all 3 in. Some days it literally feels like I'm putting the darts in the exact spot on the dart board. Similar accuracy with pistol and rifle shooting, archery etc. Maybe it's why I became a professional artist, a lot of hand/eye coordination needed for that too. At 54 I still practice gymnastics, hand balancing etc, got good awareness of my body in space. Only thing I've notice over my lifetime is that I wander offline when walking and I can only balance on one leg with my eyes shut for barely a few seconds. 😅
I'm definitely dyspraxic - took me months to learn to ride a bike!! I also empathise with your description of being in water - it's so much easier to move freely & with confidence! Unfortunately I am extremely buoyant, so I have to work really hard to swim underwater. When I learnt to scuba dive in Australia I had to wear so many weights for our deep ocean dive, my hips were all bruised when I took them off!! If I ever get to scuba dive again, I'll get myself some ankle & arm weights so I can spread them out a bit 🤣
Thank you for this. I, too, had the childhood experience of being chosen last for sports. Good thing I was pretty good at everything, and sometimes, I was chosen first for the spelling bee or captain of the team. Recently, I tried a dance fusion class, thinking, "I have a sense of humour, and you never know the result until you try." It was dismal. To top it off, the tune playing was "She's a Bad Mammer Jammer." I wasn't. I laugh when I think of it. I can be on at least in some tasks. :)
I was always one of the last to get picked on a sports team as well. Every time I would get put in goal. I kept telling everyone, don't put me in goal because I'll miss the ball and let all the goals in. I'll be far less of a handicap to the team if you put me on the field. Of course, no one listened because no one wanted to be in goal, so they lumped it with me. Inevitably, I let all the goals in and they got mad at me. Well, I did tell you 🙄.
I've stopped wearing watches because after a month or so, I would find that the face/crystal would be horribly scratched or just straight up cracked. I've also started putting my hands on corners and doorways to try and keep myself from running into them...when I remember to. I've never been diagnosed, but my pediatrician back in the '80s told my parents I was the most clumsy child he ever met and if he didn't see me run into things himself every time I came into his office, he would have called CPS on my parents.
I'm clumsy, dropping and tripping over things! With the whole 'walking into things' too! 😅 As a child my school would call the authorities because I would have lots of bruises and sprains when I showed up - my poor parents had to defend themselves frequently - But eventually it all got straightened out. 😮💨 As I'm getting older, I realize how problematic being clumsy is because falls for us older people could potentially be fatal...
When I'm weaving through a crowd (rare I hate it lol) it always seems to be other people (mostly neurotypical I'm sure) that have no sense of space constantly misjudging distance, slow reaction, struggling to change direction lol maybe having both ADHD and Autism gives you more awareness of this stuff not sure, the only time I'm clumsy is when I'm stressed, or sometimes when being observed, that perceived feeling can be a concentration killer.
Eldest struggles but is not officially daliagbosed with dyspraxia, youngest is also very clumsy not surebifbhe would be classed as dyspraxic though. Excellent video as always. 😊
I have dyspraxia, with the added complication of having scoliosis since my early teens, which resulted in one shoulder and hip (my left) being higher than the other (my right). Oddly, my left leg is also shorter, so I am already off-kilter. The dyspraxia just adds to it. Strangely, I was very good at ballet, but that was when I was a small child, so perhaps the scoliosis had yet to develop. I loved to dance as a child, and now, looking back, I realize that it was a form of stimming for me. (I only danced when no one was looking at me; if they were, I'd yell at them, and stop.) I had not realized all of the tests that police do; it's another reason I am happy that I do not drive. (Feel sorry for all those with dyspraxia who do drive, though.)
I self-identified with ASD at age 59, almost 9 years ago. At the same time, it was fairly obvious to me that dyspraxia was also an issue; and even inattentive type ADHD. I eventually got someone in my home country to confirm ASD, but the other two issues were not officially added as co-morbidities. My self identification was not denied as such; especially as the diagnostician has personal experience of dyspraxia. But it was said at the time that too long a list of issues might only confuse practitioners in the country where I now live, which is a place that seems to think there is no such thing as adulthood ASD. But let's just say that your experience is extremely familiar to me. Now you asked for comment on your diving experience, but I can't really comment because I hate all swimming. (Although I keep noticing vestibular problems.) In this country, I have noticed some research on children with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. I imagine they use diving decompression chambers. Now I largely dismissed this notion as it seemed like yet another crazy attempt at a 'cure'. But I now notice that such research has also been carried out elsewhere. Not that I am asking anyone here to subscribe to the idea of a 'cure'. ;-)
I relate to the scubadiving, I was a scubadiving teacher and can make my body ( and equipment ) do everything I want perfectly and precisely when underwater. (Like the flip of the side-tip of my fine and do a perfect 360) I am Autistic, ADHD, dyslexique, and very very probably dyspraxic
I don't know where I'd score on this, just that I do know that I've had to manually monitor my body language and facial expressions for years because they wouldn't necessarily do what I needed them to on their own. Also while I did do martial arts for 14 years and it went well enough (I could follow the directions, practice, get, better, etc.) I'd be absolutely horrible at tasks that took really fast visual processing coordination with motion - such as a friend taking me to an indoor mountain bike course and all hilarity ensued (thankfully I stayed out of the way and didn't cause any accidents with more seasoned riders).
I was first chair clarinet, but I also am maimed by door latches and knobs almost daily. My left arm currently has two nasty bruises and a large scratch. I can write very neatly, but will get my foot caught in a door jam and fall right on my face. I can walk up or down stairs if thinking about it or not thinking, but if I change to or from thinking while using stairs it’s seriously dangerous.
I have decent fine motor coordination, I can write and draw fairly well, but I'll be danged if I can walk in a straight line to save my life. Long ago I gave up on not having bruises, scratches, hurt fingers, busted toes. And my son has the same issue. We always buy cups/plates/etc second hand and we don't, nor will we ever have a matching set of dishes.
I went to get a dyspraxia diagnosis here in the US. They said they don't give them to adults. But unofficially what I have fits. But that turned into a SPD diagnosis I am "off the charts " .
4:21 always messy writing, always slow, hardest time catching and throwing. Lines *defeated breath* omg lines, our shop teacher has us write out the safety notes for machines we would be using, if not done by deadline, had to write up two extra copies. Not sure how deep the whole hole went, before they finally ceded on the idea that I was just ‘lazy’.
I have always felt like my dyspraxia is tied to my ADHD. The more my ADHD symptoms are treated, the better my dyspraxia is. If I’m tired or hungry or have a full bladder, I’m distracted enough that I can’t coordinate my body as well. If I’m hyper focused in an intellectual way, my dyspraxia is worse - like I’m too inside my head to be in my body. If I’m hyper focused on something that requires my body’s involvement (painting, skiing, swimming), I am extremely aware of my body and can typically coordinate very well.
I hated village child football (sucked at it, hated the social aspect, still do to this day), but i love(d) martial arts. it is individual so you can go at your own pace and it is a playful way to improve in motor control. Today, I easily learn new movement patterns, but sitting a lot made a lot of imrovements in posture vanish :(
Your diving anecdote is very interesting! There is definitely some kind of connection between grounding with sensory stimulation and motor control. I'm not sure if I have dyspraxia or if my symptoms can be explained by autistic shutdowns. I tell my friends I'm lagging lol. If I'm overstimulated (depending on the severity) I become a lot more clumsy, when I'm walking I get that heavy disorienting feeling like stepping down the last step of the stairs in the dark. I get these weird episodes where I might move very very slowly and my proprioception is dreamlike. And speaking is also difficult, it can be scary. It's very hard to explain to others what's going on. Does anyone else experience something like this? I find that once I have headphones or my sketchbook, most of the time it clears up like nothing happened?
Interesting stuff to think about… on the one hand, I don’t think I’d quite meet dyspraxia diagnostic criteria. And indeed, I taught myself to ride a bicycle when I was 3, and stuff like that. On the other, I had to repair a macro lens once that I was clumsy enough to knock over while mounted to the camera (which, luckily, was fine) and on a tripod, and I fairly frequently bump into things, occasionally quite hard. So… I at least have hints of it, I guess? Possibly contextually? Interesting stuff.
Hm. I'm having a memory of a reflex test, where someone holds a ruler while the kid (me) holds their hands open on either side. The other person drops the ruler, and sees how quickly the kid can clap their hands together to catch the ruler as it falls. I remember failing this test while all my siblings passed. I was so embarrassed to be so clumsy and slow about physical things.
the other day i walked past a door handle, it got caught in the back of my dungarees and went through the back. how. how. how. (one of many instances of directional mishaps that usually involve crashes or clothes ripping)
i tend to have trouble with full body movements and it can vary id say i find full body activities harder and i can be slow at reacting to things, alot of it comes from my ass not being able to quickly process it all i always didnt like sport, my least fav activities are with balls. i always hurt my elbows when tryna throw the ball in the basket and i struggle with movements which require multiple steps(not litteral steps) like having to step forward lime 3-4 times before throwimg the ball in the basket i could never do it or doing tricks with a jumping rope anything that is more than just a basic one step movement is very diffictult for me fine motor skills like drawimg i can do esp since ive drawn my whole life, its the bigger movements i seem to struggle with sometimes i may tumble while just walking, in some cases my legs fail to walk normally as i may raise em more or limp, possibly cause im uncomfortable if i shake my head due to tics i can temporarily lose coordination with my legs
Thankfully if I had/have dyspraxia. Its only very mild. Edit: I do run into things. And simetimes forget where my body is. But im also able to dance and do sports. Hency why if I have any dyspraxia. Its likely very mild. Like you, I found something that really.. I felt like I was in my body. And thatvwas ballet.. unfortunately... Having to memorize combinations on the spot didnt go well with adhd. And quick movments in various directions don't go with dyslexia. But I still love it dearly However nobody at school caught my adhd, asd, dylexia, dyscalculia or NVLD before I dropped out 🙃 #JustLazy Also, I love your void floof!
I'm super dyspraxic, just learned recently, I've hit the same spot on my hand FIVE TIMES in the last week, I literally have a small superficial hematoma LMAO, but, I have no handwriting that's "my own", it's all everybody elses, b/c I have dr. script, which, were old dr's autistic, is that why the stereotype is what it is lol, who knows, but, anyway, I had to write lines and LMAO I loved writing them, it wasn't a punishment. I literally wrote numbers in notebooks, like, 1-1 million, just writing numbers, lol.
I don't think I have dyspraxia, but the police want people to estimate 30 seconds for sobriety test? I'd be hosed! *adds this to list of reasons to not take up driving*
I would say that as many things in ASD this is not linear in my case, some periods I’m clumsy queen 👸, get cuts and bruises many times a day but others periods I have no “accidents” my hand writing is pretty decent in general and driving isn’t a problem for me. My daughter also has a decent hand writing, she also draw beautifully, but she has some balance problems, she’s in physiotherapy now because of her hyper mobility (they think she could be EDS, but isn’t an easy diagnosis)… talking about spectrum… I think we have a spectrum in the community but also each individual has an spectrum in “manifestations” and also in “time”…
I'm completely sure i'm dyspraxic AF. I bump into everything, sports is a no-no, handwriting a disaster etc. Once a bouncer didn't let me get into a club because I seemed "already drunk enough", although, as an anti-alcoholic, I didn't have one drop of alcohol that night. BUT I'm a world class dancer (self-identified) and have no problems whatsoever with coordination when the beat hits. Maybe coordination is highly dependent on the circumstances, just like with focus in ADHD?
We are starting to find out that top athletes in the world is on the spectrum. With my own experience I've been able to function well in sports and I'm still afraid to walk close to items without steel toed boots as I hurt my toes hitting things, so is dyspraxia another mistaken diagnosis, because our monotropism emulates dyspraxia, it seems like we lack body awareness if we get distracted, but if a sport is our special interest we can have superhuman awareness.
Yes! I'm good at sports and dance, but when distracted or burned out I start walking at lampposts, hitting my head on walls, and having trouble with shoelaces
I avoid having any furniture that has sharp edges and place everything in certain way(that others might find impractical), so I won't bang myself on everything all the time. Audhd with maladaptive daydreaming, dyspraxia and hypermobility(eds, I presume) and I wonder how I'm still alive.😂
Oh yes, you are doing some interesting research you should look at schizophrenia we used to be diagnosed along with it, it is similar to how many have Hyperphantasia …correlations as well with autism. G4 epigenetic genes expression. jumping genes I recommend starting out with Neil Shubin books. Thanks again Mike it was truely educational. Your inner fish
I experience a significant amount of this in my 50's. But I don't remember being like this when I was younger...(not that my memory is that great) I imagine it can get worse as you age? Esp during menopause?
It has gotten better as I have gotten older. I think things through more carefully. But I do drop things more often and I think that is because of nerve problems in my hands. Dyspraxia doesn't go away, but the more you practice skills, the more presence of mind you have (meaning being aware of what you are doing in the moment) the less cliumsy. But it is tiring to focus all of the time.
Yep..All this.Some of what I deal with I have also discovered has to do with my EDS. Talk about feeling awkward. Oops. Shoulder is out of place again when I sneezed. Time to put it back in again. 😏 Feel like alphabet soup sometimes. haha I think the genes of all this neurodiversity correlate and have varying levels, which is why so many similarities are seen and yet each one has its unique manifestations. Thanks for addressing this.
I have visual problems. I am cross-eyed. So I lack depth perception. So I would not qualify for a dyspraxia diagnosis. I was always picked last in sports. My handwriting was kind of bad but not the worst.
A fellow VLDL enjoyer I see. I’ve been catching up on their skits a lot recently. Good stuff. What have you thought of their more recent mental health content? The ADHD videos have been really spot on from my perspective. I imagine that when they branch into ASD they’ll be similarly well written.
Pretty good, although depression focused. Although, it’s an important set of messages; there are a couple of great skits - so accurate - they’ve clearly got lived experiences that comes through in their videos and podcasts. I wonder if they will talk about autism some point; is one of the team autistic?
Dyspraxia: When your brain gives your body instructions in French, but your body only speaks Italian...
This is a really good explanation.
And then you only understand English, so neither of the other two make sense to you either XD
Perfect description!!!
☝🏽
Better yet: When your brain speaks Spanish, your body Portuguese, and your brain says "Esta persona... es muy molesta" (molestar meaning 'to bother' in spanish and 'to SA' in portuguese
Before being diagnosed with Aspergers, my son was tested for possible dyspraxia. I remember the clinician throwing him a ball and he stood arms by his side with the ball bouncing off his chest. You're supposed to try to catch it, she said. Well, you never said that, he replied.😂
Unfortunately, this person didn't pick up on that. It was another year before the mother of a child with ADHD told me that she thought my son might have Aspergers. He doesn't have dyspraxia but he dislikes sports and loves swimming.😊
LOL That is such a great and relatable story.
How could they not pick up on that?
@@karenholmes6565 Aspergers wasn't widely talked about then. I'd never heard of it until my friend told me. The information was there but there wasn't a lot of detail. I have also found out that different departments don't cross-reference each other. Once we had the right experts, it was fine. This was in the noughties.
This - from the distance and knowing he got right diagnose later - is one of the funniest autistic-logig stories I've heard, thank You for sharing it😁
@@katzenbekloppt_mf even funnier was the fact that she did it twice! After the first thock off his chest, she picked it up, said OK let's do it again. Thock, bounced off again before she said You're supposed to catch it. 🤣🤣🤣 I had my sleeve stuffed in my mouth as I imagined him thinking ' OK, if you want to do it again 🤷'
The scene when the camera lens falls to the ground and got broken - THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME!
6:57 - bar handles on doors grabbing belt loops on my jeans is a fun one.
Yes! I still rue the day the doors in our house got changed from knobs to handles. I complained about it at the time and everyone just said I was complaining for the sake of it. Barely a day goes by when I don't crash into the handles or end up getting hooked to them with my shirt sleeves.
Happens to me all the time. Belt loops on my jeans.
I tell people i have a negative dexterity modifier instead of saying i'm clumsy. In part because clumsy is always so negative in connotation, and in part because the flash of recognition on the face of my fellow RPGers gives me something to talk about.
Ha! That's clever, I dig it. Not an RPGer myself, but I appreciate the language shift. 👏🏻
I regularly have bruises from limbs hitting furniture and there are often banging and smashing sounds as crockery hits surfaces because of badly planned trajectories. Then there is handwriting..
Hey Steve, ouch! 🤕
Bruising easily (in the sense of "I barely touched the [thing] yet look how dark this bruise is!") can be related to weak / loose connective tissue, which is more common among us autistics. For example, Ehlers-Danlos syndrom conditions (there are a baker's dozen of them) and other hypermobility conditions are far more common among autistic people than in the general population.
@@ronjaj.addams-ramstedt1023I'm pretty sure I have both dyspraxia and EDS. I think both are probably much more common than is currently believed, just like autism
Same.🎉
I was diagnosed fairly early with Dyslexia and "social issues" that look an awful lot like Autism. They put me in Gross motor training and I was put into ballet (care to guess what my first hyper focus was?) I still am awkward at running and inanimate objects still attack me out of nowhere 😂
My daughter is an undiagnosed but painfully obvious dyspraxic diagnosed ADHDer.
On your point about diving- my daughter said that swimming in deep water is the scariest thing she's tried and that she feels more than ever that she can't tell directions of up and down.
When I was a young adult I would have never passed a sobriety test. I couldn't stand on one leg with my eyes open for even five seconds with a physical therapist. I then went under intense balancing therapy and eventually could stand on one leg with my eyes closed for a full minute. Being older now, I don't balance quite as well anymore, but I still can stand on one leg for a full minute, and still on one leg with my eyes closed for ten seconds despite my neuropathy problems. I got a late autism diagnosis at age 62.
I have terrible handwriting. I have problems driving a car, but eventually passed my driver's test (five years later than my peers). I had problems catching a fly ball. My savings grace is that I was a good sprinter and jumper. Thus, I could do certain sports well despite my gym teacher embarrassing me in front of everyone by yelling "You run like a cow!"
I tried balancing on one leg as a coordination exercise for a while once, and discovered that after 5 seconds, my attention would wander and I’d lose my balance; however, if I had a second hand on a watch to stare at, I could go “”5… 10… 15… 20… 25… 30…” all the way up to 60 by refocusing my attention every 5 seconds! I’m AuDHD-PI. This was when I wasn’t medicated for ADHD, and was how I realized y attention span is literally 5 seconds! No wonder living is difficult! 😬
Wow, if I stand on one leg my foot gets tired before I lose balance, so I expected to ace this test. But with my eyes closed I'm over in a couple of seconds. I never guessed vision was such an important factor.
@@misspat7555 Sorry if it's obvious, but what dies the PI stand for?
Primarily Inattentive = PI@@missoats8731
Pretty much true for me as well as some of my family members.
I not only was always picked last, the team that had to pick me always refused to take me but the teacher told them they had no choice.
Oh those wonderful school years...😶🌫
Same
Definitely relate to the game controller paradigm. What if we take that a little further? The term "bandwidth" gets used often, so...
If we explain monotropism as having insufficient downstream bandwidth to handle incoming data in real time, then the data that makes it to us is missing chunks of the "big picture" similar to say ... dropped frames on the monitor we're watching, or the audio in our headphones cutting in and out.
Then, there's the additional processing time necessary to figure out what's going on from this incomplete data, and decide what action or actions to take.
Also, depending on what's causing the downstream bandwidth congestion, there could also be upstream bandwidth congestion. This results in our avitar, (whether masked or unmasked) to appear jittery and glitchy, sometimes missing pathways, taking damage from environmental obstacles, and even triggering mobs we aren't prepared for.
Depending on the exact circumstances, stimming could be the equivalent of attempting to recalibrate our controller or reset the network connection... But either way, to an outside observer, it would look like the "lag-man's jig."
Ah, writing neatly: my solution was to draw letters instead of writing them... still do it. Needless to say that my writing speed was/is not up to par...
@duikmans oh that's an interesting way of looking at it and something I'd never considered, but it really makes sense! I have had so many writing styles, especially at school/college which were very stylised and each letter was thought out. I've never thought of that as 'drawing' but that's exactly what it is, in the same way someone would do calligraphy. It was always slow, intentional and uniform, I spent more time caring how it looked than getting it done in time. My actual 'quickly write it down' writing is and was almost unintelligible, even to me. I've never had one specific handwriting style, it has regularly changed, even on the same piece of writing at times, but it's not something that I ever really thought about as being different or using it as a way of compensating for my neurodiversity.
I was diagnosed with Aparaxia of Speech (aka Verbal Dyspraxia) as a child, and it was treated in the same distorted way that autism diagnoses are: that it was something I would outgrow through enough therapy and practice. Spoiler alert: I didnt outgrow it, or other dyspraxic symptoms I had, I just learned to manage them well enough that adults didn't find me a bother anymore. Nowadays I can speak "properly", but when Im low on energy or overwhelmed my speech is the first thing to turn off. I wonder what percentage of non-vocal/ limited-vocal people with autism also have comorbid dyspraxia. Its hard to find out, because once a child is diagnosed with autism or dyspraxia, the tendency is to stop there and not find out if there are any co-occuring conditions.
With both ADHD and ASD
I've had a unique experience with coordination. I definitely am below average.
Even if I spent 2 times longer writing and my handwriting still looks terrible.
My experience differs from others on the spectrum in that I do have elite genetics for power and muscle building. And if I become especially interested in a physical task I can become way above average.
I can do intermediate level butterfly knife tricks. And I love twirling weighted staffs and I can do a color guard routine on a 10lb weighted staffs.
I got interested in the gym and got to the point where as a 5ft 7 160lb man I can bench 260lbs squat 350 and deadlift 450lbs. And I became a personal trainer for about a year.
My life is very orientated towards coordination but when I learn a new coordination task I always still have to start back at 0. Like I tried to learn the one wheel recently and just ate shit over and over without even getting it going. But I know if I take the time to learn it I'll get it eventually.
The one wheel is.... not for me either! But I agree - with enough time, sure - anything can be learned! -Mike
I have the same diagnosis, and am very similar. I was often chosen last in school sports, but being pushed to do out-of-school sports by my parents (and enjoying it) I've learned to be very dexterous when I put my mind to it - including experiencing the slow-motion effect of assessing a situation and reacting to it. I might have a tendency to knock things over by accident, then I can quickly catch it with my hands or let it bounce off my feet.
My handwriting is still terrible, though.
Ever since I was a small child, I can remember how free and much less clumsy i felt, when i was wearing tight hugging clothes. But my mother was projecting her own need for veeeeery loose clothing on me, such a misfire!
Today I still feel safest, and much less clumsy in skin tight jeans or leggins, and I wonder now if it is because of the pressure, as you mention. I likwise feel free while svimming.
My mother is most certainly undiagnosed (unaware) autistic, and strangely her sensory needs are the opposite as mine, but she would interpret my needs as being the same as hers. Bright lighting everywhere, loose clothing, lots of leather texture that would stick to ones skin, no aroma or perfume, only food smells allowed in the house 🥲
Navigating conflicting autistic needs is a whole topic on its own!
I worry about this, as an autistic mother to (probably) autistic children! I want to help them get what they need, and push back against what's normal and expected when that's not helpful, but I don't always know when that's what they need, or what I need/ needed. It's tricky to figure out
@@melissaheaton2706 it really is! Atleast until an age where one can just ask the child about preferences and needs.
It does though make a major difference for the child, that parents are open to embracing the childs needs, rather than pretending nothing is ‘wrong’ with their child, causing the child to mask a lot. I bet the fact that we are even concerned with these factors, mean we are doing allright ❤️ atleast I hope so, and I am willing to learn ❤️
I have always joked that I was safer on a horse then I was on my own feet. Now I think that the movement of the horse under me helped me understand where my body is. Unfortunately, I don't ride anymore (chronic pain and my beautiful mare died in December), but I am at least still able to be around horses.
I'm sorry to hear your horse is gone. That's gotta hurt. 🫶🏻 I've never had horses but my grandma did and loved them so deeply. Such special companions.
@@jmaessen3531 thank you. I had her for 20 years, and she was incredible. I have a mini now, and he is a sweetheart.
Omg - thank you! The exact example- my 3rd grade teacher whom I worshiped - Mrs Turner- told me off in front of the class when my best effort cursive was judged to be willfully bad - I took out a pencil from my own little gift case from my auntie and started block printing the assignment she told me to redo better. She ordered me to stop and I said those are my personal property and she lost her temper grabbed my pencil out of my hand and yelled at me to go to the principals office for punishment. I said and I quote “you go to hell I’m going to get you fired!!!!!” (At 9 years old! Cheeky me!) Then faked sick at the office and my sisters walked me home - they knew I was faking but it got them out early so they didn’t care - they were thrilled I was actually rebelling for once. The pediatric neuro my mom took me to because she had brain bleeds and understood my predicament a bit more than the average bear I think- he diagnosed me w a “mild case” of cerebral palsy and my mom was told to have me play lots of physical sports but not say anything about the condition to others even my siblings to avoid stigma. I got the bully nickname “hypochondriac” and if I walked up to a group on the playground they would all chorus “hi hypochondriac” which stuck til about 5th grade when I had a popular best friend starting in 4th grade who helped me not care about the other kids. She became a top autism researcher and now I’m waiting on appt for formal diagnoses so I can have a serious conversation w her about it once it is not just my own self diagnoses. Thank you so much- it is astonishing to find so many people out there who had experiences like mine. I played along and goofed on my clumsiness my whole life wo much compassion for myself about it or ever telling anyone off for teasing me about it even though I am also a very graceful dancer. It is a relief to know I was not alone in this kind of bullying and to have a place to tell that story to people with the ears to hear. Now that I’m getting old I bruise a lot more easily. Rose hip oil seems to make the bruises heal faster so my arms aren’t mottled purple 24x7. Much ❤️ to all - such a relief to find community on these pages.
I had a nightmare 3rd grade teacher too. She labeled me intellectually disabled because of my writing.
Oh my gosh, Julia! Go you! Nice bit of PDA there, perhaps? Rose hip oil you reckon? Alright! We have rose hips growing nearby, I might pick some and Google how to extract the oil. -Mike
Idk about the pda … thank you so much for this channel. I’ve been just letting my body move/ discharge energy/“stim” much more often as an experiment and I’m SO much calmer, happier, more functional just from this one adjustment and insight. Appreciate all my TH-cam creators for bringing me this awareness and possibility. Thank you and the community so so so much!!!
So cool your friend grew up to research autism! And glad you're here! Thanks for sharing a bit of your story Julia! 👋🏻
Oh wow there’s actually a word / condition for this!!! I’ve always been clumsy and it’s only once I’ve gotten used to a house / apartment that the clumsiness calms down (most cuz I’ve already got a mental map of the house and I also lift my legs higher than needed when walking over obstacles. So when we put in the baby gates in my house, it was everyone else tripping over the gate). But once I’m at someone else’s house, I’m often back to being super clumsy. A few months ago, I was sleeping over by family, and the bed had legs. I walked into them so often within a 24 hour period, that my feet were sore and I struggled to walk til my feet had a chance to recover.
I can’t play any sport where the ball / object is coming in my direction, especially not fast. I tried to play hockey, as a teenager, and I was terrified both of the puk and my fellow players. Teachers automatically assumed it was slow or something, fuelling their determination to help me get sports like badminton, without success.
I’m not so good at swimming on the surface of a pool / ocean, tho I won’t sink. But I’ve always preferred swimming at the bottom of a pool. So I’d make a game out of finding stuff at the bottom of the pool.
My balance has always been terrible which means that stairs of any sort are a source of intense anxiety for me. I do have to use them regularly to keep the anxiety down, but I also need to walk slowly and to either hold a railing or stuck my elbow out so it touches the wall as I go down.
Thank you for sharing this and in such a clear, easy to understand format without music!
Hey Andi - you're welcome. Thank you for sharing your ... painful! experiences. Have a great day :) -Mike
Oh, the "swimming on the ground"-thing is interesting!
I was always bad in long time swimming or running (no condition), but good at short sprints and very good at diving at school sports, so to dive deep and get something from the ground or to dive long distance. I was much quicker and it was easier for me to follow a straight way in diving as in swimming.
It's more then 40 years ago so I completly forgot.
It would be interesting if this is a thing connected to the pressure under water Mike told many times about.
I myself and sports-teachers never understood when there was something I was good at😅. The other was that I was very flexible.
@@katzenbekloppt_mf Yeah now I also have a suspicion it could something to do with the pressure. I’m not the best at diving but I did enjoy diving (untrained so probably with bad form) into my childhood pool, especially since it automatically took me to the bottom of the pool. I never timed my swimming but I did get to the other end pretty quickly.
Re distance running, I am atrocious as correctly determining distance between myself and a point in the distance (likely due to adhd), so I wouldn’t run as quickly as I should’ve for shorter distance tracks lol. Long distance, no hope there lol I’d be dizzy / lightheaded shortly after starting 🙈😅 So I’m kinda relieved I’m not the only one. What’s weird is that a treadmill tricks my brain into believing it’s a short distance (again due to failing to correctly comprehend the distance), so I’ll run only to feel lightheaded after I get off 🙈😅
I think there is strong correlation between autism and dyspraxia. It was one of the key factors when discovering autism in myself. I find your experiences with diving quite interesting. I have a similar experience when playing musical instruments, its like my dyspraxia is diminished or reduced in that specific moment. I would be interested to see studies performed on hyperfocus and flow states and how they may influence dyspraxia, if at all.
Hey Adam - yes, there is definitely a strong correlation between autism and dyspraxia/DCD. Ahh, that's interesting. Yes, maybe hyperfocus/flow state might well be part of it. Also, rehearsed (pardon the pun) motor movements. That could be part of it too, some sort of muscle memory, needing less planning to execute an action? I wonder...
Same🎉
My child and I are both more regulated in the water and the pressure from being underwater gives my body the proprioceptive feedback I need to be able to move better. In the water I am a seal, on land I'm like a seal on land. I should have been a selkie
I was such a clumsy child, and very inflexible (stiff, tight muscles etc). However, put on some upbeat dance music and I am transformed. (husband: how can someone so clumsy be such a good dancer?!)When you mentioned vestibular I had an aha moment. That fits. If I turn my head or look up while walking I’ll veer off course. I still struggle to tie shoelaces at age 63!
Its the controlled silencing with, i mean usually swimming isnt noisy and can block out and , no wonder it felt so chill listening on a phone , its , the controlling imput, right?
Not to mention music unlss its extreme punk is orderly
Oh my god. I just basically wrote the same comment about dancing. Maybe this really is a thing.
Ditto for the dancing!! Been wiggling to music since before birth according to my mom. 😂 In my thirties now and it's still an instinctive mode of movement and my most preferred mode of exercise and stress relief and stimming and all of the good things! When I don't dance for long periods, things get really weird and discombobulated.
Yes I know this well. How can someone so clumbsy have such lightening fast reflexes. Toss a ball at me and I'll catch it but ask me play catch and I miss the ball every time. Seem to me if something I have think about I miss it but if I have quickly react to it I catch it.
i remember in elementary school my teacher told me i wrote my paper backwards (still dont understand what they meant) so I rewrote the entire paper....backwards...i got into more trouble. I was so upset.
I walk slowly and watch my step very carefully after a childhood of twisting my ankles frequently or tripping.
Horrid at sports.
Never figured out how to tie my shoes.
I definitely have a hard time with my handwriting, but it is legible. The other day though someone complimented it and I was happy.
It's not me... inanimate objects just hate me!
Hi Mike, love your content as always. For me learning about dyspraxia and how it relates to my autism gave a surprisingly a lot to unpack but to not make it too long, it was obvious for people to notice that I've been clumsy as a kid, bad at team sports, poor hand writing, had huge trouble with learning new hands-on skills therefore had a lot of social embarrassment.
However, when it comes to my special interests like trail running I could let gravity pull me downhill in jungle terrain with roots and stones that I could easily trip if a small mis-step, somehow I do could it faster than a lot of people (except the elites of course). Not sure I got good because of special interests beat dyspraxia or just because I've trained a lot. Same thing applies to guitar building.
Are you vigilantly scanning while running? Maybe it has to do with the speed of running matching brain speed?
Something that feels similar from my perspective and where I get my theory - I have a really hard time following along and understanding what someone is talking about if someone speaks slowly in a video, but if I turn up the playback speed to 2x and even 3 or 4x in some cases I just absorb it all! I'm clumsy handed, but I do a lot of things well if I just go faster- like chopping veggies with a chef knife.
@@ZhovtoBlakytniy interesting experience you shared about audio speed, that kinda relates to Mike's dyspraxia having less effect when he's diving.
About running downhill, not at all, in fact I felt like I was going way too fast than my brain could register and let my feet and gravity take over, the effort was only scanning 5 meters ahead not right in front of me (I have bad eyesight and usually take contacts off when running).
wow, this is just amazing to look more into. i've always known i fell into the criteria of asd that impacted certain motor function, but it's connecting dots from the past that really gets me. my step dad once punished me for still having my grandma tie my shoes around 1st grade. i had to sit for hours on a chair until i gained the muscle memory. i also cut my head open later in elementary on a bathroom sink corner because i crouched down to check if my friend was still in there and didnt sense my close surroundings! i never even thought to relate that to this!
My school report cards are a testament to my suspected dyspraxia - constant mentions of my atrocious handwriting, & woeful physical education grades & participation scores.
Great video Mike. I've been on a GP waiting list for a DCD assessment for over a year now. I was put on an autism assessment waiting list at the same time. In the end I decided to go to a local private assessor, partly because I get very impatient once I commit to something, but also because I was advised to contact them and see how it went. Cutting a long story short (yeah, right!), I got a positive assessment and then a formal diagnosis. At the tender age of 57!
But I know for sure that I have dyspraxia/DCD and I just want a professional diagnosis for my own personal peace of mind.
That's really weird, I walked very early and once I was steady enough I ran everywhere. I was bad at swimming not only because of asthma but my leg arm coordination was off. Like the upper and lower half was from 2 different people. Until we started diving for rings. It was so easy. My coordination was perfect. In sports I was awful at throwing balls or catching. Anything that needed strength I was terrible until about 6th grade. Bicycle no problem. I passed my driving test the first time. But I am still extremely clumsy. Walk in doorframe, stumble over my own feet and I have fallen over because I didn't have a clue anymore where my legs were, especially after fast head movements. I keep dropping stuff and sometimes get really annoyed but I soldier on. It's funny that most of my hobbies include a lot of fine motoric tasks. And yes, I do have ADHD and autism.
Could this be in any way related to why I want pressure up against my body when sleeping, like a heavy pillow against my abdomen, or a heavy blanket above me? Without that pressure I feel like my body is...well, isn't anywhere.
Potentially! And me too! I have loved weighted blankets for years. And I recently was finally able to purchase two weighted sweaters. It's the absolute best for helping me remember my body and not just float away, it seems. ☁️
@@jmaessen3531 Exactly. Like "floating away"!
I have always been bad at sports, I feel like I don't really know which muscles I have to tense to do the movement and stretching feels always wrong as I'm tense at wrong places. I always wish someone could name every particular muscle I have to tense for the movement but nobody knows their names and can't tell.
It's stressfull to hold fragile things because I feel like if I command myself not dropping it or not squeezing it too tight, the opposite will happen. I have hit my shoulders so many times on doorframes etc., I have learned to turn my upper body a bit sideways by placing my left arm to my back and right arm in front of my body, some people make fun of me for doing that every time I pass someone but I have to do so or else we will collide.
I'm mixed handed, I can do things with both hands but my left hand is better at fine motoric movements like drawing and right is better at strength needing tasks. I prefer to write with my left hand, I'm very quick at writing but my handwriting is terrible. Some teachers intimidated me that I won't pass my finals with my handwriting, but I did. I'm very good at drawing and handcrafts and can easily learn new crafts and to use tools.
I can't run correctly, I have inbalance in my leg muscles and I got strain injury from trying to run as a hobby.. so no running for me anymore. I love swimming, it feels great in my body and repeating the movement relaxes me so much! It may be the only sport I really like. I like dancing freely but I'm bad at learning choreography, I can't see what they did and my body won't do the movement that I'm trying to copy. Football is maybe the hardest thing I ever tried, running, watching where I have to kick the ball and kicking the ball and not tripping or kicking off of it, can't all happen at the same time. I never learned to kick where I wanted or moving the ball in front of me while running.
I very easily tip over drinking glasses and other stuff from the table and sometimes my fingertips just stick to the glass and drag it off the table even tho I already let my grip off of it.
Whaaat, that literally makes so much sense now lol. I've always had issues with balance and motor control skills. Bad at handwriting, bad at sports, bad at playing instruments (sadly) and overall just being very clumsy. The stuff you mention like standing still causing a lot of stress is something I've always had and never knowing why, always connecting it to issues with my muscle tension I have. Might do some reading later to see if there's a connection between muscle tension and dysphraxia. Very interesting stuff.
I'm nowhere near dyspraxic enough to warrant a diagnosis, but a lot of this resonates. I was terrible at throwing and catching and learning to ride a bike, and my mum spent ages working with me on those skills. In sport I was always picked one of the last two (along with another child in a group that one teacher called "the fatties" - he used to bully us in other ways too, e.g., regularly asking if I'd "got my lipstick on" because I had a persistent mouth rash). People used to laugh because I'd get hit by a ball I was supposed to catch. I had bad handwriting (still do, mostly I block print if other people need to read it). I was called "bone idle".
I had two strategies (for sport anyway). One was to lean into it, become the "class clown" for the subject, though they didn't always recognise it: my report one year said that "he appears a little confused by this subject". The other was avoidance. I managed to get out of it altogether eventually by taking on an extra language course which ran in the same timeslot. That strategy carried on into adulthood. When I eventually wanted to ride a bike again, it wasn't "just like riding a bike": I couldn't do it at all, and had to relearn it (though it was quicker second time around), and I was never very good at it. Some friends persuaded me to try ice skating; I went once, had a horrible time, never went again.
On the other hand, I have very quick reactions in some circumstances, and I'm really not bad at table tennis, which does not compute. (I'm quite impressive at getting my bat to the ball, though not so good at angling it right.)
I don't stand still naturally. Mostly I do a sort of figure of eight movement shifting my weight in a repeated pattern.
Thank you for doing this video. There are so many videos about autism on YT, but hardly any on dyspraxia. Last time I searched before you posted this, I think I found a grand total of 3. It was really interesting to hear about these studies looking at the connections between autism and dyspraxia, and it makes me question more than ever whether I am on the spectrum or not. I was diagnosed with dyspraxia when I was 7. Pretty lucky really because back then, it was such a very little known condition. My school didn't understand it at all. I got called out for my bad hand writing (partly blamed on being left handed), and I always struggled putting my uniform on (shoe laces, buttons, ties). I received occupational therapy, and went to a new school that specialised in teaching kids with dyslexia and other neurodivergent conditions. This helped a lot at the time but ever since I entered adulthood, I can't help feel like the progress I made started to regress because I struggle so much in the real world environment. I don't just struggle with coordination, but also a lot with social interactions, hyper sensitivity, etc. I have never been diagnosed with autism but, over the past few years, I've wondered whether everything is down to my dyspraxia, or if I might be on the spectrum as well. I really identified with the information in this video, so thank you.
Straight up does anyone else just randomly fumble with &/or drop things that they're holding, for no apparent reason or cause whatsoever?
Doesn't happen often, but at completely random times.
Yes! Regularly and inexplicably dropping things, which surprises me as much as the people around me. Glad to learn I'm not the only one.
Yep certainly do
Thanks Mike for another great video! Its nice to know its not just me that took lots of attempts to get my driving license. 🙂🚗 I got there in the end and so did you. Yay!
I am really glad the police have alcohol and drug testing kits here in Australia. I hope they do elsewhere too. I suspect I never would have passed that intoxication test, but now with disautonomonia, my balance is so poor, I would be likely to fall over! As for hand writing, I used to be "just" able to write neatly if I tried really hard, but it caused lots of tension and pain in my hand. Now, with neuropathy, its even harder. And even my typing is suffering. Dropping things has gone from often, to daily. Sad but true. 😿
I was diagnosed with autism about a month ago. I struggled with clumsiness my entire life. I am also ambidextrous, so my writing difficulties and clumsiness were blamed on my both handedness. My 3rd grade teacher told my parents that I was mentally retrded (which is what they used to called those with intellectual deficits), I suffered a lot of trauma from my 3rd grade teacher and her abusiveness surrounding my both handedness. She would have an aide stand over me while I would write and disapprovingly tap my hand when I would switch while writing. I was kept in at recess to practice writing if I switched hands in class, like I had done something wrong. I still tear up when I think about how I was treated. My parents were incensed by it, but back in this era there was little they could do (I am in my 50s). Unfortunately I heard my dad yelling about this teacher and how she had labelled me as intellectually disabled because he was so upset over it and he thought I was asleep. So I grew up thinking I was intellectually disabled. This caused me to overcompensate greatly. It devastated my self-esteem because I am twice exceptional, not intellectually disabled, meaning I am actually mentally gifted and learning disabled at the same time. I grew up to be a literal scholar. Perhaps I wouldn't have went that direction without that label.
I was always overcompensating for being clumsy as well. I was almost always picked last at sports until I discovered one thing I was good at, which was basketball. My ambidextity aided me. But because of your video I am beginning to think there was another talent that helped me become a truly excellent basketball player, I knew where the basket was in relationship to myself at all times. I could make half court shots. In high school PE I would play with the boys because I was so good, and they'd pick me first. I had like this echo location skill where I just knew where the basket was and I could sink the ball effortlessly. Also, like you I was an excellent swimmer. I did not compete in swimming, but I loved the water and loved to swim under it. I have one more weird talent. If I am hiking in the forest it is like I always know where I am in location to a trail, I know where to go. I used to hike a lot and my sense of direction was exceptional. You could drop me anywhere in the wilderness and I could get back to civilization. I have kept hiking buddies from getting lost more than once and they always trusted I knew where to go. If there is one savant skill I have it is that one. And I have no idea how I do it. Perhaps it is my dyspraxia? Because I have zero doubt I am dyspraxic. I am always injuring myself and I can't drive. Thank for this video. I am going to enjoy reading others to see if they have similar experiences.
Oh my god, what a sad story. I'm so glad the world is starting to recognise all these conditions and what they mean for a person instead of just trying to press children into a form they don't fit in.
Looks like your visual spatial skills/senses got buffed. Visual spatial intelligence is useful in math and STEM.
@@xaisthoj My son thinks that my locational abilities are my brain's way of compensating for dyspraxia. It is a roundabout way to keep myself from being more clumsy than I would be otherwise, like blind people having acute hearing, or deaf people sensing sound through vibration.
5:52 - I've heard that trying to make someone write too early actually damages their handwriting and it can take a long time to correct afterward. I think in my own case that was part of how things worked. I can write neatly now but it takes a degree of manual focus.
Hi Mike, you've quickly become a dearly beloved TH-camr to me 🤗
Hello Barney, welcome! 😊
This was a really interesting video Mike :). I had problems with writing and went trough therapy for that and other motor skills problems as a child, and have always been clumsy. After I discovered I was Autistic and went trough my diagnosis prosess and learning more about my self things made so much more sens😅.I remember like it was yesterday from 1st grade when we all was supposed to cut out a paper clock with scissors and I couldn't do it, and it ended up in me having a meltdown.
This makes so much sense to me. I've always been far less, frustratingly less, deft and graceful and masterful in my movement than all my instincts told me I should be. I was always thin, lithe, flexible, and possessed of a quite fine aesthetic taste. Plus very musical (very good singer, much less adept at playing instruments). It was always like there was this "ideal me" who'd excel naturally at things like gymnastics, dance, even running. But reality was....NO. Somehow it just didn't work. Handwriting was always a trial, ALSO completely baffling because I was extremely verbal, always the winner in spelling bees. Yet teachers would constantly hector me about my illegible scrawl. In short, there was the profoundest disconnect between naturally-should-be and reality. It all makes so much sense now.
Since I've been exploring ADHD, then autism in myself, I've started hearing about connections with dyspraxia too, and that also makes sense to me. I was one of the ones picked last for sports teams too, and I struggled with craft classes. Music helped me a lot, though - maybe the regular practice and the clearly defined movements acted as therapy somehow. I love dancing, too, but not any kind that requires you to get movements exactly right (eg ballet) - I prefer discos and celidhs. I manage fine now, aged 53, probably because I have managed to get work and hobbies that avoid needing fine motor skills. Dyspraxia may be a big reason why I had to leave lab science, and I wish I'd known about others back then.
Anna, welcome! And you've just reminded me about failing my A-Level Chemistry practical, because my titration experiment failed. Argh. It would have been significantly easier if it were programming lab equipment to do the mechanical movements rather than doing the plate spinning myself! I'm sorry you've had to leave the laboratory, I can see how disco ordination challenges might well contribute to that. -Mike
@@Autistic_AF I managed to get a PhD and a career in science communication and training, so it's worked out OK. But I always wonder what might have been...
I believe that.. PT can help strengthen that connection between the brain and body.
While it may not be totally “fixed”, it can definitely help with body/motor coordination.
Mike, You have a great way of putting things so
we can easily understand the subtle differences.
The scene with your dear sweet lens dropping
is terrific. I also, love the water.
We had a 12' deep in ground pool growing up,
my dad rigged up a home made air mask.
I could have stayed in there all day.
Thanks for another great show.
hUgz from Ohio, Lee
I've always had the feeling that my legs didn't belong to my body and felt it much strongly during puberty, bc, well, i was growing up. I lost count of how many times i was simply walking and tripped on my own foot (in fact this still happens today) and also lost the ability to ride a bycicle (i could ride, with assistance, up until i was 6, after that, my bike broke down and i never went back to riding bycicles again). If i ever try riding a bike nowadays, i immedeatly lose my balance as well kinda... forget???... how my legs work. I keep tripping over my own feet, keep accidentaly hitting myself with household appliances... the list goes on.
I'm also a late diagnosed autistic adult! Ever since i got my final diagnosis i've been looking up the co-occurence of other disabilities and dyspraxia has to be the one i related the most (along with dyscalculia)!
I think the intense ballet training I had as a child must have helped me enormously with my co-ordination but still to this day I can't throw a ball to save my life and it's a family joke. Handwriting is an interesting one as I have several different styles I can write in thanks to each teacher thinking they knew the best way to teach left handed writing. I think my attention to detail allows me to replicate handwriting but I really have to concentrate to get it neat....
I don't know if it's a common thing but the accuracy of my movements greatly depends on my mood which is itself disregulated thanks to ADHD. It directly influences my handwriting which ranges from quite aesthetic to utterly disgusting. The fun part is when the mood enhancing effect of alcohol massively overtakes the coordination impairment effect which means I'm better at any task that has high motor control requirements while a bit drunk. I'm not advocating for that poison but it's a fun paradox.
Oh you reminded me of that punishment of writing a sentance many times, fun times.
Yeee the sports thing of getting picked last, memories popping too, now I utterly despise team-based sports. I just ran around trying to intercept the ball and throw it asap to the closest teammate as any attempt of making a play failed miserably for some self-sabotaging reason.
Oh I didn't know you were diving, I need to try someday. It's super fun but there's a little (lot of) thalassophobia to overcome first. I'm utterly terrified of not seeing the bottom in any water body.
I have no doubt I have dyspraxia. I found the term probably 20 years ago when I was doing research after I got my ADHD diagnosis. I don't think it was even recognized as an actual disorder in Canada at the time. I have an overwhelming number of symptoms. Oddly, I'm really good at accurately throwing trash in waste baskets from across the room. In school I could get a better than average number of basketballs in the net if I was just throwing the ball from a standing position. I was also a mean volleyball server. Those were my only athletic skills. I can't catch a ball, return a volley, or hit a baseball with a bat. 😊
Thanks for talking about this!
I always felt I was great at fine motor skills and not great at gross motor skills (I was put in a dance and movement class when I was 4 specifically because I was clumsy. I loved that class because even though they taught us skills, it was free movement and no one got mad at me.) But also, I hate typing. I can do it, obviously, but not quickly or accurately my handwriting is nice though. Which makes me wonder how special interests interact with dyspraxia. Do I love handwriting and other hand skills because I like them? Or do I like them because I am good at them. I just love making stuff. Typing clearly falls into the hand skill category, but it does not make me happy and the delete button is gonna wear out soon.
So I wonder about diving? I love being in water, and identify with what you say about how it feels. I've never had the opportunity to learn to dive, but it does interest me. Also flying. Love flying, the smaller the plane the better. Wish I had the money to learn that. Cycling on an open road gives me that feeling too. But my favorite part of living in a big city outside of the US is that I do not have to drive any more. I actually enjoy driving a stick shift in the countryside. But the results of a small error are too great in a car, and the stress of that is there even when everything is fine. And a good proportion of my childhood trauma comes from mandatory sports.
Great informative video. I've been diagnosed with ADHD Combined as an adult, but I've always had the symptoms of DCD growing up and still do as an adult.
I have ADHD, ASD, and EDS (which also has issues with this). But before I knew any of that, an actual thing my podiatrist said to me after asking me to walk in a straight line down the hall so he could assess my posture and such: "Wow, don't get pulled over cuz you would NOT pass the line test"😂😂
I have never been able to keep my posture or balance in my entire life. It's a fun time😅
My elementary school class stopped playing baseball during PE because I couldn't swing the bat without simultaneously throwing it. XD;
I think I'm a savant with spatial awareness. Another reason I have gone under the radar
When i really realized just how clumsy I was I was in a fancy secondhand shop trying my best to NOT bump into something in a cluttered area, and I still knocked a pot over and my mom had to pay for it 😂 Then the ususal spilling of water while carrying a glass and stuff happens daily.
Another excellent video, Mike!
10:47 Brazil time table.
Driving a car from the back seat is one of my recurrent dreams. My brain knows it is not in control.😊
I have this as a recurring dream as well 😄
I've dreamed that before! 🙆🏻♀️🙆🏻♀️
Not noticed any dyspraxia in myself or my two autistic children, we're all adhd too. I'd say I'm way more the other way, really hyper good coordination etc. As a very young child at school in handwriting practice I'd get praised for having every letter perfect and exactly the same. I excelled at any sport that involved aiming or throwing, like throwing a cricket ball at the stumps from distance or throwing darts at a dart board. I can often pick up my darts and throw a 180 with no warm up, just yesterday I aimed at the bullseye and threw all 3 in. Some days it literally feels like I'm putting the darts in the exact spot on the dart board. Similar accuracy with pistol and rifle shooting, archery etc. Maybe it's why I became a professional artist, a lot of hand/eye coordination needed for that too. At 54 I still practice gymnastics, hand balancing etc, got good awareness of my body in space. Only thing I've notice over my lifetime is that I wander offline when walking and I can only balance on one leg with my eyes shut for barely a few seconds. 😅
I'm definitely dyspraxic - took me months to learn to ride a bike!! I also empathise with your description of being in water - it's so much easier to move freely & with confidence! Unfortunately I am extremely buoyant, so I have to work really hard to swim underwater. When I learnt to scuba dive in Australia I had to wear so many weights for our deep ocean dive, my hips were all bruised when I took them off!! If I ever get to scuba dive again, I'll get myself some ankle & arm weights so I can spread them out a bit 🤣
Thank you for this. I, too, had the childhood experience of being chosen last for sports. Good thing I was pretty good at everything, and sometimes, I was chosen first for the spelling bee or captain of the team. Recently, I tried a dance fusion class, thinking, "I have a sense of humour, and you never know the result until you try." It was dismal. To top it off, the tune playing was "She's a Bad Mammer Jammer." I wasn't. I laugh when I think of it. I can be on at least in some tasks. :)
"She's a Bad Mammer Jammer" 🤣
At least you gave it a go in good humour! That's all we can ask of ourselves. -Mike
@@Autistic_AF I still think of myself as a bad mammer jammer.
I was always one of the last to get picked on a sports team as well. Every time I would get put in goal. I kept telling everyone, don't put me in goal because I'll miss the ball and let all the goals in. I'll be far less of a handicap to the team if you put me on the field. Of course, no one listened because no one wanted to be in goal, so they lumped it with me. Inevitably, I let all the goals in and they got mad at me. Well, I did tell you 🙄.
I've stopped wearing watches because after a month or so, I would find that the face/crystal would be horribly scratched or just straight up cracked. I've also started putting my hands on corners and doorways to try and keep myself from running into them...when I remember to. I've never been diagnosed, but my pediatrician back in the '80s told my parents I was the most clumsy child he ever met and if he didn't see me run into things himself every time I came into his office, he would have called CPS on my parents.
I'm clumsy, dropping and tripping over things! With the whole 'walking into things' too! 😅
As a child my school would call the authorities because I would have lots of bruises and sprains when I showed up - my poor parents had to defend themselves frequently - But eventually it all got straightened out. 😮💨
As I'm getting older, I realize how problematic being clumsy is because falls for us older people could potentially be fatal...
When I'm weaving through a crowd (rare I hate it lol) it always seems to be other people (mostly neurotypical I'm sure) that have no sense of space constantly misjudging distance, slow reaction, struggling to change direction lol maybe having both ADHD and Autism gives you more awareness of this stuff not sure, the only time I'm clumsy is when I'm stressed, or sometimes when being observed, that perceived feeling can be a concentration killer.
Eldest struggles but is not officially daliagbosed with dyspraxia, youngest is also very clumsy not surebifbhe would be classed as dyspraxic though. Excellent video as always. 😊
I have dyspraxia, with the added complication of having scoliosis since my early teens, which resulted in one shoulder and hip (my left) being higher than the other (my right). Oddly, my left leg is also shorter, so I am already off-kilter. The dyspraxia just adds to it. Strangely, I was very good at ballet, but that was when I was a small child, so perhaps the scoliosis had yet to develop. I loved to dance as a child, and now, looking back, I realize that it was a form of stimming for me. (I only danced when no one was looking at me; if they were, I'd yell at them, and stop.) I had not realized all of the tests that police do; it's another reason I am happy that I do not drive. (Feel sorry for all those with dyspraxia who do drive, though.)
I self-identified with ASD at age 59, almost 9 years ago. At the same time, it was fairly obvious to me that dyspraxia was also an issue; and even inattentive type ADHD. I eventually got someone in my home country to confirm ASD, but the other two issues were not officially added as co-morbidities. My self identification was not denied as such; especially as the diagnostician has personal experience of dyspraxia. But it was said at the time that too long a list of issues might only confuse practitioners in the country where I now live, which is a place that seems to think there is no such thing as adulthood ASD. But let's just say that your experience is extremely familiar to me.
Now you asked for comment on your diving experience, but I can't really comment because I hate all swimming. (Although I keep noticing vestibular problems.)
In this country, I have noticed some research on children with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. I imagine they use diving decompression chambers. Now I largely dismissed this notion as it seemed like yet another crazy attempt at a 'cure'. But I now notice that such research has also been carried out elsewhere. Not that I am asking anyone here to subscribe to the idea of a 'cure'. ;-)
i didnt know i was clumsy at all. But i realized i am, but i have spider sense, so i can catch things before they hit the floor.
Yes, I do that, too. Thank goodness.
I relate to the scubadiving, I was a scubadiving teacher and can make my body ( and equipment ) do everything I want perfectly and precisely when underwater. (Like the flip of the side-tip of my fine and do a perfect 360)
I am Autistic, ADHD, dyslexique, and very very probably dyspraxic
I don't know where I'd score on this, just that I do know that I've had to manually monitor my body language and facial expressions for years because they wouldn't necessarily do what I needed them to on their own. Also while I did do martial arts for 14 years and it went well enough (I could follow the directions, practice, get, better, etc.) I'd be absolutely horrible at tasks that took really fast visual processing coordination with motion - such as a friend taking me to an indoor mountain bike course and all hilarity ensued (thankfully I stayed out of the way and didn't cause any accidents with more seasoned riders).
I was first chair clarinet, but I also am maimed by door latches and knobs almost daily. My left arm currently has two nasty bruises and a large scratch. I can write very neatly, but will get my foot caught in a door jam and fall right on my face. I can walk up or down stairs if thinking about it or not thinking, but if I change to or from thinking while using stairs it’s seriously dangerous.
I have decent fine motor coordination, I can write and draw fairly well, but I'll be danged if I can walk in a straight line to save my life. Long ago I gave up on not having bruises, scratches, hurt fingers, busted toes. And my son has the same issue. We always buy cups/plates/etc second hand and we don't, nor will we ever have a matching set of dishes.
I went to get a dyspraxia diagnosis here in the US. They said they don't give them to adults. But unofficially what I have fits. But that turned into a SPD diagnosis I am "off the charts " .
4:21 always messy writing, always slow, hardest time catching and throwing. Lines *defeated breath* omg lines, our shop teacher has us write out the safety notes for machines we would be using, if not done by deadline, had to write up two extra copies. Not sure how deep the whole hole went, before they finally ceded on the idea that I was just ‘lazy’.
I have always felt like my dyspraxia is tied to my ADHD. The more my ADHD symptoms are treated, the better my dyspraxia is. If I’m tired or hungry or have a full bladder, I’m distracted enough that I can’t coordinate my body as well. If I’m hyper focused in an intellectual way, my dyspraxia is worse - like I’m too inside my head to be in my body. If I’m hyper focused on something that requires my body’s involvement (painting, skiing, swimming), I am extremely aware of my body and can typically coordinate very well.
I hated village child football (sucked at it, hated the social aspect, still do to this day), but i love(d) martial arts. it is individual so you can go at your own pace and it is a playful way to improve in motor control. Today, I easily learn new movement patterns, but sitting a lot made a lot of imrovements in posture vanish :(
Your diving anecdote is very interesting! There is definitely some kind of connection between grounding with sensory stimulation and motor control. I'm not sure if I have dyspraxia or if my symptoms can be explained by autistic shutdowns. I tell my friends I'm lagging lol. If I'm overstimulated (depending on the severity) I become a lot more clumsy, when I'm walking I get that heavy disorienting feeling like stepping down the last step of the stairs in the dark. I get these weird episodes where I might move very very slowly and my proprioception is dreamlike. And speaking is also difficult, it can be scary. It's very hard to explain to others what's going on. Does anyone else experience something like this? I find that once I have headphones or my sketchbook, most of the time it clears up like nothing happened?
Thanks, mentioned it yesterday and now I have a video to send that explains perfectly 😊
Hey Katzen! I'm glad it's been useful! 😊🧡
Oh, but my handwriting was always perfect.
But sports...the lot of accidents...everytime bruises I don't know where I got them from😆
Interesting stuff to think about… on the one hand, I don’t think I’d quite meet dyspraxia diagnostic criteria. And indeed, I taught myself to ride a bicycle when I was 3, and stuff like that. On the other, I had to repair a macro lens once that I was clumsy enough to knock over while mounted to the camera (which, luckily, was fine) and on a tripod, and I fairly frequently bump into things, occasionally quite hard. So… I at least have hints of it, I guess? Possibly contextually? Interesting stuff.
Hm. I'm having a memory of a reflex test, where someone holds a ruler while the kid (me) holds their hands open on either side. The other person drops the ruler, and sees how quickly the kid can clap their hands together to catch the ruler as it falls. I remember failing this test while all my siblings passed. I was so embarrassed to be so clumsy and slow about physical things.
Great video Mike, both my son and myself are dyspraxic as well. I didn't need an assessment because his his problems were identical to mine.😊😊
0:09 10 mini heart attacks with those fingers on the lens lol
I saw that in the edit! I have to say my real lenses have never been touched on the glass like that! (This is just a prop).
the other day i walked past a door handle, it got caught in the back of my dungarees and went through the back. how. how. how. (one of many instances of directional mishaps that usually involve crashes or clothes ripping)
@@cceerryyss_bb 😩 Owwwie!
i tend to have trouble with full body movements and it can vary id say
i find full body activities harder and i can be slow at reacting to things, alot of it comes from my ass not being able to quickly process it all
i always didnt like sport, my least fav activities are with balls. i always hurt my elbows when tryna throw the ball in the basket and i struggle with movements which require multiple steps(not litteral steps) like having to step forward lime 3-4 times before throwimg the ball in the basket i could never do it
or doing tricks with a jumping rope
anything that is more than just a basic one step movement is very diffictult for me
fine motor skills like drawimg i can do esp since ive drawn my whole life, its the bigger movements i seem to struggle with
sometimes i may tumble while just walking, in some cases my legs fail to walk normally as i may raise em more or limp, possibly cause im uncomfortable
if i shake my head due to tics i can temporarily lose coordination with my legs
Thankfully if I had/have dyspraxia. Its only very mild. Edit: I do run into things. And simetimes forget where my body is. But im also able to dance and do sports. Hency why if I have any dyspraxia. Its likely very mild.
Like you, I found something that really.. I felt like I was in my body. And thatvwas ballet.. unfortunately... Having to memorize combinations on the spot didnt go well with adhd. And quick movments in various directions don't go with dyslexia. But I still love it dearly
However nobody at school caught my adhd, asd, dylexia, dyscalculia or NVLD before I dropped out 🙃
#JustLazy
Also, I love your void floof!
I'm super dyspraxic, just learned recently, I've hit the same spot on my hand FIVE TIMES in the last week, I literally have a small superficial hematoma LMAO, but, I have no handwriting that's "my own", it's all everybody elses, b/c I have dr. script, which, were old dr's autistic, is that why the stereotype is what it is lol, who knows, but, anyway, I had to write lines and LMAO I loved writing them, it wasn't a punishment. I literally wrote numbers in notebooks, like, 1-1 million, just writing numbers, lol.
heyy did you lower the outro volume? if so, that's a nice (re)touch !
I don't think I have dyspraxia, but the police want people to estimate 30 seconds for sobriety test? I'd be hosed! *adds this to list of reasons to not take up driving*
Gosh maybe I have this, I am a bumper car, especially in the morning
I would say that as many things in ASD this is not linear in my case, some periods I’m clumsy queen 👸, get cuts and bruises many times a day but others periods I have no “accidents” my hand writing is pretty decent in general and driving isn’t a problem for me. My daughter also has a decent hand writing, she also draw beautifully, but she has some balance problems, she’s in physiotherapy now because of her hyper mobility (they think she could be EDS, but isn’t an easy diagnosis)… talking about spectrum… I think we have a spectrum in the community but also each individual has an spectrum in “manifestations” and also in “time”…
I'm completely sure i'm dyspraxic AF. I bump into everything, sports is a no-no, handwriting a disaster etc. Once a bouncer didn't let me get into a club because I seemed "already drunk enough", although, as an anti-alcoholic, I didn't have one drop of alcohol that night.
BUT I'm a world class dancer (self-identified) and have no problems whatsoever with coordination when the beat hits. Maybe coordination is highly dependent on the circumstances, just like with focus in ADHD?
Thank you, Mike and Sabre 🖤😺
We are starting to find out that top athletes in the world is on the spectrum. With my own experience I've been able to function well in sports and I'm still afraid to walk close to items without steel toed boots as I hurt my toes hitting things, so is dyspraxia another mistaken diagnosis, because our monotropism emulates dyspraxia, it seems like we lack body awareness if we get distracted, but if a sport is our special interest we can have superhuman awareness.
Yes! I'm good at sports and dance, but when distracted or burned out I start walking at lampposts, hitting my head on walls, and having trouble with shoelaces
I avoid having any furniture that has sharp edges and place everything in certain way(that others might find impractical), so I won't bang myself on everything all the time. Audhd with maladaptive daydreaming, dyspraxia and hypermobility(eds, I presume) and I wonder how I'm still alive.😂
I have hyper mobility too! 🧡 Still alive also, but kinda sore!
Oh yes, you are doing some interesting research you should look at schizophrenia we used to be diagnosed along with it, it is similar to how many have Hyperphantasia …correlations as well with autism. G4 epigenetic genes expression. jumping genes I recommend starting out with Neil Shubin books. Thanks again Mike it was truely educational. Your inner fish
Thank you! I have read Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin when it launched! There’s a fun Tiktaalik song on TH-cam from around that time too!
12:16 uh oh, forgot to cut 🤭 Sorry I know I’m being annoying but I just can’t help myself 😢
I experience a significant amount of this in my 50's. But I don't remember being like this when I was younger...(not that my memory is that great) I imagine it can get worse as you age? Esp during menopause?
It has gotten better as I have gotten older. I think things through more carefully. But I do drop things more often and I think that is because of nerve problems in my hands. Dyspraxia doesn't go away, but the more you practice skills, the more presence of mind you have (meaning being aware of what you are doing in the moment) the less cliumsy. But it is tiring to focus all of the time.
@Bullhorn Betty said autistic children are Defective. What does that mean?
Yep..All this.Some of what I deal with I have also discovered has to do with my EDS. Talk about feeling awkward. Oops. Shoulder is out of place again when I sneezed. Time to put it back in again. 😏 Feel like alphabet soup sometimes. haha I think the genes of all this neurodiversity correlate and have varying levels, which is why so many similarities are seen and yet each one has its unique manifestations. Thanks for addressing this.
I have visual problems. I am cross-eyed. So I lack depth perception. So I would not qualify for a dyspraxia diagnosis. I was always picked last in sports. My handwriting was kind of bad but not the worst.
Nooo not the Canon coffee mug!!
The one and the same!!! 🤣
Before watching video: I don't THINK I have dyspraxia...
Five minutes in: Holy sh** I'm so fu**ing dyspraxic, oh my h*ck
A fellow VLDL enjoyer I see. I’ve been catching up on their skits a lot recently. Good stuff.
What have you thought of their more recent mental health content? The ADHD videos have been really spot on from my perspective. I imagine that when they branch into ASD they’ll be similarly well written.
Pretty good, although depression focused. Although, it’s an important set of messages; there are a couple of great skits - so accurate - they’ve clearly got lived experiences that comes through in their videos and podcasts. I wonder if they will talk about autism some point; is one of the team autistic?
@@Autistic_AF I haven’t delved deep enough into the behind the scenes to know about their real personalities to identify any ASD.
@@Autistic_AF The Rowan character has been joked about having face blindness (prosopagnosia) in many cases which 66% of those with ASD also possess.