When my son was nine years old we received a letter from his school, the letter informed us that our child's behavior had been unacceptable on more than one occasion in one lesson in particular. The lesson in question was a craft class that was being taught by a member of learning support.

Of course we did the only thing a concerned parent could do we made an appointment to see our son's teacher. During the meeting the teacher read from a series of notes compiled by the teaching assistant. Your son can't be bothered to cut out simple shapes he would rather act the clown in class disrupting the other members of the class. He also refused to do needlework saying it was only for girls.

Our son who was just a typical young boy at home apparently could not behave himself for a few minutes in school. For a full year we persevered with behaviour charts never once questioning the opinions of the teaching staff at our son's school.

I still feel today that we let down our son after all we are in the education business and we should have known. Well this was ten years ago and Dyspraxia today is still very difficult to diagnose. Children today are sometimes just classified as naughty underachievers when in fact they suffer from a serious learning disability.

Our sons Dyspraxia was finally diagnosed by an educational therapist after a young teacher who had received special training regarding learning disabilities became suspicious of the pattern of our sons behaviour. The therapist would later explain to us that our son would act the clown in class to deflect the attention away from the fact that he could barely hold a pair of scissors correctly. My son felt ashamed by the fact that he couldn't cut shapes out like the other children and the only things he could stick the sowing needle in was his fingers.

I began to read articles and books about Dyspraxia, learning that it wasn't life threatening and that it could be overcome. There is no cure for Dyspraxia but the earlier a child is diagnosed and treated the better the chance that the Dyspraxia will not cause the child any significant problems in the future.

How can I tell if my child as Dyspraxia?

Diagnosing Dyspraxia is notoriously difficult as it can overlap with other learning disabilities but listed below are a few points that maybe should have indicated to me that our child suffered from Dyspraxia.

Around 70% of people with Dyspraxia are male.

Stand opposite your child about 3 meters apart and gently throw a ball towards them if they continually drop the ball then this may be an indicator.

Watch your child brush their teeth if they struggle then this could be another indicator. My child still struggles with brushing his teeth.

Draw a very basic shape and using safety scissors ask your child to cut out the shape. If they find it almost impossible to get anywhere near the outline of the shape this could be another indicator.

Can your child not decide which hand to use. Looking back I personally feel this was the main indicator that my son had Dyspraxia. He could never decide which hand to use.

Has your child got poor concentration? Do they not stick to one or two tasks? My son was like a whirlwind running around the house never concentrating on one thing for more than a few seconds.

Is your child disruptive in class, always acting the fool? This can be a coping mechanism; they try to deflect attention away from their lack of ability to carry out a task. My son always had problems in craft class and maths.

If you think you child as Dyspraxia consult an educational therapist as soon as possible. In the UK this is a free service that can be accessed through your child's school or his GP.

Children with dyslexia have difficulty in learning to read despite having average or above average intelligence and receiving regular instruction, Dyslexia is caused by impairment in the brain's ability to translate images received from the eyes or ears into understandable language. It never results from vision or hearing problems, neither from mental retardation, brain damage, or a lack of intelligence.

Dyslexia like other learning disabilities can be very difficult to diagnose often going undetected until the later grades of school. There can be other problems that disguise Dyslexia. The child becomes frustrated by the difficulty in learning to read often resulting in behavioral problems at school and in the home environment. The child may also display signs of depression and low self-esteem. All these problems often lead to a lack of motivation to attend school.

Diagnoses and Types of Dyslexia

There are different types of Dyslexia.

"Trauma dyslexia" usually occurs because of brain trauma or injury to the area of the brain that controls reading and writing. This is rare.

"Primary dyslexia." This type of dyslexia is a dysfunction of the left hemisphere of the brain (cerebral cortex) and does not change with age. Individuals may struggle with reading, spelling and writing as adults. Primary dyslexia is passed through their genes (hereditary). It is found more in boys than in girls.

"Secondary" or "Developmental dyslexia" is felt to be caused by hormones during the early stages of fetal development. Developmental dyslexia diminishes with the maturity of the child. This also is more common in boys.

Dyslexia is a difficult disorder to diagnose. Testing for Dyslexia should determine the child's functional reading level and compare it to reading potential, which is evaluated by an intelligence test. The aspects of the reading process are examined to pinpoint where the breakdown is occurring. The test further assesses how a child takes in and processes information and what the child does with the information. The tests help determine if a child learns better by hearing information (auditory), looking at information (visual), or doing something (kinesthetic). The test also assess if a child performs better when allowed to give information (output), by saying something (oral), or by doing something with their hands (tactile-kinesthetic). The test also would evaluate as how all of these sensory systems (modalities) work in coordination with each other.

Some requirements for a child before they are tested is that the child should get a good night's sleep and have a good breakfast. If the testing needs to be done in a school setting, the teacher can prepare the child by talking about the person who will come and do special work with the child.

A standard set of tests can include, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III)
2. Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC)
3. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
4. Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery
5. Peabody Individual Achievement Tests-Revised (PIAT)
6. Wechsler Individual Achievement Tests (WIAT)
7. Kaufman Tests of Educational Achievement (KTEA)
8. Bender Gestalt Test of Visual Motor Perception
9. Beery Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration
10. Motor-Free Visual Perception Test
11. Visual Aural Digit Span Test (VADS)
12. Test of Auditory Perception (TAPS)
13. Test of Visual Perception (TVPS)
14. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised
15. Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test
16. Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language

Treatment & Teaching Methods

Before any treatment is started, an evaluation must be done to determine the child's specific area of disability. The school can develop a plan with the parent to meet the child's requirements. A treatment plan will focus on strengthening the child's weaknesses while utilizing the strengths. Another approach may be a systematic study of phonics. There can be techniques designed to help all the senses work together efficiently can also be used. There can be reading approaches that require a child to hear, see, say, and do something (multisensory), such as the Slingerland Method, the Orton-Gillingham Method, The Spalding Method, Alphabetic Phonics, The Herman Method, The Wilson Method or Project READ can be used.

The child should be taught compensation and coping skills. Good attention should be paid to optimum learning conditions and alternative avenues for student performance.

Although alternative treatments are commonly recommended, there is little research supporting the effectiveness of these treatments. In addition, these treatments are very costly, quite easy for frustrated parents to be misled by something that is expensive and sounds attractive. Perhaps the most important aspect of any treatment plan is attitude. The child will be greatly influenced by the attitudes of the adults around him.

Whether hatha yoga, patanjali or Bikram yoga, traditional breathing techniques are stressed in all of them. These breathing techniques are also called Pranayama or breath of life. They are essential for deriving the greatest level of benefits fromyogic asanas or exercises. Techniques of yoga breathing not only carry oxygen to the muscles, open up our chest and lungs, clear out sinuses, get rid of headaches but also bring down stress levels.

Most of these are practical, easy to learn, help in reducing stress effectively and can be done almost anywhere. However, they must be taught by an expert yoga teacher. The most commonly used breathing techniques in yoga are listed below.

High Breathing

High Breathing primarily takes place in the upper part of the chest and lungs. This is also known as "Collarbone Breathing" and involves raising the ribs, collarbone and shoulders. People with Asthma, a tight belt, a full stomach or who otherwise become short of breath tend to resort to high breathing. This is the least desirable form of breathing since the upper lobes of the lungs are used and these have only a small air capacity.

Middle Breathing

In Middle Breathing, mainly the middle parts of the lungs are filled with air. It exhibits some of the characteristics of both high breathing - with the ribs rising and the chest expanding - and low breathing - with the diaphragm moving up and down and the abdomen in and out. It is also known as Thoracic or Rib Breathing. In this form of breathing, the ribs and chest are expanded sideways.

Low Breathing

Low breathing takes place in the lower part of the chest and lungs. It is far more effective than high or mid breathing. It consists mainly in moving the abdomen in and out and in changing the position of the diaphragm through such movements. Because of this, it is sometimes called "Abdominal Breathing."

This type of breathing is far superior to high or mid breathing because of four reasons:

(1) More air is taken in when inhaling, due to greater movement of the lungs and the fact that the lower lobes of the lungs have a larger capacity than the upper lobes.

(2) The diaphragm acts like a second Heart. Its piston-like movements expand the base of the lungs, allowing them to suck in more venous blood- the increase in the venous circulation improves the general Circulation.

(3) The abdominal organs are massaged by the up and down movements of the diaphragm.

(4) Low breathing has a beneficial effect on the solar plexus, which is a very important nerve center.

The Complete Breath

The Complete Breath, as defined by Yoga, involves the entire respiratory system and not only includes the portions of the lungs used in high, low and middle breathing, but expands the lungs. The Complete Breath is the basic technique of all the different types of Yoga Breathing, and therefore should be mastered under the guidance of a yoga teacher.

With so many treatments around for premature ejaculation it is very difficult to decide which one to try and which one is most likely to be successful. For me the definition of a good treatment would be one that cures the problem permanently, has no side effects and does not spoil the enjoyment of making love.

So which methods should we go for, and which should we rule out?

Firstly I would rule out pills (unless you have a confirmed medical problem and the medication has been prescribed by your doctor). Pills only occasionally have the desired effect in fact most are actually placebos that convince your mind that you will perform as expected so in order for them to work you have to believe in them wholeheartedly.

Mental games do have their place in premature ejaculation cures but a lot of the success will depend on the type of problem you are experiencing. If you just need something to get you over a temporary hitch then they could work. The downside of trying to distract yourself when making love is that you are taking away some of the enjoyment of the experience. You will need to decide if reducing the enjoyment factor to prolong the experience is worth it. This may be the case if you are sure it will get you through this temporary blip.

Whilst the above treatments do have a place when it comes to treatments the most successful treatment by far has to be exercise. Exercise has found to be very good at solving all sorts of complaints and you will often find that exercise can treat the whole person not just the problem so you will find you whole well being improving.

There are several exercises that have been designed specifically to help with the treatment of premature ejaculation. Obviously everyone is different and you may need to do some research to find the best exercises that work for you. I myself did some research and if you click on the links in my signature you can find the results.

What you need to focus on is that you will be able to find a solution and although it may take some work and time the results will be worth it. A total cure may take some time but by using the right exercises you will find small improvements in a short space of time. It is these improvements that can be built on and in time you will wonder what it was you were worried about and the enjoyment you will have discovered!