Crazy Cat Lady

Image Credit: Bastian Riccardi

Age: 8 years old

This is my FAVORITE. One night before bed, Pierce told me a story about his dyspraxia:

Dyspraxia is like this. Pretend I’m skating along on a skateboard, having the best time, minding my own business. Then, out of nowhere, a crazy old cat lady pops out of thin air with a shopping cart full of boxes, making me crash into her cart. Cat biscuits explode everywhere!   

He then proceeded to go into a hilarious live re-enactment of it - arms flailing everywhere!

Pierce explained:

The cat biscuits are the bits of information I need to figure things out - scattered everywhere. The little old lady is my dyspraxic brain. The awful part is, the little old lady slipped on a puddle of water and and disappeared into it. Now I’m left with all the mess, and no one sees or believes that a random little old lady was responsible and caused all of this [confusion]. Everyone is looking at me, and I’m left trying to pick up the boxes and put everything back - [alone] without any help. The old lady is gone and everyone only sees a kid who crashed into a shopping cart full of boxes. Everyone thinks it was my fault and no one understands what really happened.

The point of his story was to share that when his dypraxic brain is at work, creating chaos and confusion, his friends, teachers, and those around him tend to forget about his invisible disabilities and can be a little short-sighted. They can be quick to blame him for his difficulties (for not understanding), make fun of him, be short with him, and short on patience with him, or believe that he’s not paying attention - purposely. It leaves him sad, embarrassed and often left to struggle on his own.

As great as this explanation was, I laughed and cried because it broke my heart. As a parent, I just want to grab the skateboard and take his hand and make him feel safe and understood.

Image Credit: Jan Kopriva