Dyspraxia and Autism Linked??

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Hi
My son (8) is currently undergoing the processes to get diagnosed dyspraxia. I was reading recently that dyspraxic children can often also have autism. I hadnt known of this before and was wondering if my son could have autism/aspergers.

He has a lot of sensory issues. He hates clothes feeling too tight apart from like the lycra sports tops which he says makes him feel really secure. He complains of the living room light really hurting his eyes and says he can hear the fridge running from his bedroom upstairs.
Emotionally he seems a bit immature for his age. He has a really stronge sense of justice but can get really agressive and go into meltdown when he feels hes been treated unfairly. He struggles in social situations to fit in and understand peoples emotions. Hes overly sensitive and cannot take criticism. However he isnt reclusive and at heart wants to be social even if he struggles to be so not sure whether this fits autism.

His coordination skills are really poor. We have to use bottles with him to stop him constantly spilling and a bib to stop food all over his face.
He gets fixated on random things when we are out and has really poor spacial awareness especially crossing roads.

Would really appreciate any thoughts on the link or any shared experiences.
Thanks in advance

While they can be comorbids, neither one necessarily occurs with the other.

I have an 8 year old daughter with ASC and she is fairly social. She has friends, both long term and short term. She navigates social situations fairly well but gets exhausted from it. It is clear that she needs (and has consistently needed) more of a helping hand to sort out social situations than her peers but she has developed fairly strong social skills. Just adding that to say it is possible for a child to have ASC even though they are social!

http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/autism_spectrum_disorder_comorbidity.html#Motor%20skills%20d

... How common are motor difficulties in children with autism spectrum disorder?
About 80% of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have some form of motor difficulty. Motor difficulties can happen in babies, children and adults, often before ASD symptoms become obvious. Some researchers think these difficulties might be early signs of ASD.

The absolute majority of people on the autism spectrum have some physical issues. These issues could be relatively minor, or could be more severe (e.g. epilepsy). But, these issues usually are not life-threatening and can be managed to lead a basically-normal life.


All the signs are fairly typical of many children on the spectrum. Social skills are not good indicators of autism. See, the problem is people confound autism with underdevelopment. Autism stays with a person the whole life, underdevelopment can be made temporary. Well-developed autistic people can be very social.

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Historically, autism probably entered human race with a specific reason. One clue is that its prevalence rate is tilted towards boys, just like color blindness.

Another thing to keep in mind is this story. During WWII, the Nazi regime killed or sterilized virtually all schizophrenic people that they could find. One generation later, the schizophrenia incidence rate in Germany turned out to be ... HIGHER than neighboring countries.

What does this tell us? It tells us that Mother Nature is not to be fooled with. Mother Nature does not place all the eggs in one basket.

Color blindness (which happens largely in boys), autism, and bipolar disorder, are all spectrum conditions. Mother Nature implements all these genetic conditions with several back-up mechanisms. All three conditions come in two levels of severity. In color blindness, we talk about deuteranomaly vs. deuteranopia, for instance. In autism, we differentiate BAP (Broad Autism Phenotype) from clinical-level of autism. In bipolar disorder, we talk about sub-clinical level vs. clinical level. Another clue is, the prevalence rates of the two levels of all these three conditions, actually fall roughly into the same ball park. Namely, 2% for the more severe form, and 4% for the less severe form. If you ask me, all these three genetic conditions entered human race around the same time, with the same purpose. And the two levels happened because of the timing difference between the two stages of agriculture: stage one for domestication of plants. Stage two for domestication of animals. The purpose of these three genetic conditions is to help human clans survive wars. Ever after the invention of bow and arrow, the biggest natural enemies of human clans are ... other human clans. Wars impacted the genetic composition of human clans. For instance, studies on isolated hunter-gatherer societies (e.g. Africa, Australia, the Americas) reveal that they either have very low prevalence rate of color blindness, or no color blindness, at all. It is well-known that wars were very rare among hunter-gatherers. Archaeology shows that large-scale wars only started with agricultural societies. Also, in case you haven't heard about it: color-blind people can see through camouflage much better. Even in WWII, the Allies employed color-blind people to spot through German camouflage for bombing missions.

Because Mother Nature is not dumb, she does not place all the eggs in the same basket. So, autism is highly polygenic, meaning that it can happen with many different genetic origins. Therefore, its "comorbids" are highly varied. There is a saying that if you have met a child with autism, then you have met a child with autism. But, statistically speaking, the majority of autistic people have some physical weakness or issues, to varying degree. This, should not be taken as a bug, but as a feature. That's the way how Mother Nature intended it to be. Why? Because, autism happened mostly in boys. And physically-able boys in history invariably were drafted into labor, or defense. It was precisely the relative physical weakness that has allowed these boys to be exempt from physical labor, so that they could contribute with their brain power instead. That is also why you find a correlation between autism and parental age: autistic people tend to marry later in life, and have children later. Again, this is statistically speaking. What I mean is, autistic people tended to achieve success in life a little bit later, so they tended to find mates later, too. They shined with their brain, not with their muscle.

You may say, there are autistic girls, too. Sure, I would say Madame Curie comes to mind. But even in her case, her intellectual power helped set up field X-ray hospitals during WWI. So, she actually did not escape from the stereotype model: helping to win wars.

If only people learn to listen to Mother Nature's message, they'll realize just how wrong and how dumb they have been, all along. Color blindness, autism, bipolar disorder, are all part of normal. They are integral members of our society. Mother Nature intended it that way.

Our mammal ancestors were tetra-chromats. Compared to them, all humans are actually color-blind. If you look at evolution, the trend is actually to reduce the number of cone categories inside animal eyes. Dichromats are actually a more advanced form of life. So, it is ridiculous to view color blindness as a defect. Once you understand that, you can also understand why it is ridiculous to view autism as a disorder/defect/disability/disease/deficiency. Autism, color blindness and bipolar disorder, should simply be viewed as "differences." There are ways to communicate with all these people. The problem is not with these people. The problem is with our neurotypical biases: we have become blind by our own biases. That, is called ableism.

I'm autistic with co morbid dyspraxia.
And to me at least he does sound autistic as well.