Snowcake and Hot Fuzz
LJ is being wacko right now because I can't see my last post. I don't know if I'll be able to see this one either.
Procrastinating on work again.
I watched Snow Cake yesterday. It was good but I think Sigourney Weaver overacted a bit and it was still a bit stereotypical. Once again though, I guess they exaggerate traits to get people to watch.
I also watched Hot Fuzz this morning. It was great. I thought it was even funnier than Shaun of the Dead. I didn't expect it to be gory like Shaun of the Dead though, lol.
I've been looking into Dyspraxia lately and it seems very likely that I have it. I know I know. Another label. I shouldn't be doing that. It surprisingly fits though. Let's take a look at the traits.
Gross motor co-ordination skills (large movements):
* Poor balance. Difficulty in riding a bicycle, going up and down hills-I've always had poor balance. I did learn to ride a bike at 7 years old, but my parents were hesitant about teaching me before 7 because of my motor skills problems.
* Poor posture and fatigue. Difficulty in standing for a long time as a result of weak muscle tone. Floppy, unstable round the joints. Some people with dyspraxia may have flat feet-Yep, it was worse when I was younger though. I couldn't stand on one leg without falling over. I was born with poor muscle tone, but it was improved after physical therapy. It's still not perfect.
* Poor integration of the two sides of the body. Difficulty with some sports involving jumping and cycling-Not so much, but I was never very good at jump-roping.
* Poor hand-eye co-ordination. Difficulty with team sports especially those which involve catching a ball and batting. Difficulties with driving a car-Yep. It sucks. I like playing action oriented video games, but I'm just not good at them so I don't play them often. I had great troubles with catching a ball when I was younger, but not so much now. I still have trouble catching some things. I can't drive because it's so difficult and overwhelming.
* Lack of rhythm when dancing, doing aerobics-Yes, that became more apparent when my mom put me in Jazz and Gymnastic classes. I couldn't match the rhythm of the teacher or the other dancers. I still can't.
* Clumsy gait and movement. Difficulty changing direction, stopping and starting actions-Somewhat. I don't think I have a huge problem with this, but I have noticed I've been more clumsy than usual lately. :S
* Exaggerated 'accessory movements' such as flapping arms when running-I would never really run right. I didn't use the right arm movements for running. I don't really do this now.
* Tendency to fall, trip, bump into things and people-Not so much, but I've been a bit clumsy lately.
Fine motor co-ordination skills (small movements):
* Lack of manual dexterity. Poor at two-handed tasks, causing problems with using cutlery, cleaning, cooking, ironing, craft work, playing musical instruments-Yep. I don't really trust myself with a sharp knife in cutting something. I was never good at crafts. I just wind up frustrating myself. I could never learn musical instruments. My Recorder and Violin playing were horrendous. :)
* Poor manipulative skills. Difficulty with typing, handwriting and drawing. May have a poor pen grip, press too hard when writing and have difficulty when writing along a line-I'm quite good at typing. Handwriting is terrible. I'm glad I just have to sign my name now because I can't write anything else in cursive. I've never held my pen/pencil right and I never will. The way I grip it works for me. I do press too hard when I write and it was difficult and sometimes painful even doing the action of writing.
* Inadequate grasp. Difficulty using tools and domestic implements, locks and keys-I don't have problems using keys, but maybe certain other tools. It was probably worse when I was younger.
* Difficulty with dressing and grooming activities, such as putting on makeup, shaving, doing hair, fastening clothes and tying shoelaces-Never really got the hang of putting on makeup and I really don't want to. I don't like makeup. Shaving's not a problem but I often miss hairs. Doing hair was always difficult. I still don't do anything with it except brush it out and sometimes not always well. I had trouble with buttons. I still do sometimes. It takes me longer to fasten things. It took me a while to learn to tie my shoes. I never tie them anymore though. I keep them tied and just slip them on.
Poorly established hand dominance:
* May use either hand for different tasks at different times-I'm right handed, but I sometimes use my left hand for certain other things, like for example I use my left hand to rake. I'm not sure what else, I'll have to be sure to take notice.
Speech and language:
* May talk continuously and repeat themselves. Some people with dyspraxia have difficulty with organising the content and sequence of their language-Not too much, but sometimes I repeat myself several times if I didn't get a response from someone because I don't think they heard me.
* May have unclear speech and be unable to pronounce some words-Yep. My speech is often not clear and I'm asked to repeat myself a lot. Sometimes my words come out wrong and sound like something weird.
* Speech may have uncontrolled pitch, volume and rate-I speak too quietly most of the time.
Eye movements:
* Tracking. Difficulty in following a moving object smoothly with eyes without moving head excessively. Tendency to lose the place while reading-Maybe more when I was younger. It was hard looking at an object without moving my head. I'm sure this will be a problem when driving. Sometimes I lose my place when reading, but it's usually when I'm distracted.
* Poor relocating. Cannot look quickly and effectively from one object to another (for example, looking from a TV to a magazine)-I don't think I have a problem with that.
Perception (interpretation of the different senses):
* Poor visual perception-I do have trouble judging distances, and visualizing directions, but otherwise I don't have much of a problem.
* Over-sensitive to light-Sometimes. Sometimes not.
* Difficulty in distinguishing sounds from background noise. Tendency to be over-sensitive to noise-Yes, if there's too much background noise it's hard to have a conversation or hear what's being said on the phone. I am sensitive to loud noises.
* Over- or under-sensitive to touch. Can result in dislike of being touched and/or aversion to over-loose or tight clothing - tactile defensiveness-I don't like being touched unless it's from family. I don't like clothing that's too tight. I like looser clothing, but not overly loose.
* Over- or under-sensitive to smell and taste, temperature and pain-Over-sensitive to taste, under-sensitive to smell, under-sensitive to cold and over-sensitive to heat. Pain I'm often over-sensitive to, but it really depends on the type of pain.
* Lack of awareness of body position in space and spatial relationships. Can result in bumping into and tripping over things and people, dropping and spilling things-Not usually, but on occasion yes.
* Little sense of time, speed, distance or weight. Leading to difficulties driving, cooking-Well I'm kind of obsessive about knowing what time it is. I don't often lose track of time unless I'm on the internet. Speed and distances are hard to tell. I don't know about weight. I already mentioned I have difficulties with driving.
* Inadequate sense of direction. Difficulty distinguishing right from left means map reading skills are poor-Yep, I've always had trouble telling my left from my right. I know which are which, but if asked to go left or right, then I screw up. I'm pretty hopeless with reading maps.
Learning, thought and memory:
* Difficulty in planning and organising thought-If trying to put them in words and sometimes even writing, yes. I can get the thoughts in my head all right, but it's often difficult to put them into words.
* Poor memory, especially short-term memory. May forget and lose things-Oh yes. I have poor immediate memory really. I can sometimes forget things even a few seconds after hearing them. I'm often losing and forgetting where things are too.
* Unfocused and erratic. Can be messy and cluttered-I am pretty messy, but I think part of it may be because I'm lazy.
* Poor sequencing causes problems with maths, reading and spelling and writing reports at work-Always had trouble with math. I was always good at reading and spelling. I pretty much suck at writing though and often hate doing it unless it's like in a journal like this.
* Accuracy problems. Difficulty with copying sounds, writing, movements, proofreading-I don't think I have too much of a problem with that.
* Difficulty in following instructions, especially more than one at a time-Yep. Simple basic, one step at a time please. :)
* Difficulty with concentration. May be easily distracted-Quite a bit. Sometimes I turn the TV on while reading text books, but I know I probably shouldn't. Music is ok though.
* May do only one thing at a time properly, though may try to do many things at once-Yes, see my answer above. I want to surf the net, read textbooks, and listen to music all at once, but when I try to do it doesn't work because then I just set the textbook aside and surf the net. But then when I try to read the textbook by itself with no stimulus I get frustrated and end up giving up on the textbook. I can't win.
* Slow to finish a task. May daydream and wander about aimlessly-When I read a chapter from a text book it often takes 2+ hours to get through it, which is why I often give up because it takes so long and I want to do something else. I'm a big time procrastinator too.
Emotion and behaviour:
* Difficulty in listening to people, especially in large groups. Can be tactless, interrupt frequently. Problems with team work-If I'm in a group I do tend to zone out if I'm not interested in what's being said or I'm nervous. I'm not so much tactless, but I hate team work and I avoid it.
* Difficulty in picking up non-verbal signals or in judging tone or pitch of voice in themselves and or others. Tendency to take things literally. May listen but not understand-I think I'm ok there, but I do take things literally sometimes. I'm not really sure what the tone of my voice sounds like.
* Slow to adapt to new or unpredictable situations. Sometimes avoids them altogether-Yep. Add avoids them altogether to the checklist.
* Impulsive. Tendency to be easily frustrated, wanting immediate gratification-Not impulsive, but I do get frustrated about school often and sometimes even skip school work in favor of things that give me more instant gratification.
* Tendency to be erratic ñ have 'good and bad days'-Most of my days are neutral and neither good nor bad. Of course I do have my really good days and really bad days.
* Tendency to opt out of things that are too difficult-Sometimes, but much more so when I was younger. I would often just want to give up because I had such difficulties.
Emotions as a result of difficulties experienced:
* Tend to get stressed, depressed and anxious easily-Very much so.
* May have difficulty sleeping-Not so much difficulty, but having erratic sleep habits because I can't get my mind to shut down and get to the point where I want to go to bed.
* Prone to low self-esteem, emotional outbursts, phobias, fears, obsessions, compulsions and addictive behaviour-Low self-esteem used to be, emotional outbursts not so much, phobias and fears yes, obsessions yes, compulsions no, addictive behavior usually only to the internet.
So, you can see I fit many of the traits and even more so when I was younger. Also I know it's often co-morbid with autism spectrum disorders. I think I read somewhere that 80-85% of people with AS also have Dyspraxia as well.
I'm watching Rosemary's Baby sort of.
Procrastinating on work again.
I watched Snow Cake yesterday. It was good but I think Sigourney Weaver overacted a bit and it was still a bit stereotypical. Once again though, I guess they exaggerate traits to get people to watch.
I also watched Hot Fuzz this morning. It was great. I thought it was even funnier than Shaun of the Dead. I didn't expect it to be gory like Shaun of the Dead though, lol.
I've been looking into Dyspraxia lately and it seems very likely that I have it. I know I know. Another label. I shouldn't be doing that. It surprisingly fits though. Let's take a look at the traits.
Gross motor co-ordination skills (large movements):
* Poor balance. Difficulty in riding a bicycle, going up and down hills-I've always had poor balance. I did learn to ride a bike at 7 years old, but my parents were hesitant about teaching me before 7 because of my motor skills problems.
* Poor posture and fatigue. Difficulty in standing for a long time as a result of weak muscle tone. Floppy, unstable round the joints. Some people with dyspraxia may have flat feet-Yep, it was worse when I was younger though. I couldn't stand on one leg without falling over. I was born with poor muscle tone, but it was improved after physical therapy. It's still not perfect.
* Poor integration of the two sides of the body. Difficulty with some sports involving jumping and cycling-Not so much, but I was never very good at jump-roping.
* Poor hand-eye co-ordination. Difficulty with team sports especially those which involve catching a ball and batting. Difficulties with driving a car-Yep. It sucks. I like playing action oriented video games, but I'm just not good at them so I don't play them often. I had great troubles with catching a ball when I was younger, but not so much now. I still have trouble catching some things. I can't drive because it's so difficult and overwhelming.
* Lack of rhythm when dancing, doing aerobics-Yes, that became more apparent when my mom put me in Jazz and Gymnastic classes. I couldn't match the rhythm of the teacher or the other dancers. I still can't.
* Clumsy gait and movement. Difficulty changing direction, stopping and starting actions-Somewhat. I don't think I have a huge problem with this, but I have noticed I've been more clumsy than usual lately. :S
* Exaggerated 'accessory movements' such as flapping arms when running-I would never really run right. I didn't use the right arm movements for running. I don't really do this now.
* Tendency to fall, trip, bump into things and people-Not so much, but I've been a bit clumsy lately.
Fine motor co-ordination skills (small movements):
* Lack of manual dexterity. Poor at two-handed tasks, causing problems with using cutlery, cleaning, cooking, ironing, craft work, playing musical instruments-Yep. I don't really trust myself with a sharp knife in cutting something. I was never good at crafts. I just wind up frustrating myself. I could never learn musical instruments. My Recorder and Violin playing were horrendous. :)
* Poor manipulative skills. Difficulty with typing, handwriting and drawing. May have a poor pen grip, press too hard when writing and have difficulty when writing along a line-I'm quite good at typing. Handwriting is terrible. I'm glad I just have to sign my name now because I can't write anything else in cursive. I've never held my pen/pencil right and I never will. The way I grip it works for me. I do press too hard when I write and it was difficult and sometimes painful even doing the action of writing.
* Inadequate grasp. Difficulty using tools and domestic implements, locks and keys-I don't have problems using keys, but maybe certain other tools. It was probably worse when I was younger.
* Difficulty with dressing and grooming activities, such as putting on makeup, shaving, doing hair, fastening clothes and tying shoelaces-Never really got the hang of putting on makeup and I really don't want to. I don't like makeup. Shaving's not a problem but I often miss hairs. Doing hair was always difficult. I still don't do anything with it except brush it out and sometimes not always well. I had trouble with buttons. I still do sometimes. It takes me longer to fasten things. It took me a while to learn to tie my shoes. I never tie them anymore though. I keep them tied and just slip them on.
Poorly established hand dominance:
* May use either hand for different tasks at different times-I'm right handed, but I sometimes use my left hand for certain other things, like for example I use my left hand to rake. I'm not sure what else, I'll have to be sure to take notice.
Speech and language:
* May talk continuously and repeat themselves. Some people with dyspraxia have difficulty with organising the content and sequence of their language-Not too much, but sometimes I repeat myself several times if I didn't get a response from someone because I don't think they heard me.
* May have unclear speech and be unable to pronounce some words-Yep. My speech is often not clear and I'm asked to repeat myself a lot. Sometimes my words come out wrong and sound like something weird.
* Speech may have uncontrolled pitch, volume and rate-I speak too quietly most of the time.
Eye movements:
* Tracking. Difficulty in following a moving object smoothly with eyes without moving head excessively. Tendency to lose the place while reading-Maybe more when I was younger. It was hard looking at an object without moving my head. I'm sure this will be a problem when driving. Sometimes I lose my place when reading, but it's usually when I'm distracted.
* Poor relocating. Cannot look quickly and effectively from one object to another (for example, looking from a TV to a magazine)-I don't think I have a problem with that.
Perception (interpretation of the different senses):
* Poor visual perception-I do have trouble judging distances, and visualizing directions, but otherwise I don't have much of a problem.
* Over-sensitive to light-Sometimes. Sometimes not.
* Difficulty in distinguishing sounds from background noise. Tendency to be over-sensitive to noise-Yes, if there's too much background noise it's hard to have a conversation or hear what's being said on the phone. I am sensitive to loud noises.
* Over- or under-sensitive to touch. Can result in dislike of being touched and/or aversion to over-loose or tight clothing - tactile defensiveness-I don't like being touched unless it's from family. I don't like clothing that's too tight. I like looser clothing, but not overly loose.
* Over- or under-sensitive to smell and taste, temperature and pain-Over-sensitive to taste, under-sensitive to smell, under-sensitive to cold and over-sensitive to heat. Pain I'm often over-sensitive to, but it really depends on the type of pain.
* Lack of awareness of body position in space and spatial relationships. Can result in bumping into and tripping over things and people, dropping and spilling things-Not usually, but on occasion yes.
* Little sense of time, speed, distance or weight. Leading to difficulties driving, cooking-Well I'm kind of obsessive about knowing what time it is. I don't often lose track of time unless I'm on the internet. Speed and distances are hard to tell. I don't know about weight. I already mentioned I have difficulties with driving.
* Inadequate sense of direction. Difficulty distinguishing right from left means map reading skills are poor-Yep, I've always had trouble telling my left from my right. I know which are which, but if asked to go left or right, then I screw up. I'm pretty hopeless with reading maps.
Learning, thought and memory:
* Difficulty in planning and organising thought-If trying to put them in words and sometimes even writing, yes. I can get the thoughts in my head all right, but it's often difficult to put them into words.
* Poor memory, especially short-term memory. May forget and lose things-Oh yes. I have poor immediate memory really. I can sometimes forget things even a few seconds after hearing them. I'm often losing and forgetting where things are too.
* Unfocused and erratic. Can be messy and cluttered-I am pretty messy, but I think part of it may be because I'm lazy.
* Poor sequencing causes problems with maths, reading and spelling and writing reports at work-Always had trouble with math. I was always good at reading and spelling. I pretty much suck at writing though and often hate doing it unless it's like in a journal like this.
* Accuracy problems. Difficulty with copying sounds, writing, movements, proofreading-I don't think I have too much of a problem with that.
* Difficulty in following instructions, especially more than one at a time-Yep. Simple basic, one step at a time please. :)
* Difficulty with concentration. May be easily distracted-Quite a bit. Sometimes I turn the TV on while reading text books, but I know I probably shouldn't. Music is ok though.
* May do only one thing at a time properly, though may try to do many things at once-Yes, see my answer above. I want to surf the net, read textbooks, and listen to music all at once, but when I try to do it doesn't work because then I just set the textbook aside and surf the net. But then when I try to read the textbook by itself with no stimulus I get frustrated and end up giving up on the textbook. I can't win.
* Slow to finish a task. May daydream and wander about aimlessly-When I read a chapter from a text book it often takes 2+ hours to get through it, which is why I often give up because it takes so long and I want to do something else. I'm a big time procrastinator too.
Emotion and behaviour:
* Difficulty in listening to people, especially in large groups. Can be tactless, interrupt frequently. Problems with team work-If I'm in a group I do tend to zone out if I'm not interested in what's being said or I'm nervous. I'm not so much tactless, but I hate team work and I avoid it.
* Difficulty in picking up non-verbal signals or in judging tone or pitch of voice in themselves and or others. Tendency to take things literally. May listen but not understand-I think I'm ok there, but I do take things literally sometimes. I'm not really sure what the tone of my voice sounds like.
* Slow to adapt to new or unpredictable situations. Sometimes avoids them altogether-Yep. Add avoids them altogether to the checklist.
* Impulsive. Tendency to be easily frustrated, wanting immediate gratification-Not impulsive, but I do get frustrated about school often and sometimes even skip school work in favor of things that give me more instant gratification.
* Tendency to be erratic ñ have 'good and bad days'-Most of my days are neutral and neither good nor bad. Of course I do have my really good days and really bad days.
* Tendency to opt out of things that are too difficult-Sometimes, but much more so when I was younger. I would often just want to give up because I had such difficulties.
Emotions as a result of difficulties experienced:
* Tend to get stressed, depressed and anxious easily-Very much so.
* May have difficulty sleeping-Not so much difficulty, but having erratic sleep habits because I can't get my mind to shut down and get to the point where I want to go to bed.
* Prone to low self-esteem, emotional outbursts, phobias, fears, obsessions, compulsions and addictive behaviour-Low self-esteem used to be, emotional outbursts not so much, phobias and fears yes, obsessions yes, compulsions no, addictive behavior usually only to the internet.
So, you can see I fit many of the traits and even more so when I was younger. Also I know it's often co-morbid with autism spectrum disorders. I think I read somewhere that 80-85% of people with AS also have Dyspraxia as well.
I'm watching Rosemary's Baby sort of.