Milo’s story

Milo’s parents contacted Emma four years ago when Milo was nine. Milo had been diagnosed the year before through the NHS as having DCD. His parents felt that other than a couple of sessions with an OT, their son had received little support and was seriously struggling in school, accessing the curriculum and making friends. Milo’s parents had just moved him to a smaller school setting and were keen to find the right support to make things quickly improve. Emma carried out a full assessment of his strengths and challenges and provided immediate feedback; this included lots of positives as well as explanations for Milo’s challenges.

A range of easy to implement strategies were recommended for Milo’s parents and school staff to put in place, with an explanation of why a consistent approach at school and home is so important. Within a very short space of time, the very timid Milo started to enjoy school. He began to talk more and to participate. His parents noticed that he soon showed confidence that he had only ever shown at home and was so much happier about himself and his abilities. The support Emma provided was continued with regular visits that punctuated each school year, with activity ideas and classroom tools for Milo to try. Milo’s parents told Emma that many friends and family commented on the positive changes.

Emma still visits Milo at school although he is now thirteen. The role now is more to tweak the strategies of support that have stood Milo in good stead for so long and to guide his school staff. This is more challenging at Milo’s age, because there are many teachers that he sees throughout the day/week, but the ongoing support is important to ensure that as Milo goes from year to year (with GCSE’s and A levels to face before too long) maintaining his confidence and successes. He is a bright boy with an exciting future ahead of him!