One of you lovely blog visitors asked for help with a 19 month-old. I don't have a clear understanding of how severe the balance/coordination challenges are. I guess the best advice is to take your cues from the baby, build on what he seems to like, and keep safety in mind always. (I found that I tended to over-protect, and still do. Maybe you have a trusted friend who will tell you the truth about "hovering," but still, err on the side of safety.)
I am of course not an expert. If you don't have therapy with OT/PT, etc. ask your pediatrician to help with research and referrals- that's what they are for! Our pediatrician's office has a social worker who helps us with resources. If you don't have a case worker, you could try asking the local school district to help you find one. Contact the special ed department and ask to speak to someone who works in "Child Find." Tell them your child is not yet 3, and you need assistance with evaluations and therapies- could they put you in touch with a community centered board.
Our little girl started OT and PT at 4 months old. (She started Speech/Language at 9 months old, not that anyone was working on speech. They were just trying to wake up her mouth, with chewies and electric toothbrushes. They worked a lot on receptive language, of course.) We didn't know she had sensory integration disorder. We just knew that she had poor strength and flexibility.
As time passed and we saw how upsetting certain input was for her, the therapies became two-pronged: build up her strength and dexterity, and soothe her by providing more of the type of input she sought (in her case, joint and muscle input) and desensitizing her to the type of input she avoided (tactile sensations, bright light and heat, busy visual fields and certain sounds). If your baby exhibits distress consistently in certain situations, take the time to start a log and see if you can isolate the triggers. If you have an OT, she can do an inventory to help you.
Anyway, sometimes the things that babies love turn out to be what they need. Rose LOVED her pacifier. Now, at 10 years old, she still needs a chewie sometimes. She loved her little baby jumper, and loved her baby swing. Those things were replicated in the complex hospital gym where we spent so much time. (Trampoline, ceiling mounted swings.) So if you are trying to work on balance, sometimes a lot of gravitational input is just the thing. If your little guy likes to swing, see if your local playground has one of the bucket seats and pop him in there. If he DOESN'T like to swing, try de-sensitizing him very slowly and gently, like with a hammock or rocking chair.
I think it is important to keep the babies out of baby carriers as much as possible. They cut off their peripheral vision, which is part of what helps them develop balance and gravitational security.
Of course balance also requires core strength. Our PT had us do wheelbarrow-walking with Rose. Just hold his little legs while he is on his tummy and see if he will try to move forward on his hands. You can also do lots of rolling and tumbling, with assistance. A disk-type swing is probably too much for a toddler, but you can see how hanging on to a single rope and using the legs to keep the seat level would be great for building up core strength. The hospital gym had pads on the floor and all kinds of safety belts. If you don't have access to that kind of facility, improvise or look online for soft helmets, etc.
One book that really helped us is called The Out of Sync Child. This is actually for kids with sensory integration disorder, but there are a lot of gross motor activities in it. We also did take our little girl to "gymnastics" very early. Just observe at the facility and make sure they understand and embrace all types of kids. Our people knew that Rose was not there to become an Olympic competitor.
Anyway, this seems kind of general. I hope it is helpful. I think the main thing is to keep the kid engaged in interesting things around him so he is motivated to go get it, and of course always, always keep safety in mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment