Jumping
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Jumping
| Fri, 06-09-2006 - 12:34am |
Hi all,
I was just wondering if any of you have a jumper? Jake used to flap his arms when he was overstimulated but seems to do it less and less until now I only see a little bit of finger flicking instead. His big thing to do right now is jump in place over and over really quickly(believe me I have gotten a few odd looks). Between his therapists and I we worked out he does it for a couple of reasons but mainly to organize himself. I don't want to stop him from doing it because I think this would cause him even more stress but I'd like to teach him something to do that's a little more "socially acceptable". Any ideas?
Teresa
I was just wondering if any of you have a jumper? Jake used to flap his arms when he was overstimulated but seems to do it less and less until now I only see a little bit of finger flicking instead. His big thing to do right now is jump in place over and over really quickly(believe me I have gotten a few odd looks). Between his therapists and I we worked out he does it for a couple of reasons but mainly to organize himself. I don't want to stop him from doing it because I think this would cause him even more stress but I'd like to teach him something to do that's a little more "socially acceptable". Any ideas?
Teresa

And your husband doesn't think he is on the autism spectrum.....?
Does he have a sensory diet? It kind of sounds like he is craving that deep input of joint compressions. Check with your OT but maybe you could do regular joint compressions perhaps even with brushing and it may decrease the jumping.
Or you can get him a mini tramp for at home or some way to let him jump where it looks appropriate. HEavy work like carrying something for you like your purse may help too. Then he gets deep input and it is harder to jump when you are holding something. Other exercises to try are wheelbarrow walks, wall push-ups, crab walks, bear walks, jumping jacks, carrying books, tug of war with therabands, playing with theraputty.
I wouldn't stop the jumping either in those places, just try to supplement with some similar activities that can help him organize himself and perhaps this other will decrease.
Renee
Teresa,
Nathan is also a jumper. We are on our 3rd mini trampoline! lol He loves it. I used to have to tell him to go jump, but now he does it when he feels the need. He still jumps in place too. This is when his anxiety level is up, mostly when he's excited!
He doesn't always do this in public, mostly at home. So, when we are out, I just calmly tell him to settle down. And he stops, and replaces it with the finger flicking. LOL
michelle
Eric does this too. That's one of the reasons we got our mini-tramp. In addition to having him jump on it when he is actually jumping, I also use it just to have him let off steam, if he is particularly hyper or running around the house. During school, I used to have him jump on it in the am before going to school and he would usually want to jump on it in the pm after school himself. It does seem to help regulate him. For Eric, I don't think jumping is a stress thing, I think it is craving the input, like Renee said.
We also do joint compressions. Now Eric even asks for them. He will do something like fall on the floor and say, "I'm broken, fix me" then we do the joint compressions while saying something silly like, "fix, fix, fix" and this is usually accompanied by some story about a Thomas Train going to the fitter's yard to get fixed.
The heavy lifting stuff helps too. I keep a clothes basket that I dump things in and he loves to push them around or pull them. In our case, if we have Eric do enough of this stuff at home, he doesn't seem to need to jump while in public as much.
Also, don't know if this has ever happened to you. Eric sometimes will get the sudden urge to jump when he is right next to me and his darling little head whacks right into my chin. Ouch! I can't tell you how many times that has happened, knocking my jaw out of line. The perils of motherhood!
HTH,
Katherine
Teresa,
Ryan (7, AS) is also a jumpy little man. More at Jake's age than now. He was also a spinner, which is even less socially acceptable.
Like everyone else said, we focused on adding activities to our daily routine to give him the sensory input he needed. We also used a mini tramp, joint compressions, heavy work. We recently moved up to a real tramp, 15 foot w/ enclosure, which is good workout for Ryan (and Mom and Dad, lol).
Just in general, when we notice him being a little more jumpy than usual, we bump up the activity level with playground trips, swimming, bowling, etc. So he can work out what he needs to, and will be more organized after. In fact, if there is an occasion when I needed him to be calmer and less jumpy, like a family wedding or something, I take him to playground first to let him get it out so he will be more together at the ceremony.
Kate
I have a jumper too.
We have a mini-tramp in the living room, as well as a hippity hop (now that I know what it is, I know what to call it!).