Physical coordination/strength limits?
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Physical coordination/strength limits?
| Mon, 06-04-2007 - 1:34pm |
Hi ladies!
I was at the park with Nick not too long ago with Nick and he wanted to go across the bars, I forget what exactly they are called, but you swing by your arms and hang and climb across with your arms. His friends are doing it at school and can get 2 or 3 bars across before they fall. Nick doesnt have the strength to do it and gets very frustrated and asks me why he cant do it. He has great climbing strength in his legs though and when is chased, no one can touch him. He doesnt want to learn to ride a bike and I am not sure why. He is more content to push his Little Tykes cozy coupe car around. He even squeezes himself into it and still pushes himself around! He is good at throwing a ball in the air and hitting it with a bat, but cant hit it off a t-ball stand. Putt-putt golf is a no-go as well. He is starting to get frustrated. He wont join a team/group sport because of his anxiety either. I'm not sure which direction to go with him. Do you find that your kids have these coordination problems as well? Are they lacking in certain areas too? I'm not sure how to help him. It's hard to hear him say "Well Michael can do it", etc.
Christine
I was at the park with Nick not too long ago with Nick and he wanted to go across the bars, I forget what exactly they are called, but you swing by your arms and hang and climb across with your arms. His friends are doing it at school and can get 2 or 3 bars across before they fall. Nick doesnt have the strength to do it and gets very frustrated and asks me why he cant do it. He has great climbing strength in his legs though and when is chased, no one can touch him. He doesnt want to learn to ride a bike and I am not sure why. He is more content to push his Little Tykes cozy coupe car around. He even squeezes himself into it and still pushes himself around! He is good at throwing a ball in the air and hitting it with a bat, but cant hit it off a t-ball stand. Putt-putt golf is a no-go as well. He is starting to get frustrated. He wont join a team/group sport because of his anxiety either. I'm not sure which direction to go with him. Do you find that your kids have these coordination problems as well? Are they lacking in certain areas too? I'm not sure how to help him. It's hard to hear him say "Well Michael can do it", etc.
Christine


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Edited 2/19/2008 2:45 pm ET by littleroses
This sounds a lot like my 9 yr. old. He can't ride a bike either, play sports that require too much coordination and running etc... Next year the OT at school is going to put together a sensory diet for him. It is so build strength and endurance. I am hoping that this will help him a lot.
Carey
How old is Nick?
My son (5yrs 9months/Asperger's Syndrome) is also envious of his classmates and peers that can go across the monkey bars (that's what he calls them) at the school/park.
I think this is extremely common with our spectrum kiddos. I know both of mine (the 9 year old boy and the 6 year old girl) have issues with coordination and strength. Our daughter receives PT through the school district, and it's helped her quite a bit. She can finally peddle a bike, although she's not coordinated enough to steer yet. :-)
Okay, so I didn't help you with your problem...sorry. But at least you know you're not alone.
Amy
Chrtistine,
As Amy pointed out, it is
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Christine,
My son had difficulties w/ hitting and catching and still can't go across the monkey bars. He's 10, just finished 5th grade. He learned to ride his bike early (by age 4) but was scary (used to try to race his brother 5 yrs older) he had a need for speed.
Finally in 3rd grade they decided he was far enough behind that he qualified for PT. The PT worked w/ him at recess doing typical kid things to increase his strength and endurance. Last year he was able to play football at recess and actually catch the ball sometimes (he was the designated hiker-- because he was good at it and it gave him a good thing he could do, the assistant principal or a male 4th grade teacher always played at recess so he felt safer). This year they phased out the PT, he's caught up to grade level finally.
Betsy
Isaac also has uneven motor skills.
Nick will be 5 on Thursday. Monkey bars, that was the word that I was looking for! Brain fry.... We have been so hesitant to get Nick a bike with training wheels as he has no interest in even sitting on one, even in the store. We got a Big Wheel a year ago and it just sits in the rafters in the garage collecting dust! Its almost like if his feet arent on the ground, he cant figure it out.
Christine
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Christine
Christine,
My younger nephew (he's going on 7) is the athlete of the family and he had a hard time with the monkey bars until he was about 5.5 so perhaps in time he'll get it.
Thanks for the replies & suggestions! We are gonna try to focus on his strengths and if he never wants to learn to ride a bike, then so be it! His legs are very strong and he is so fast, maybe he will run track someday instead :). We have our next drs. appointment next week so I will ask, I have a ton of questions anyways. Thanks again!
Christine
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Christine
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