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Questions & Answers - Motor Concerns
My daughter is 10 months old and she was evaluated by a PT for
motor gross skills (early Intervention Program). She tested at 5
months for locomotion. Her muscle tone is within normal limits. She
sits up, rolls both ways, pivots. She reached all these milestones
late, around 7.5 months. She doesn't bear weight on her legs. When I
try to help her to stand, she wants to bounce. She also does that in
an exersaucer. She is not pulling up from a sitting position. I am
very concerned that she will not be able to walk. Can you please
advise on what exercises I can do? We will start therapy in a few
weeks, but I would like to do some exercises at home before that.
You have taken the best first step in having your daughter evaluated
by EI, so that you will have PT services starting soon in your home. And
keep in mind, that although you hear that babies often take their first
steps at one year, children who walk even as late as 16 months are still
considered within average, so your daughter has a long time to develop
her strength and practice the skills needed for independent walking. In
the meantime, I would limit (10 min. a few times per day) or eliminate
if you can, the time your daughter spends in an exersaucer, swing,
bouncer or any similar equipment. These devices do not help children
walk, and in some cases they hinder walking by encouraging movements
that are not conducive to learning to walk, such as building up calf
muscles instead of quads and promoting toe walking (from children using
tippy toes to spin exersaucers or move walkers forward). The best place
for your daughter to practice the needed skills for walking is on the
floor. Although your daughter's muscle tone is within normal limits, she
may need to increase trunk strength or upper or lower body strength in
order to pull up to stand, cruise and eventually walk. You didn't
mention if she was crawling yet, but since you did say she tested at 5
months in the gross motor area, I would assume not.
This is our page on motor milestones for babies
9-12 months.
Below I have copied and pasted some exercises that were given to
other parents with similar questions that were submitted to Ask a
Therapist:
I would practice using a therapy ball or large playground ball that
is big enough that your child can stand in front of it at about
chest height. Make a game of singing and rolling her forward with
her belly on the ball and then back onto her feet. Row, row, row
your boat is a great song for that activity. She may even enjoy just
standing beside the big ball and patting it as a game. You can also
sit her on your leg, with one of her legs on either side of yours
and raise her up and down encouraging her to press her feet on the
floor and stand as you raise her up with support. Bouncing in this
position can help her increase the strength in her quad muscles that
she needs for walking. Do not wear shoes on her in the house, she
needs to feel the floor under her feet to develop these skills.
Crawling is a very important developmental milestone, and can be
encouraged by placing your son over your leg on the floor, with his
knees bent and hands bearing weight in front of him, rock him back
and forth and sing simple songs to make it fun. You can also tape
some large cans together or roll up several towels to make a roll
and place him over this roll in a hand/knee position. Gently rock
him back and forth so he is encouraged to bear weight on both hands
and knees. Place a mirror in front of him and place toys to the left
and right side, encouraging him to bear weight on one hand while
reaching for a toy with his other hand. You can also use a small
playground or exercise ball and place him belly down on there and
roll him back and forth bringing him forward to his hands and then
back to his knees or feet.
Work on transitional positions, such as encouraging him to go
from laying down to sitting by rotating his body, as well as going
from sitting to hand knee. Place the roll to his left or right side
(alternate) and help him rotate over into a hand-knee position. You
can use a small box turned upside-down as a table, and place your
son in a kneeling position beside the box for play to encourage
weight bearing on his knees. Make sure his heels are under his
bottom (don't allow him to sit in a "W" position with his bottom on
the floor between his legs) and help him pull up to a tall kneeling
position. When he is able to tolerate tall kneeling, you can help
him move one leg out into a half kneel position which he will need
to pull up into standing. Sometimes furniture in the house is simply
too high for little ones to pull up on, so use boxes, breakfast
trays, lap desks etc, whatever works best for your son's height.
Ideally when he pulls to stand the object you are using for a table
should be about armpit height or a bit lower.
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Questions & Answers - Motor Concerns
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