In January I decided to sign Kalie Rose up for Gymnastics, she had low muscle tone in her upper body and was lacking in strength. Since then there has been considerable improvement in her upper body strength, but better than that she has lost some of her shyness. Kalie has always been painfully shy, so bad in fact that she did not talk to her preschool teacher or in class till after Christmas this year, last year it was the end of year before she did so.
So since she started her muscle tone in her upper body went from below average to average, that is in four months, in addition she has increased her social skills and is thriving on the attention.
I am going to sign John Michael up soon as well, his muscle strength is much worse than Kalie's was, also I think the activities will benefit other aspects of his sensory issues. JM is a sensory avoider and has a hard time self calming. I think that gymnastics will help him to seek out more activities. He has been in sports but he is not crazy about baseball or soccer. I think that Gymnastics will be more his speed.
What a wonderful idea. I have a child with SPD as well, and I have struggled with what to do for an organized sport. I think I am going to look into this for my son also.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that many kids with SPD improve with maturity even without specific therapies.
ReplyDeleteFor your son with Aspergers, have you considered hippotherapy? It can be a great choice for a sensory avoidant kid because it avoids the noise and chaos of the gym. Bonding with the horse is a bonus that usually improves mood, frustration level and reduces meltdwon behaviors over time.