Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional POstural instability/can't sit up while writing

My older DD20 had low muscle tone as a baby. She crawled late and only after a 6 weeks of physical therapy and didn't walk till just outside what was considered "normal' at 19 months. What the physical therapist who worked with my DD at 1 but I imagine both these things will work at 7.

Swinging -- A simple outside playground swing without any back support. Just like any other exercise he might not initially like swinging if it's tires him out. But he can build up. Do you have sings in a local playground, can you put one in your yard?

Ball Pits -- You know those pits they have at IKEA, or you can rent at a party? My DD's PT used a similar type ball pit. We actually bought a small blow up one at a party when my DD was a preschooler.

I knew my DD wouldn't qualify for PT after her she started walked. But I did enroll her in dance from 3-10. Took a while but I found a wonderful teacher who was happy to work with even the clumsiest kids. While many bosy might balk at dance classes, gymnastics or a parcour gym might be a good alternative.

P.S. I would think swimming would also be a good for developing core muscles. Can you son swim? Does he enjoy it?

Thank you for so many helpful posts! I knew this board would have great suggestions. I will try these.

I have wondered about vision. His table manners really are bad and sometimes I feel like he is just not...able to do it right. He could be described as somewhat clumsy, with a tendency to fall and stumble. He drops stuff and doesn't pour, snap, or button very well. On the other hand, he can hit and throw a baseball quite well, and he's above average at soccer and a good runner and a good swimmer. He is also an incredibly good reader with no issues with fatigue at all--he will read small print for hours.

As a child I was very athletic but I used to rest my head on my desk while writing because I was bored. The work I was doing just wasn't interesting so I preferred to watch the pen/pencil mark the paper from very close. Sounds strange but I did this from elementary to high school.

Does he have good posture when he reads, or does he bend his head around, look at the book from an angle, hold his head close to the book etc? If he doesn't do any of those, I'd most likely guess vision isn't the issue.

The things you've mentioned that could be vision could also be motor-related too. It's all such a puzzle! Another OT eval might really help

polarbear

A really good point, but just a warning though - our ornery DD didn't do a single one of the usual signs (which is why I took so long to check out visual processing). But wave a pencil around in front of her eyes, and you can easily see the chaos.

Good point FWIW, the "waving a pencil" test is something you can do at home easily. It is only one clue and if it's ok that doesn't mean there *isn't* an issue - but otoh, if we'd ever known to do this we would have right away known that something was up with our dd's vision. There are different things you can do with focusing on a pencil, but one that was really obvious for our dd re tracking (or lack thereof lol) was to hold a pencil up about 3 feet in front of her, slowly trace a circle in the air (parallel to her standing body, not parallel to the floor, diameter approximately 1 yard). Have your child follow the tip of the pencil as you trace the circle and watch his/her eyes. Do they track together or do they diverge? I honestly just about freaked the first time I saw what my dd's eyes did with this - they followed for about 1/4 cycle and then looked off in two completely different directions.

polarbear

ps - another clue re reading and vision - our dd hated reading and wasn't progressing *but* she could read and had been tested so we knew there weren't any reading-related challenges. What we noticed was that when she read aloud to us, she would read a-ok for a bit then stumble across a really easy word that we knew she should know (something like "new" yet she could read longer more complicated words). I think that visually it was easier to put together a longer word than a short one when she was having difficulty focusing her eyes together. She also skipped lines and got lost on the page occasionally. I suspect that for a child who's verbally advanced and motivated to read, the ability to synthesize meaning from context could make up a lot for small details they were missing visually while reading.

He doesn't do any of these things. OTOH, he doesn't sit up nicely and read. He is almost always lying down. He is a chronic leaner and flopper as well. He will still want to sit on my lap at any lengthy event so he can flop all over me. Though he is not your classic "boy who can't sit still" (not "hyper"--he will sit quietly and read or play chess in a room full of kids running around and screaming) he also is not stationary for long, constantly readjusting his body to lean, flop, rest and lie prone in new ways.

I will try the pencil test. I asked him yesterday if his eyes ever bother him, if anything is ever hard to see, blurry, hard to focus on, etc and he looked at me like I was insane...but IDK if kids know when they have these issues.

Re reading, he does skip/substitute small words sometimes or lose his place, but last years he was tested at 190 correct words per minute (age 6) so he's doing pretty well! He LOVES to read...it's his world.

Some of that sounds like my DS - his favorite place to sit is on me. He has a very hard time sitting in a chair (although better with feet supported properly). Not 'hyper' but needs to 'lean, flop, rest and lie prone' - exactly!

DS never complained about his eyes, and when I asked him if his eyes ever hurt or he saw double, he told me no. Yet he has a convergence insufficiency diagnosis. I think that he _can_ team his eyes together but he gets tired. So, tiredness is mostly what he complains of when reading.

DS also enjoys reading but gives up quickly. Although I doubt he'd get anywhere close to 190 wpm reading aloud.