different therapies

[Guest guest]

I wanted to comment on what I'm perceiving to be a very important

aspect of helping our kids. Reading about Ruthie's child calming after

riding horses, I think 's daughter does some physical activities

to help her calm, Kassi had/has tumbling, etc. While there one day I

ran into a former teaching assistant who had an adult with severe

autism there. She said just a 30 min time to sit & splash in the

shallow end would calm him for the rest of the day.

In just joining our YMCA I'm seeing that it's very good for Allie Kat

to get to go to the pool & workout room for a while. I've tried to get

her involved over the years in gymnastics then dance, but she never

seemed to enjoy it for a long time. I think this is very different. We

go to one of the indoor pools and she finds what she likes & does it,

jumping off the deep end & swimming down low, going down indoor

slides, doing fitness equipment. It's not highly structured, so she

doesn't feel the stress of constant group input, but she's still

getting social opportunities. In fact, she told me she wants to be on

a swim team, so this will get interesting; maybe we've found her

physical niche.

I just wanted to through it out that finding something for our kids

that can give them a physical outlet can be very helpful, especially

for problem behaviors. I remember I think it was Temple Grandin once

saying for hyper/aggressive kids, intense 45 minute workouts

twice/daily could significantly calm a child.

I'm so glad my friend Shanna got us into going to the Y. I think it

will be very good for Allie Kat and wanted to through out my thoughts,

especially for those of you with younger kids. It's so hard when life

revolves around therapies, IMO finding naturalized approaches can be

really good, too. I remember when Allie screamed for a whole hr while

swinging or would barely walk at 24 mos, so maybe it's too hard right

now.

HTH,

Debi