Shelly : Re: absent semi-circular canals

[Guest guest]

Dear -

Your comment " sometimes he just goes straight back " caught my eye.

was very much that way once he started 'walking'. Even with the walker,

he'd be standing there and he'd fall over like a tree. In hindsight I think

that his 'righting' reflex wasn't kicking in. Even in PT when they would

seat him on a ball and then rotate the ball in all directions, he'd have to

be almost completely folded over before he would try to right himself -

which they thought was about muscular weakness and low tone. He also

couldn't pull things apart without surprising himself and falling violently

backwards. Now he's seventeen years old and his balance is still very

visually based. If I stand next to him and I lean, he'll try to catch his

balance because my movement tricks him into thinking he is falling. Uneven

ground looks like when you or I might find one too many or one too few

stairs on a staircase and stairs require a banister.

Two things we did (or he showed us to do for him) when he was four which led

to independent walking - (1) he would hold a 12 " light play ball in his

arms - this seemed to really stabilize him to walk. (2) he would hold one

end of a webbed leash (actually a strap off a portable cd player) and we

would hold the other. The cord was completely slack, but if he saw we

dropped our end, he would sit down - no matter where we were. We'd do it

all the time just to see how long it would take him to notice and because he

was soooo cute when he'd sit down and look at us as though we had cheerfully

lost our minds.

Best-

yuka

> >

> >Reply-To: CHARGE

> >To: CHARGE

> >Subject: Re: absent semi-circular canals

> >Date: Tue, 08 May 2007 22:52:41 -0000

> >

> >Hi ina,

> >

> >It's nice that you remember Luke and I. Sounds like Vinny's doing

> >awesome! Luke's been doing pretty well. Luke is also cruising, and

> >sitting now too, but he seems to have no fear of falling. He's

> >starting to learn how to get down from standing and out of sitting,

> >but sometimes he just goes straight back, so I have to put pillows

> >behind him or catch him. With his balance being off, I'm not sure

> >how to instill that fear of falling without letting him fall and get

> >hurt.

> >

> > Snyder, Luke's mom, 2 1/2, CHARGE

> >www.caringbridge.org/mn/lukejoseph