Imagine walking on an icy sidewalk.
Is NOW the time to speak with your CPA about your tax return?
I think not.
Then WHY do we insist that a hypermobile or hypotonic child listen to us while we walk with them? And then criticize their gait?
Therapists that work with the elderly know not to chat with an older person while they are climbing stairs or walking across uneven surfaces: it is a risk factor for falling. And we try hard not to have our older clients fall. Particularly when they are in a therapy session with us. We are supposed to model safe strategies.
So why are we fine with letting the little “bendy” guys fall so often as we keep up a running conversation with them on stairs or in a crowded hallway?
Mostly because they don’t get as injured as someone who is 85 when they do fall. But why is THAT reasonable? Children learn safety awareness from us. Their insight is limited by their cognitive maturation. They learn from our behavior, from our rules. I had a school nurse tell me that a 9 year old client of mine “knew” when he was too tired to walk safely. I have seen him throw himself around carelessly when he wanted to go outside to play or when he didn’t want to stop playing. His priority was fun, not safety. As it almost always is with 9 year old boys! Her unwillingness to see his lack of safety awareness meant that the teachers didn’t reinforce safety prompts in the classroom, and the unskilled aide was tethering him to a gait belt most of the time. She was terrified not to use it. None of that was good for anyone. Or necessary.
What SHOULD be happening?
- Anticipate hazards and state them out loud. “These stairs are steep. Hold the railing and go slow.”
- Be willing to stop walking and require better attention or different strategies. “Give me your ball so you can use both hands for balance.”
- You might even go so far as to require a “do-over” with a natural reward instead of a consequence. “Go back to the couch, get up, and walk over here without collapsing onto the kitchen chair. Then I will get your mac and cheese on the table.”
Looking for more strategies for your hypermobile kid/client?
I wrote two books for you!
Both books are filled with practical ideas that you can use today (I am after all, The Practical OT!) I explain why hypermobility is always a sensory processing issue as well as a motor issue, and how developmental hypermobility affects behavior in almost every child. Teaching and preventing injury don’t cripple a child’s spirit; they allow them to thrive. My books are sold as digital downloads on Your Therapy Source and as paperbacks and e-books on Amazon . Start reading today, and make tomorrow safer and more independent for your hypermobile child!
