any Physical Therapists or girls who's dc had pt?

josh doesn't qualify for PT (has been walking since 10 1/2 months and has great gross motor skills) but he is very low muscle tone and has poor planning (falls and bumps into things a lot.)

i've been trying to build up his core muscles by working on a therapy ball several times a day (front?back and side to side, and a bit on his belly) but i want more activities i can do with him inside.

he's only 16 months. (he can't do wheel barrel yet.)

any ideas on how to build up his core muscles?

tia!

Re: any Physical Therapists or girls who's dc had pt?

ds is getting PT now. It's only been the third week and the first two were a wash because he screamed the whole time and clung to me. Last week she finally began to work with him. She needs to build up his torso strength because his tone there seems to be off. The one thing she did was lay him down on a mat, put a ball near his legs and lift his neck up to encourage him to do a sit up and get the ball because he can't just sit up straight from his back. She said to try and repeat that situp motion for him. Not sure if that helps but I'm sure she's going to get into more exercises this week.

Re: any Physical Therapists or girls who's dc had pt?

Michele - low tone and motor planning can be considered OT issues. Have you had him evaluated for OT? If you did, maybe have him re-evaluated? He may qualify now that he's older and the gaps in the skills have become wider since the last eval (so, if he was borderline at 12 mts, he may still be at that level at 16 mts, therefore qualify...)

Re: any Physical Therapists or girls who's dc had pt?

Message edited 10/5/2008 1:35:17 PM.

Re: any Physical Therapists or girls who's dc had pt?

Message edited 10/5/2008 1:51:32 PM.

Re: any Physical Therapists or girls who's dc had pt?

Posted by bayla

Posted by LoveBeingMrsT

Posted by lipglossjunky73

Michele - low tone and motor planning can be considered OT issues. Have you had him evaluated for OT? If you did, maybe have him re-evaluated? He may qualify now that he's older and the gaps in the skills have become wider since the last eval (so, if he was borderline at 12 mts, he may still be at that level at 16 mts, therefore qualify...)

ya he has ot 3 x a week but the ot works on his fine motor skills and hand eye coordination (all things i think he is age appropriate in). i've talked to him several times about working on strength but all he does is the ball.

i know i can change therapists but i want to give him a little longer.

as an OT myself, i wouldl def recc talking to your OT again (since you want to stay with him for now) and asking for more upper extremity and trunk strengthening activities, as well as asking him introduce new activities that would require your DS to work on motor plan (new toys/activity =having to figure out how to do it, etc). Also you mentioned decreased body awareness which is related to sensory issues (esp with regard to the proprioceptive system). is he doing sensory activies to address this too?
You said all he does is the ball, do you mean he just has him sit and bounce on it, or is he having your DS weight baring over it, doing lateral sit ups on it, etc? Weightbaring activities are great for improving UE strengthening, whether over a ball or a peanut. Also you can have your DS sit on a small child sized bench and have them reach down and pick up items/toys and give it to you on either side of his body, that also work on trunk/lateral strengthening and is also good for crossing midline. or if you have a small tunnel, have him crawl into it and then gently rock him in it (if hes not scared)
Good luck