Starfish Therapies

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Pre-Crawling: Problem Solving and the Desire to Move

March 27, 2012 by Stacy Menz

This post probably should have come before last weeks post about pivoting and reversing but they are still all part of the same idea for kiddos who are learning how to figure out a new movement such as commando crawling.  You can see in the video that he sees a toy or toys that he wants to get to and then he uses every part of his body to figure out how to move forward to get there.  This can also include incorporating rolling from side to side in an effort to produce forward movement.  Kids are amazing at how they will figure out to get what they want.  The first thing that is important is the desire to move.  Some kids develop this on their own and some kids need to be shown that moving is fun.  That could look like engaging them with a toy and then moving it slightly further away (still within reach but they have to work for it).  Then keep moving it just a bit further and help them get to it so they can learn that moving will get them to places and things that they want.  In this video I just let the kiddo figure out how to move on his.  In some upcoming videos you will see me help him work on figuring out how to coordinate his arms and legs, but the fact that he is working so hard to get to where he wants to go is really important for the development of his motor planning and coordination.  He gets important feedback regarding what works and what doesn’t work.  You will also notice that he can’t keep his head up and move the rest of his body at the same time.  He comes up to check for his target and then his head goes right back down again while he tries to push with his legs.  He is using his head the same as he would an arm or a leg and at this point he can’t coordinate head and neck extension with movement in the rest of his body.  Same with his legs, they are very symmetrical which is normal.  They move together and do the same thing.  You will notice in last weeks post (which was videoed chronologically later than this one) that he is able to move his legs separately and have them do things differently.  This is appropriate developmentally.  He is working out how to be efficient.  Keep watching/reading for more on pre-crawling and progressing to commando crawling!

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Filed Under: Developmental Milestones Tagged With: coordination, crawling, gross motor development, motivation, motor planning, Starfish Therapies

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“My child has been diagnosed with hypotonia, we brought him to Starfish Physical Therapy since he was 8 months, he started from not moving at all, to crawling, to a little walker, he is now 3 years old running around everywhere with confidence and happiness. We can see his obvious improvement , that just tears us up sometimes! Every exercise he did in each session and everything the therapist thought he was applying into his daily life. Moreover, Starfish therapists are so nice and loving, the session is not just a therapy activity anymore, it becomes a part of our family life, the most important exciting activity for my son every week. Starfish is our family!! We feel so lucky to have Starfish helping our son, the endless effort you provided to him, changed his life. As a parent, nothing is more grateful than this.”

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