Starfish Therapies

A pediatric therapy company operating in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area. We provide physical, occupational, speech and aquatic therapy services in the most beneficial and convenient setting for you and your child, including our clinic, currently located in Burlingame, your home, school or daycare.

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Growth Spurts

January 29, 2017 by Stacy Menz

When working with kids, growth spurts are always something we have to take into account.  I can remember as a child feeling like I had these arms and legs that weren’t connected to me making me even clumsier than I already was.  On top of that I think I was hungry all the time too.  Almost all kids go through growth spurts at various times during their developmental years so I just wanted to take a moment to point out some things to consider during these times.

For all kids, when they grow rapidly their bones change lengths, their muscles have to adjust and as a result their ability to sense where they are in space has to alter.  It doesn’t happen overnight (hence me feeling like my arms and legs weren’t attached) and during the time when their bodies are adjusting to these new proportions they may be a little on the clumsy side.  Just think for a second of your house and your daily routine.  I bet you know exactly where everything is and can almost go through your morning routine in your sleep.  Now imagine that someone came in during the night and moved everything around.  I bet it would throw you off for a few days while you adapted to the new layout.  That’s how kids have to adapt to their ‘new’ body.

When a child has low muscle tone or high muscle tone there are other things to consider.  For a child with low muscle tone, they are working hard to maintain strength and stability.  Their muscles get good at working at a certain length and they begin to progress their skills.  Now they grow suddenly and their muscles are longer and all of a sudden they aren’t as efficient and their endurance is decreased.  They will show some weakness and have a harder time with postural stability and overall functional skills.  This is their period of adaptation to their new size.  It just may take them a little longer, and they may look like they have regressed.  You may have to give them a little more help or a little more time for a short period, but the good news is, they get back to their previous abilities much faster than the first time around when they were just learning the skill.  That’s because their body already knows what to do, they just have to figure it out at this new size.

Hopefully this helps explain some of what you may see as your child is growing and they appear to change over night, don’t worry, its not permanent!

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Filed Under: Developmental Milestones Tagged With: gross motor development, hypertonia, hypotonia, Motor Smart Kids, Starfish Therapies

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