Core Body Strength – SOOC Smiley Saturday
Many autistic children have this deficit which is one of the many reasons that we visit an occupational therapist regularly. This deficit makes many every day tasks more difficult, such as dressing.
Both the boys can now dress themselves but it’s still not easy for them. It’s not just the fine motor skills and co-ordination, it’s also a question of balance.
Most of us are quite capable of putting on a pair of trousers, hold open the waist, drape the legs out in front, stand on one foot, insert the other foot, shimmy down to the opening, transfer weight and repeat with the other leg.
Is that about right?
Try it out.
That’s quite a good deal of sequencing let alone anything else. If that’s a difficult task, how might one overcome the problem?
This is how my boys do it, both of them.
See if you can follow along.
Lay out the trousers flat on the floor. Turn your back on the trousers and sit down on the carpet behind them at the waist end with a three foot gap on the floor. Roll onto your back and swing your legs over your head until your toes touch the carpet. Lift your arms over your head to grab each side of the waist of your trousers to open, insert feet into the hole and then into each leg, pull the trousers up to your waist, continue body roll onto your knees backwards and jump to your feet = done. Your work out is complete and you’re half dressed! Those compensatory skills kill me every time. It’s very funny to watch one child whip through this sequence, but watching two boys whiz through the same sequence simultaneously is somewhat hysterical, a daily dose of a comedy double act, but then I always have been a little “biased.”
Cut and paste
from this little
boxy thing below
December 13th, 2008 at 2:11 am
That would be an amazing sight to see. We are practicing dressing with Heidi. She does alright with lower body stuff while sitting on the floor but t-shirts and anything that goes on her upper body presents a real challenge. It is most amusing some of the positions she gets herself stuck in.
December 13th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Well described. I would have never imagined. Just another thing I guess people never think about everyday. Amazing.
December 13th, 2008 at 7:18 am
OMG! That sounds hysterical! I’d love to see video of *that* someday.
December 13th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Goodness, Maddy! Whilst I lift my jaw from the edge of the table near the keyboard, I can manage to type-out that my next post will compliment this one. You continue to amaze me. I guess what I want to know is whether this dressing method was OT-guided or child-initiated?
December 13th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Very much child initiating. The OT’s and I have tried to help them balance on one leg / lean against a wall for support, but no luck.
They did this entirely by themselves and it makes perfect sense because with their backs to the floor they have nowhere further to fall, they’re secure and can manage to make the rest of their bodies co-operate when they’re in that steady position – go figure!
December 13th, 2008 at 9:53 am
That must be quite difficult until they learned it. My friends husband became autistic after a terrible car accident where his brain was damaged. Now he can dress himself but she has to put the date and the day on his clothes, otherwise he wouldn’t dress.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
I start to put on pantyhose (haha, as infrequently as possible) from a sitting position. Leading-to, as I age, starting pants in that position also.
For children who are full-time-wheelchair-users I have specifically recommended dressing from sitting – both halves, upper and lower, and then standing to finish the pants.
Now I can see why your boys were watching tv between their, uh, with their feet, uh, you know.
December 13th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
There are so many “heretics” out there who want to medicalise autism into this and that, it’s crap.
I am old (my trousers must be rolled) I am stiff, and recently I had an unusual experience with a ballet bar of all things, in that I was testing it out for health and safety as to whether it could sustain weight, and you know I had a problem supporting my own weight on it, but then I thought I would see if I could lift a 17 and half stone friend of mine, not believing I could, but do you know what, I could.
You know sometimes I have to sit down to put my trousers on, but that ain’t strenght so much as balance.
I officially learnt to tie my shoe laces at 18 doesn’t mean I am actually any good at it.
Dressing has always been a struggle for me, but it ain’t autism it is Dyspraxia and that is a neurodiversity in itself.
I can play the flute because I can but do I always know where my hands are? no way, I literally lose parts of me.
December 13th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Now I not only want to see a video of that–I’m trying to imagine them getting on shirts.
December 15th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Alright, now I am going to have to watch my sons get dressed a little more closely. I know that one sits down, then lays down and does a little backbend to finish the job (where he is literally balanced on his shoulders and his heels). The other I’ve never much watched. I must admit: their favorite way to put on pants is still to have mommy hold them out, while she sits on the floor in front of them, and they put both hands on her shoulders to steady themselves. However, I try to make them do it themselves unless we’ve reached that point where it must be accomplished in the next 15 seconds or they will be tardy to school.
What you should watch, if you have not already, is the Wallace and Gromit short films where Wallace develops a machine that dresses him in the morning. He also develops technotrousers to take Gromit walking. Brilliant stuff.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:06 am
A creative, intelligent and elegant Engineering Solution! Please tell them I said so. (Putting trousers on is not a social problem, it’s an engineering problem.)
P.s. I just tried it myself. Being closer to sixty than fifty, I’m amazed I was still flexible enough. (though I think that goes with the borderline autitude)
Advantage: Gravity helps. Disadvantage: Things in pockets may fall out.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:40 am
That is brilliant! I tried it too, and once you have a little practice at it its so quick and easy. I don’t have any difficulty with the usual method and its not practical for me to find that much floor space but I was amazed at how practical it was.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Autism, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder are all potential pitfalls when a child doesn’t have proper child development. I think all families should be wary of this.