[blindkid] never stands still

Fri Jun 11 17:24:39 UTC 2010

Wow!  This is awsum.  I've heard of the peanut shaped excersize balls, but 
not the other things.  I just wanted to thank you for posting these links, 
and to suggest to some parents how they could afford this.  Try your local 
parent's groups, especially ones for blind kids, autistic kids, ADD, ADHD, 
homeschooling and alternative education.  If enough other parents are 
interested you could all chip in and have a rotation schedule of how to 
trade items.  For instance, one family might not pay anything towards the 
gear, but the dad might install for free, the hardware in each of the other 
families' houses.  Another family might pay for a toddler swing for indoors, 
another might pay for a trampoline, another might pay for that spinny disk 
thinggy, and kids could meet at each other's houses to play or families 
could take turns with each physical play option.  We do this and I have seen 
it done in many home schooling and special needs children, parenting groups 
with things like sand and water tables, sand boxes, cage balls, puppet show 
theatres, play kitchen sets, ride in cars, tricicles, etc.  Good luck all, 
and thanks for the neat links.  I see my wallet crying in the corner and 
Jeremy is going to be one happy toddler soon.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: <empwrn at bellsouth.net>; "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of 
blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 11:12 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] never stands still


> Exercise balls are certainly good too. For a while we used them a lot  and 
> there was an unusual style worth mentioning-- it is not really a  proper 
> ball but more of a slight "peanut shape" such that it only  wants to roll 
> back-and-forth in a straight line. That can be really  handy for a kid to 
> go forward and back on a tummy or back with a  greatly reduced chance of 
> them sliding off to one side by accident.  Kendra especially liked you to 
> hold her feet and roll her out and back  over and over. (That would never 
> have worked on a round ball!...)
>
> Brandy's post also reminded me of something called a "Dizzy Disk"  which 
> is a spinning table with a wedge cut across the base so you can  adjust 
> the table from level to a pretty steep angle in increments with  a simple 
> twist of the base. Spinning uphill and down like that seems  to make some 
> kids laugh a lot so we figured that was a good thing.
>
> As with so many things, the above aren't really cheap. We borrowed the 
> ideas from a former OT. (Those people seem to have pretty decent toy 
> budgets!)
>
> I'll mention one more thing that was a bit of trouble but really 
> worthwhile. In the kids playroom, I mounted a 360 degree spinning  mount 
> to the ceiling joists along with several eye bolts all very  firmly on a 
> big mounting plate (with a half-dozen heavy lag bolts to  the joists-- If 
> you're not comfortable doing this yourself, hire it  out.) This was 
> basically what our OT's had in their places for hanging  equipment they 
> used, then we came up with all sorts of swings to swap  around. Some would 
> use inline options others could spin. One favorite  swing option was just 
> a number of yards of stretchy fabric tied to a  pair of big snap hooks 
> (mountain climbing carabiners actually). We'd  use eye bolts for this that 
> would not spin, then we'd wind her up in  the fabric and get it tighter 
> and tighter. She'd usually ask us to  keep winding and winding, but we 
> would only go as far as seemed safe,  then we'd let her go and she's spin 
> like crazy. We would do this over  and over until our arms and backs 
> ached! Later, thankfully, she  learned to do this on her own with her feet 
> on the ground. She rarely  wants to do that anymore, but we got years of 
> excitement, and MOTION  from all of that.
>
> If you're curious to see the first items, various peanut balls are on 
> this the first page along with a lot of related options.
> http://www.sensoryedge.com/therapyballs.html
>
> And here is a Dizzy Disk.
> http://www.toysforautism.com/dizzy-disc-jr.html
>
> In the totally opposite direction from setting up a room full of gear, 
> you may also want to take your kids to "Monkey Joe's" or "Bouncin'  Bob's, 
> or some other local inflatables emporium now and then to  bounce, slide, 
> and climb. Our kids love them except for the noise. Or  maybe try our 
> latest find, the huge bungee jumpers in your local mall.  Ours is called 
> "Slingshot".
>
> As others have mentioned, there is no single correct answer for how to 
> get kids in motion. It is all about whatever works for each kid.
>
> Have fun!
>
> Richard
>
>
>
>
> On Jun 10, 2010, at 8:52 PM, Marie wrote:
>
>> The sensory toy may not be completely meeting her sensory needs. 
>> Different people have different needs--some tactile, some  vestibular, 
>> some fast, some slow. Maybe try a trampoline like Kendra  or one of those 
>> bouncing balls. Jack loves jumping, swinging,  rocking, and bouncing 
>> (sitting on my lap) on an exercise ball. And  oh our neighbor got us one 
>> of those big wheels that you blow up and  sit inside and somebody spins 
>> or rocks you. He loves that too. These  are all categorized a vestibular 
>> stimulating activities I think. You  can read the Out of Sync child has 
>> fun for ideas and of course you  could consult an OT (occupational 
>> therapist)
>> Gotta bounce!
>> Marie
>> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>>
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