[blindkid] never stands still

[Richard Holloway]

Excited flapping and jumping around sounds like standard little kid  
behavior to me as well. (My sighted 4-year-old certainly does plenty  
of that!) The areas where some of us get concerned and are more  
anxious to distract and redirect are often more in the realm of  
spinning and rocking. For some reason, and I have never really grasped  
why, spinning and rocking seem to be two mannerisms that are favorites  
of blind children.

If it is spinning with a purpose, that's one thing ("look how my dress  
flies out when I spin!") but when my daughter used to just start  
twirling around while she would talk to a parent or teacher or  
friend-- that was concerning. We've had far fewer issues with the  
rocking but Kendra liked to spin, especially when she was small. We  
were advised by OT's and other professionals we trusted to keep  
encouraging other types of movement. It was a combination of all the  
things I have mentioned in her "sensory diet" for lack of a better  
term, that seems to have nearly stopped the spinning completely.

She is most likely to spin now, only in mid air in the trampoline (I  
have no idea how it is possible to snap into a "360" in mid air like  
that) or sometimes while playing in the water. Those seem to be much  
more elements of play, especially since they are not carried back into  
typical daily actions. That's probably why I have shared so much  
(perhaps to excess) about what all we tried to get where we are with  
the movement. If anyone else is having similar concerns here, maybe  
that will spark an idea that they haven't run across yet.

Richard



On Jun 11, 2010, at 6:57 PM, Erin Teply wrote:

> I have a 4 year old, Max, who is blind (light perception) and  
> definitely spends a lot of time jumping and occasionally flapping  
> his hands.  However, this primarily is due to excitement.  While we  
> try to minimize the flapping and jumping, I WILL NOT discourage his  
> excitement over things.  And, like Brandy says, I do try to teach  
> that when in school, when talking to someone, etc that it is  
> IMPORTANT to be still to show attention.   Yeah, I wish Max would  
> express his excitement otherwise but overall, he is SUCH a normal,  
> awesome kid that even others (outside of our family) would never  
> think his behavior to be 'weird'.