[blindkid] never stands still

Richard Holloway rholloway at gopbc.org
Fri Jun 11 15:06:03 UTC 2010


Brandy,

We do far more than jumping-- we just do a lot of jumping as well. As  
nice as it might be to go for multi-hour walks each day with our kids,  
and while in our case, we do sometimes spend as much as an hour or two  
in the pool on some warm days, or chunks of time taking gymnastics  
classes or dance lessons, or yoga lessons, or climbing around on a  
playground, etc., The fact of the matter is that many blind kids just  
have way more need for vestibular input than typical daily routines  
are going to allow unless we offer them something like a trampoline in  
which to jump, or swings, dizzy disks, exercise balls, or various  
things of this nature. That's not just my opinion-- I've read and  
heard this from many sources including several OT's we've had over the  
years. We've had to use all of these things and more to find a  
solution for our child that seems to work the best.

Personally, I think it is far better for kids like ours to do fairly  
conventional things (such as use a trampoline in our case) and to do  
them even to what some might call "excess" as opposed to developing  
other less socially acceptable outlets, like random spinning or  
rocking behavior or other sometimes so-called "blindisms". Some might  
think of this as choosing the lesser of several "evils"...

Another key issue that I touched on in a different post is that kids  
need to grow into self-regulating options wherever possible. The  
trampoline is available nearly all the time that we're home to Kendra  
(and her little brother who is sighted but also likes to jump, though  
not quite as much of the time). She can choose when to do this (as  
well as several of the other options she uses), when to stop, and she  
can do it entirely unassisted. Even as I type this, Kendra has just  
finished eating and has decided to go and sing a song and tell stories  
as she jumps in the trampoline. Alternatively (but presumable to  
satisfy a different need) Kendra may then shift to writing a story on  
her BrailleNote or reading a book.

These are her outlets. My wife plays tennis or reads. I go and build a  
project or go cycling. My older daughter paints. Our 4-year-old "plays  
trains". We all have our own outlets-- kids and adults alike. Who am I  
to tell Sarah she paints too much or Stephanie that she should spend  
less time playing tennis?

During school, it is really common for Kendra to come in from the  
school bus and go straight to her trampoline and jump like crazy for  
maybe 20 or 30 minutes. It is her way of unwinding from a full day of  
hard work at school. She may also do this before school and one or  
more times again later in the evening. Even with the use of light  
therapy to help regulate he schedule, Kendra tends to get up very  
early some days. 4:00 or 5:00 am is not at all uncommon, but it is far  
better than the rotating 25-hour-long day we fought to get past when  
she was a baby. Many days, by around 5:00 am, Kendra may get up and  
walk downstairs and jump because she has a need to be up and moving.

Even on "swim lesson day", Kendra may want to jump before and  
sometimes after spending 30 minutes or more working one-on-one with  
her swim instructor. Likewise on yoga day-- something else she usually  
does for an hour after school one day each week. Most of last year,  
she had swim one day, yoga another, dance on a third and the same  
amount of time in P.E. and on the playground as the rest of the kids.  
There are also chunks of time spent walking about with O&M when other  
kids are sitting in class-- probably an hour or two a week of that.  
She's a busy kid, but most blind kids aren't going to have the  
opportunity to aggressively run and dart across the playground at  
recess for example-- at least not like many typically-sighted kids do  
this. In other words, blind kids need reasonable alternatives. I would  
assume blind adults do as well, though presumably that need for  
movement would decrease just as it does for most typically sighted  
adults.

Is something like heavier use the cause for the trampolines not  
lasting as they otherwise should? I expect it may be, but I would not  
be to quick to "fix" a situation if a parent has found a balance of  
activities that seems to be keeping their child calm and relatively  
free from undesirable spinning, aggressive behavior, etc. At least in  
our case, we have spent years of hard work developing a routine that  
moves us in the direction of calmness at least for periods of time.

Again, I suggest each parent needs to find the best possible balance  
for his or her own child. I'm sharing these experiences because they  
have worked for us and I think they may also help some other parents  
find what works for their own kids in similar situations. Other  
parents may have alternative suggestions to offer that work as well or  
even better than my own.

Richard



On Jun 11, 2010, at 9:13 AM, Brandy W wrote:

> I think the reason you are coming across so many problems is because  
> a typical developing child with no out of the ordinary sensory needs  
> would not jump for hours every day. Although I'm aware of sensory  
> needs of children hours and hours of jumping seems excesive and to  
> me and my experience should be replaced with some other activitties.  
> Brabn
> "Families that play together learn together!"
> Brandy Wojcik
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> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org 
> >
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org 
> >
> Sent: Friday, June 11, 2010 12:38 AM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] never stands still
>
>
> Sure,
>
> The best we've found so far (our fifth small trampoline) has been our
> Bazoongi 55" Junior Combo Trampoline with Teclon Pad. (That's the
> official name on the web site.) I mention this with some reservation
> because we have had some problems with it, but it  has been better
> than our first four... All of these small units seem to be within a
> foot or less from the floor.
>
> It has steel springs which I thought would solve everything over our
> previous elastic and bungee "springs". Well, the springs mount into
> little slots in the frame. Jump enough and the edge of the punched
> slot and the hook of the spring rub one another. The holes get longer
> while the springs get thinner. After about six months, springs began
> to break. (The hook ends simply snap off.) They sent replacements but
> then I realized the frame was getting damaged (slots tearing to the
> center of the frame, my oversight-- could not see that before I took
> it apart to add the springs though). They sent a new frame but then I
> realized they sent the wrong frame (too small, their mistake). They
> sent another frame but then I realized we were short on springs from
> the first batch (also their mistake). Finally they sent 40 more
> springs and I replaced every one again. All this took several weeks
> and I expect to have springs failing again this fall sometime and
> suspect the frame could be getting unsafe a few months after that.
> People at Bazoongi were very nice and polite and all parts and
> shipping to date have been free but the hassle factor is still pretty
> high.
>
> Bottom line is that any of these $100-range products simply seem not
> to be designed to last for a terribly long time.
>
> The Intex Jump-O-Lene (I assume that's the one?) looks fun, but my
> first reaction is the sides look low enough that a jumper could vault
> over the side. Also, ultimately most of these blow-up units spring
> leaks and deflate. This becomes a huge pain, re-inflating over and
> again until the leaks are so fast that you can't use them anymore.
> Adult weight may also pop them if you have to crawl in to rescue a
> child with a "boo-boo", for example. Usually patch kits are included
> but these often fail to stop the leaks properly. The trampoline above
> has about 6 feet of surround netting so there's no chance of that,
> though you can fall out the door if the netting tears up or the "door"
> is not closed.
>
> For something smaller than the Bazoongi we have, I'd probably look on
> their same page at the 48"  Bazoongi® Bouncer. (Comes in pink or
> orange camo.) This one is $100. (The next one up is only $7 more.) The
> key difference is that the 55" unit has no actual handle but tall
> sides with netting while the 48" has no surround netting but does have
> a padded, "inverted-U" handle. Smaller kids could probably do better
> with the handle, but if they do let go, there is no safety net so
> think of that when you set it up. All of these small units (like the
> 48" and the 55") seem to be within a foot or less from the floor.
> Carpet with a pad is better than a hard floor. Pillows around it might
> help, but put them out far enough to catch a rebounding child.
>
> Here is the Bazoongi page:
> http://www.bazoongi.com/trampoline.htm
>
> You could also go in the inflatable bounce house direction of you have
> enough space and can tolerate the noise of the blower. Honestly, I'd
> want a basement room to use these inside but they are great to softly
> stop a fall and the surround nets are strong. However they'd
> completely fill most of our living rooms, especially when you factor
> in the blower that has to run all the time it is up. Better for most
> of us to find outdoor space but then you have winter snow and summer
> mosquitos to factor in or whatever local frustrations mother nature
> will throw your way.
>
> I hope that helps a bit.
>
> If anyone else has some better recommendations, please jump in with
> them. I know of more durable solutions but they are in the larger
> trampoline and bounce house realm. They require a chunk of outdoor
> space and are from several hundred dollars to up in the $1000-plus
> range for even the lower end offerings in that arena.
>
> Richard
>
>
>
> On Jun 10, 2010, at 11:31 PM, Heather wrote:
>
>> Richard, this might be off topic, but since you brought it up,  
>> could  you please recommend a good quality small toddler trampoline  
>> and  then maybe one for slightly larger kids?  We baught Jeremy one  
>> when  he out grew his baby jumper at around 12 months old, but the  
>> one we  got was a pain to set up, has very little bounce, is very  
>> small  considering the amount of space it takes up and is already  
>> showing  signs of ware and tare and Jeremy only jumps about thirty  
>> to forty  minutes a day.  It's funny that you mention all that your  
>> daughter  does on hers.  Jeremy loves to watch TV, listen to the  
>> radeo, sing,  talk to himself, or his checkered towel, his version  
>> of a security  blanket, even look at books or pet the cat who has  
>> learned that for  pats he needs to stand on the table where  
>> Jeremy's bouncing hand will pat, but not hit him while meowing up a  
>> storm to go with the  toddler babble.  I am always having to stop  
>> him from bringing his  sippy cup or finger food snack up there with  
>> him.  In a pinch for  time with Jeremy in a pissy mood I have even  
>> managed diaper changes  and clothing changes while he jumped  
>> lightly.  lol  He never jumps  for more than five minutes at a  
>> time, but he will do it through out  the day, and if thwarted by  
>> time constraints, it is clear that his  mood and receptiveness to  
>> learning suffers if he can't jump.  His  other thing, that I will  
>> post about and ask some thing about later  is going up and down and  
>> up and down our stairs for up to an hour  and forty minutes with  
>> various games and make-believe employed while  doing it.  So,  
>> second the trampoline recommendation, add the  recommendation for  
>> something called a jumpaline, a mini bounce house  for the living  
>> room that Jeremy also recommends, as he has one of  those at Jim's  
>> house and the trampoline at mine, , and request  recommendations  
>> for spacific trampolines that pass the Kendra ceal  of approval.
>> ----- 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 2:18 PM
>> Subject: Re: [blindkid] never stands still
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