[blindkid] never stands still

[Brandy W]

My niece was spinning around with her doll yesterday. When she asked what 
she was doing she said spinning because it is lots of fun. I think the 
difference is she was deliberately playing and not supposed to be doing 
something else or having a conversation with anyone. She was also engaging 
in some dramatic play with her doll. Spinning on the tramp or in the pool 
are all normal things. For me it is the random spinning at times in places 
where it is not acceptable. I loved to spin as a child. My mom new nothing 
about blind children and had little to know support than a teacher telling 
her to make sure I did what normal kids and to make sure I didn't do 
abnormal things. O I loved to spin as a kid and honestly when spinning a 
child or something I still don't get dizzy. However my mom got me a sit and 
spin much more fun back than for spinning, she allowed me to spin standing 
listening to music and in my room. If I spun during other times when it 
wasn't OK I was made to stop. I think it was wise on her part. She didn't 
know to stop other behaviors but at lest she stopped this one. As for the 
flapping it depends on this flapping. Is it in front of the face, is the 
child holding on of his hands to flap it? Is it a quick flapping of the arms 
or hands or does it continue. In general flapping is something that needs to 
stop and most children don't do it. This is one of those behaviors that can 
become a very socially inappropriate problem if it isn't stopped.

Bran

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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: Saturday, June 12, 2010 10:10 PM
Subject: Re: [blindkid] never stands still


> 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'.
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