Whitterer on Autism: Core body strength

Friday, December 12, 2008

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."