Post by Daniella on May 26, 2006 22:17:39 GMT
Blow at all parts of your baby’s body. Tickle, rub, pat and prod him. Roll him around.
Do not always have your baby dressed. Place the baby naked onto a scratchy woollen blanket or crackly paper so that the nerves of the body experience something quite different. The noise of the paper will be an incentive for him to move. Sounds are the baby’s reward.
Forget about the baby’s comfort now and then. Put him too near the foot-end of the cot. He may want to push against it. Place the baby on his tummy and hold some bright, noisy object in front of his eyes, but above the head. This will encourage him to life the head and exercise the neck muscles.
Whistle and sing if it makes the baby stretch or arch the back. Use odd sounds, which suddenly lapse into peaceful silence. Do not be afraid to be child-like with your baby. It is surprising how aahs and oohs can provoke wriggles and happy twisting which no serious talk can ever achieve.
Do not place bells only near the hands but put them also on and near the feet. This will make the baby kick more frequently and more purposefully. If the bells are placed on the sides, he will even learn to use alternate limbs.
Carry the baby around in a baby sling. In this way she gets rocked, lowered, lifted and turned without much effort on your part. This stimulates the sense of balance while she feels loved and a part of everything you do.
Tease the baby into turning, stretching or bending movement by holding a desired object at a slight distance. It may be good for an inactive baby to learn that effort has its reward.
If the baby does not attempt to crawl, give her the joy of a bath in which you lie her down on her tummy over a large rolled up towel. This comfortable bulge should support the chest and abdomen while leaving the limbs to dangle freely in the water. When splashing in this position, the baby may come very close to the mechanics of crawling.
It is helpful to do things together with the baby, to get down with her at times. For the baby the task at hand is gigantic. Why must we then make it harder still by standing over her like a giant? If the legs are still lifeless or weak and the knees still unused, you can sit opposite your baby on the floor, with the soles of your feet touching her feet, and push against each other. You can be the wall on which the baby gradually raises herself from crawling to a standing position. You can make a ramp with your legs on which she can learn to climb.
Last but not least, make your child itch with curiosity. Do something secretive nearby, or clatter about unseen so that the child will want to overcome the physical stumbling block and get up!
One parent’s view
For me, the beginnings of bringing up a child with learning difficulties (I prefer this more inspiring label to ‘handicapped’) were not so easy. Although my books on baby play helped, I still had to feel my way through, especially as my daughter was my first child.
I would let her be close to me a lot:
I carried her in a sling
I wheeled her with me around the house in a small cot
I propped her up in a slanting chair placed near me on top of the sink or the table (ideal for the two of us to look, listen, touch and babble).
I would not let her doze too much nor accept this tendency simply as part of ‘the condition’.
I found that if I made something stand out for her, if I selected for her what she might not have been able to select for herself from an overwhelming setting, she showed little signs of tiredness or switching off. Her eyes became alert, her body more tense and the little head was less likely to sink loosely into the back of her neck. I still respected, however, her need for some switching-off times, which I noticed in her remote glance.
Apart from general baby care I tried to change the routines:
I changed her in different places. A bath could be had in the sink, with Dad or in a swimming pool.
Physical play could be done on a puffy eiderdown or a rough mat.
I would ask critical questions regarding toys.
Did they delight, provoke and provide enjoyment? For instance:
Why not fix cradle toys where the feet and knees are hopefully kicking, or where the elbows push out?
Why not have rustling paper under the shoulders?
Could cradle toys be made of other materials than plastic, could they be covered with different textures?
How about changing from bell and beady sounds to a wooden clippety-clop, a cymbal clang, a click?
Can I surprise by hanging up a fat balloon, tiny beads, a closed plastic water bag for squeezing, a piece of chocolate, a mirror?
Can I cover things up suddenly and then let them reappear?
We decided to be on her side and not make behaviour training our first concern. On looking back this seems like a daring attitude but my daughter, who is now ten years old, shows me that FOR HER this must have been right.
Do not always have your baby dressed. Place the baby naked onto a scratchy woollen blanket or crackly paper so that the nerves of the body experience something quite different. The noise of the paper will be an incentive for him to move. Sounds are the baby’s reward.
Forget about the baby’s comfort now and then. Put him too near the foot-end of the cot. He may want to push against it. Place the baby on his tummy and hold some bright, noisy object in front of his eyes, but above the head. This will encourage him to life the head and exercise the neck muscles.
Whistle and sing if it makes the baby stretch or arch the back. Use odd sounds, which suddenly lapse into peaceful silence. Do not be afraid to be child-like with your baby. It is surprising how aahs and oohs can provoke wriggles and happy twisting which no serious talk can ever achieve.
Do not place bells only near the hands but put them also on and near the feet. This will make the baby kick more frequently and more purposefully. If the bells are placed on the sides, he will even learn to use alternate limbs.
Carry the baby around in a baby sling. In this way she gets rocked, lowered, lifted and turned without much effort on your part. This stimulates the sense of balance while she feels loved and a part of everything you do.
Tease the baby into turning, stretching or bending movement by holding a desired object at a slight distance. It may be good for an inactive baby to learn that effort has its reward.
If the baby does not attempt to crawl, give her the joy of a bath in which you lie her down on her tummy over a large rolled up towel. This comfortable bulge should support the chest and abdomen while leaving the limbs to dangle freely in the water. When splashing in this position, the baby may come very close to the mechanics of crawling.
It is helpful to do things together with the baby, to get down with her at times. For the baby the task at hand is gigantic. Why must we then make it harder still by standing over her like a giant? If the legs are still lifeless or weak and the knees still unused, you can sit opposite your baby on the floor, with the soles of your feet touching her feet, and push against each other. You can be the wall on which the baby gradually raises herself from crawling to a standing position. You can make a ramp with your legs on which she can learn to climb.
Last but not least, make your child itch with curiosity. Do something secretive nearby, or clatter about unseen so that the child will want to overcome the physical stumbling block and get up!
One parent’s view
For me, the beginnings of bringing up a child with learning difficulties (I prefer this more inspiring label to ‘handicapped’) were not so easy. Although my books on baby play helped, I still had to feel my way through, especially as my daughter was my first child.
I would let her be close to me a lot:
I carried her in a sling
I wheeled her with me around the house in a small cot
I propped her up in a slanting chair placed near me on top of the sink or the table (ideal for the two of us to look, listen, touch and babble).
I would not let her doze too much nor accept this tendency simply as part of ‘the condition’.
I found that if I made something stand out for her, if I selected for her what she might not have been able to select for herself from an overwhelming setting, she showed little signs of tiredness or switching off. Her eyes became alert, her body more tense and the little head was less likely to sink loosely into the back of her neck. I still respected, however, her need for some switching-off times, which I noticed in her remote glance.
Apart from general baby care I tried to change the routines:
I changed her in different places. A bath could be had in the sink, with Dad or in a swimming pool.
Physical play could be done on a puffy eiderdown or a rough mat.
I would ask critical questions regarding toys.
Did they delight, provoke and provide enjoyment? For instance:
Why not fix cradle toys where the feet and knees are hopefully kicking, or where the elbows push out?
Why not have rustling paper under the shoulders?
Could cradle toys be made of other materials than plastic, could they be covered with different textures?
How about changing from bell and beady sounds to a wooden clippety-clop, a cymbal clang, a click?
Can I surprise by hanging up a fat balloon, tiny beads, a closed plastic water bag for squeezing, a piece of chocolate, a mirror?
Can I cover things up suddenly and then let them reappear?
We decided to be on her side and not make behaviour training our first concern. On looking back this seems like a daring attitude but my daughter, who is now ten years old, shows me that FOR HER this must have been right.