Yllek (or anyone else)--Let's talk executive function!

[PeterPan]

Dd couldn't do the actual swimming, once they got to using the whole body, but it was a class. Maybe private instruction would have made a difference.

[peacefully]

.

[peacefully]

Ok, we're tossing around terms here that don't quite mean the same thing. You can have muscle strength but not muscle tone. They aren't one in the same. So an activity (martial arts, swimming, etc.) might improve muscle strength but not muscle tone. The OT is working on strength, yes, but they're also working on tone.

 

I don't think I know the difference. :confused: A little help here? Fill me in!

[Tiramisu]

Ok, we're tossing around terms here that don't quite mean the same thing. You can have muscle strength but not muscle tone. They aren't one in the same. So an activity (martial arts, swimming, etc.) might improve muscle strength but not muscle tone. The OT is working on strength, yes, but they're also working on tone.

 

My dd with lower tone now has much better tone. There's been a visible difference between 7 and 10. Her OT said at 7 her strength was weak but her PT at 9 said her strength was good. In dd's case, there's been a positive development in both tone and strength. At 10 I would say everything is better and, in her case, it's due to her back surgery. Her system just seems to be working better now.

[Tiramisu]

I don't think I know the difference. :confused: A little help here? Fill me in!

 

How I understand it is that tone is the level of muscle contraction at rest. Maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

[peacefully]

.

[PeterPan]

Yllek, I've seen different definitions of low tone, and I think they're all looking at ways to express it relative to something else. Google John Hopkins Hypotonia Center. They have tons of info. Basic idea is that it's like an overstretched rubber band. The muscles just don't bounce back. Strength is totally different. Thick rubber band or thin, that's the strength. But overstretched and not bouncing back, that's the tone. (not accurate, but close enough!) So you'll see joint over-extension and a proneness to injuries with the low tone. They can have low muscle strength because of low carnitine levels or even just a nasty cycle (low tone, fatigue easily, do less, so you don't develop muscle).

 

But not matter what, strength and tone are NOT one in the same. It shows up in the way they do the exercises in OT. If they were doing it just for strength, they would do intense, short reps. Instead they do long, moderate levels and do them over a muscle longer period of time, trying to get the muscle to work and get a full extension or contraction. Ours will put dd on a set-up and have her do it for 4-6 minutes! I have no sense of time and didn't time that. I'm just saying it's quite a while, many minutes. They're doing it specifically to work on the TONE.

 

Our OT has said the low tone muscles lead to not developing the use and hence sensory perception. I may not be understanding that correctly. In other words, building tone and proprioception and integrating the sensory stuff all goes together.

 

If your OT has been so nice this far, why do you think your IM experience is going to be negative? Seems to me that very much could have been related to having his mother make him do it. I bet it won't be like that at all with your OT.

 

Our OT is scatter-brained, pure and simple. We've done maybe two months (I lose track, and we had some weeks off.), and it has taken me this time to realize we HAVE to pull our weight and create a home regimen or else we risk dragging this out and draining us dry in every way. She hands us things, but it didn't occur to us how much we really needed to do at home. I was going in so many directions, I thought she was handling that department. Now I know. Guess I was a dingbat. I did do a little checking today, just to see if we have more options. I don't know. She connects so well with dd, we may just make do. We'll see.

 

That's interesting that you say it's more dyspraxic than sensory. But again, how can you needle apart the praxis, SPD, and tone issues, kwim? They're intertwined.

[rafiki]

.

[PeterPan]

Even then, the strength and tone are two separate issues. You want both. Michele, I'll bet your dh could show you the difference in exercises you would do for the one vs. the other. It's a common issue even in normal circles where women might want to build TONE but not muscle mass. They do the exercises differently. But we need both. In OT I see it as they have her do long, long amounts of a moderate level resistance activity rather than having her do short, intense reps like you normally would. The former is to increase tone and the latter is working on strength.

[Tiramisu]

We are not the quickest, or most graceful, but are trying to be the best we can be.

 

I just love this. :grouphug:

 

This is worth far more than simply being the quickest and most graceful.

[MangoMama]

I just finished reading this thread and am intrigued by pretty much everything that was said. I hope this thread keeps going! (Even if it did get OT ;) )