Core Strength of my 8 yo

[lulubelle]

My ds 8, has very weak core strength. He slouches like crazy, can never keep his head up at the table without his hand, and can't do a sit up to save his life! He does swimming, karate, and skating (2 -3x a week each and for the last 2-3 years!) None of these seem to help him. I have just started to do some basic strengthening for him at home. It seems it will take a long time just to gain some bare minimum strength. It just seems so weird. He will be starting some OT in a few weeks and maybe they will be able to explain it. He seems to be on the low Aspergers/ADHD spectrum, but is not clinically diagnosed, though we did have him tested. Just wondering if a weak core is a symptom of Aspergers. And, if anyone has dealt with this or was able to help it. He is also very uncoordinated.

[Rebecca VA]

Is he getting enough to eat? He's doing a lot of physical activity; maybe he's running out of energy!

 

My daughter was thin and lacking in core strength for years. She is hyperextended, with long arms and legs, and it has taken longer for her to get her strength. In fact, she is doing Pilates to help with that, and she has done lots of ballet for many years. But it's slowly coming in, now that she's 13.

[lulubelle]

Food could have something to do with it. He is a very picky eater - yet another issue. His limbs are very strong. Everything with this kid is difficult. I'm surprised I haven't gone grey early with him! It seems like a lot of activity, but one 30 min. swim class, one or two 45 min. fun swim, one 30 min. skate class, one or two 30 min. fun skate and three 45 min. karate classes a week. He is not on a team or competitive. He needs as much activity as he can get! Even with 3 karate classes a week he has trouble picking up the routines they learn. He really needs it every day.

[Mom0012]

My son has mild hypotonia, or low muscle tone. He needs to do regular exercises just to keep up a normal amount of strength in his upper body. We used to do OT once a week and then follow through with the exercises at home, but he hated them. A few years ago, we dropped the OT and the exercises and he joined the HS swim team. I think this has been just about as effective for him and he enjoys it. I see your son is already taking a swim class, but are they doing a lot of laps or is there a lot of instruction and playtime? My son does laps for about an hour 2 times a week. I wish it was 3 times a week.

 

Lisa

[Guest]

My Aspie dd has low core strength. When she was younger she skated for a couple of years and built up her legs and rear muscles incredibly, but her upper body remained weak and floppy for much longer. She also swam twice a week for a couple of years and did OT, both of which did wonders in various areas but not at all in core body strength or upper arm strength.

 

Finally, when she was eleven, she started riding lessons. These were not therapeutic lessons, but the teacher, noting the weak upper body, added in exercises on the horse and types of riding practice that helped. My dd also began working at the barn several hours a week, shoveling, hauling buckets of food, lifting heavy tack and bales of hay. Over the past two or so years she's been doing this, we have seen incredible improvement, to the point that she is now using a small kettle ball and doing (a very minimum of this) weight lifting with it a few times a week.

 

I think, though, that her upper body strength will lag quite a bit behind the rest probably for her lifetime.

[rafiki]

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[Guest]

 

Whether it's linked to Asperger's, I don't know. I see more connections when I read about Developmental Dyspraxia. My oldest has ADD/Dyslexia/Hypotonia, my middler Dyslexia/Hypotonia, my youngest ADD, Dyslexia/Hypotonia/Asperger symptoms. So who knows.

 

This makes me think hypotonia is probably part of a package deal with many variations of mild neurological glitches/differences or what are sometimes called "soft" syndromes in that they do not necessarily develop from brain damage but are in-built.

[Dobela]

You may look into a physical therapy referral. My dd receives PT for low muscle tone and poor core strength. It is amazing how much stronger she is after just a few months.

[lulubelle]

Thanks for all the responses. One 1 Michele, I will check out that book. My son was given a Developmental Coordination Disorder label by the OT. That made me start doing research on Dyspraxia! The title of that book really makes sense to me! I'm also interested in the carnitine - I will look into that. Thank you!

[PeterPan]

Ditto the low tone issue in our house (me, dd, ds). Horseriding toned dd's core, but she has lost a lot of it since we stopped last fall. Our OT has really dropped the ball on that one and DIDN'T have us doing things to keep up with it, which I'm upset about. (She's now back to slouching and her handwriting has deteriorated again.) Dobela, that's interesting that you mentioned PT. Our OT has SPD training, which is good, but she's so scattered that I don't really feel like she's doing a good job of nailing the basic things any PT could do. I know a PT, so I think I'm going to give her a call and talk with her. I need a cheaper, more organized option for this basic stuff. What I haven't figured out is how the dyspraxia improves. I'd like her to be able to run and look like a normal child, not a galumphing elephant. (Sorry) WYWrangler on the boards mentioned her dc has improved in that area with a year of OT, so there must be something they can do for it. I don't know. It's such an expensive process to sort through. For us horseriding was less expensive and got a ton of very definite benefit.

[Celia]

I don't know the answer to your question, but my ds who's being evaluated for Asperger's right now has poor core strength.

[peacefully]

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[lulubelle]

yllek, thanks for your experience. We have been working on wheel barrel and getting better there. He struggles with the crab walk though. I had him do some chair arm dips yesterday thinking his shoulders seem so stiff and this might loosen them up. But, I'm not really sure how to break down the crab walk. It may just be his weak abs. I like he ball idea for ab work and will use that! I gave my kids scooter boards for Christmas, thinking it would help my oldest with upper body strength. Then, I happen upon a site for special needs kids that has a deck of cards specifically for scooter board exercises! I haven't ordered yet, but I will soon. The same site has cards for yoga, stability ball, upper body and core strength and many other great looking stuff. I need some inspiration. If you want to check it out - http://www.superduperinc.com

[redsquirrel]

My son also has low tone. He has benefited a great deal from physical therapy. he has two sessions a week through the school district. It counts as special ed because he does things like fall out of his chair all the time. He was being tested by the school psychologist and he took a big header right in front of her!

 

The PT has been amazing but the progress is sooo slooooow. You are in this for the long haul!

 

The swimming, skating, martial arts are all really helpful. My son also does dance. The PT incorporates yoga and some very basic strength training with a medicine ball. The strength training is really hard for him. He is still just 5 and we have to make everything PT a game or forget it. Well, strength training is No Fun for him so we are taking small steps.

 

And yes, things are lost so easily. My son has trouble with the front protective reflex. That means he falls and doesn't put his arms out to protect himself. We think it is there but then it is gone. he took a very bad fall on christmas eve. I am still amazed I didn't spend it in the ED while he got stitches. He looked at me and said "I forgot to put out my hands to stop." Poor little guy. Nothing is automatic. He literally needs to 'remember' or he does a face plant.

 

He also gets OT through the school. She is mostly working on pencil grasp/writing stuff and oral motor issues.

[redsquirrel]

Food could have something to do with it. He is a very picky eater - yet another issue. His limbs are very strong. Everything with this kid is difficult. I'm surprised I haven't gone grey early with him! It seems like a lot of activity, but one 30 min. swim class, one or two 45 min. fun swim, one 30 min. skate class, one or two 30 min. fun skate and three 45 min. karate classes a week. He is not on a team or competitive. He needs as much activity as he can get! Even with 3 karate classes a week he has trouble picking up the routines they learn. He really needs it every day.

 

I just had to respond again. The 'picky eater' thing could be oral motor issues. My son has a MAJOR preference for soft mushy foods. It comes across as 'pickiness' but it is the fact that he can't chew very well. he has a difficult time orgainizing the chewing motion. he often chokes and in the past he bit his tongue so badly it bled. That hasn't happened in a while but I am sure it will. It makes it really hard to like food or to try new food when the textures are hard to manage or if they are so hard to swallow they make you gag. So, my in-laws make faces and whisper to themselves about how I 'spoil' him but I have seen him vomit when eating a food he did want to eat. I have seen how hard he tries and how scary new food is. I know it is challenging to deal with but it is really hard to eat when your muscles aren't very strong or don't work together well.

[Dobela]

I just had to respond again. The 'picky eater' thing could be oral motor issues. My son has a MAJOR preference for soft mushy foods. It comes across as 'pickiness' but it is the fact that he can't chew very well. he has a difficult time orgainizing the chewing motion. he often chokes and in the past he bit his tongue so badly it bled. That hasn't happened in a while but I am sure it will. It makes it really hard to like food or to try new food when the textures are hard to manage or if they are so hard to swallow they make you gag. So, my in-laws make faces and whisper to themselves about how I 'spoil' him but I have seen him vomit when eating a food he did want to eat. I have seen how hard he tries and how scary new food is. I know it is challenging to deal with but it is really hard to eat when your muscles aren't very strong or don't work together well.

Have you had him evaluated by a speech therapist, one in private therapy? My dd recieves speech therapy just for the low oral muscle tone she has. We were having to modify her food, she aspirated regularly, couldn't drink from a cup unless it had a straw...then I lucked into a speech therapist who asked the pediatrician for a diagnosis of oral dysphagia and began working with my dd on tongue control, building strength in her cheek muscles, and much more. Without that diagnosis dd didn't qualify for services. The progress has been amazing! She is now drinking froma cup, eating a wider variety of foods with more textures, and is healthier in general.

[PeterPan]

Our SLP does dysphagia and feeding issues as well. In fact, that was one of the things she put on ds's original diagnosis page. You know, it didn't even click in my mind, but now, after several months of therapy, he's eating like a champ! I hadn't even made the connection. Before SLP he ate little amounts and then had "rejects" and started spitting things out. He nursed constantly, seemed hungry constantly, and awoke frequently at night. She said when we started his oral tone was low, so he was fatiguing from the chewing. Eventually he'd get so tired everything would just come out. Now he eats much better. Hmmm, that happened so subtley, I totally missed it!

 

So anyways, yes, an SLP who does feeding issues can help. I think ours will help you sort through whether it's tone or allergies or what causing the problem and find a method of attack.

[Guest]

I think kids who are low tone just need those specific physical activiites (whatever they are) that target their core muscles, and they need to do it consistently. They just seem to lose their tone/strength easily, and they tend not to be physically active all on their own. Aikido and swimming are certainly not enough for my ds. We have to do our daily exercises. I suppose the folks who ride regularly get the same benefit.

 

That comment about losing tone easily and not being active on their own really struck home with me right now. The horse dd had fallen in love with and was riding regularly got sold to a different stable, and dd is heartbroken. For an entire month she barely got off the sofa. When I would ask her to get herself a drink of water to go with her meal she said it was just "so much work" to get out of the chair. I'm stunned all over again at how much effort it takes this child simply to move around during the day, and worn out from the effort I have to make to get her going even from one room to another!

 

This very morning we have finally gotten dd back to the stables; the owner is getting married and they've asked for people to come in early to help make sure all the horses get exercised first. We've sneakily made plans to introduce dd to a different horse, one that is privately owned and not a "school" horse liable to selling, and see if we can get her back in the saddle. Please keep her in your thoughts.

[elise1mds]

My DS has low muscle tone, too. He's EXTREMELY strong, but he can't hold anything up for more than two or three seconds, and his core strength is pretty much nil. I made him clean out his room a few weeks ago, and he spent a good deal of it whining that his back hurt because he couldn't sit on something soft. He is in swimming, which he loves, and aims to be on the swim team here in a year or two. I'm going to get him into a homeschool gym class soon as well and pray that does something. I know that part of my son's problem is his almost constant growth. He eats healthfully and well and has no problems with food, but he's 8 years old and nearly 5 feet tall. He just doesn't stay at one height long enough to build up any muscle before his bones grow and stretch it all out again, and he's basically back to square 1. Our insurance doesn't cover OT/PT, either, so any work that needs to be done has to happen on my dime. I might consider horseback riding instead of gym...

[Mom2J112903]

J has low-core strength/tone as well. He has a lot of GI problems though, and this is most likely what is contributing to his low-core strength.

 

When he was first evualated by an OT this past summer, he could not hold a "dead bug" (curled up in a ball with your shoulders off the floor) for more than 15 seconds. His "super man" (only having your core on the floor) was even worse. His goal is 30 seconds each-he is over 20 seconds each for them currently.

 

He loves to ride horses, but it is apparent when he gets on, he can not balance and has a hard time enjoying himself more than just a few minutes.

 

J does have a SPD dx but his bi-lateral corrdiantion was 2-3yrs behind when he was evaluated over the summer. Once again his GI issues come into play with many of his developemental issues however.

[rafiki]

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[PeterPan]

My dd enjoyed the homeschool gym class she did at the Y, and it was very good for her in a general sort of way. The horseriding was good specifically for her core. She was on the horse close to an hour, twice a week. The rest of the session was spent putting on the saddle, doing the buckles (good for finger and shoulder strength!), brushing the horse down, etc.

 

For the child who literally can't stay in the saddle, they can have an adult walk beside him to ensure his safety. There's actual "hipo therapy" (is that how you spell it?) where the people have been trained to handle the children and work on skills using the horses.

[peacefully]

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[Dmmetler]

Is there any form of dance which would be good for core/upper body? My DD LOVES dance-but I can see that her lack of core/upper body strength is holding her back, and I don't really see her improving in this area. I was considering putting her in a tumbling class, but the ones I've found are designed for cheerleading and expect the kids to be able to do a handstand and cartwheel going in. If she could do those, I wouldn't be concerned!

[Rebecca VA]

Dmmetler: Swimming might help her with core strength, and biking and running around will help her develop aerobic capacity. Don't worry too much about it. No ballet teacher in her right mind would discriminate against a six-year-old for lack of upper body strength. It's true that some little girls are more muscular and might seem to do well early on, but they won't necessarily make good classical ballet dancers. If your daughter perseveres year after year, she *will* eventually get her strength, and she'll learn important character lessons in the process.

 

Do you read the Ballet Alert chat forum? You really should. Core strength issues get discussed all the time, as well as just about every other issue you can possibly think of.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Rebecca VA