bikes & brain connections

[LaughingCat]

2 summers ago at age 7 DH tried to teach DD (on DD's request) to ride a bike since she clearly wasn't getting it on her own - the old fashioned way, running behind. He took her out to parking lots every weekend - end result = lots of scrapes and bruises & no bike riding

 

Last summer at age 8I tried to teach DD to ride a bike - I went with the "balance bike" method, taking the pedals off a smaller bike and trying to get her to push/balance (and doing other balance activities too)- end result = lots of complaining (this is not a real bike Mom!) and & no bike riding or balance riding - she could not balance the bike even for a couple seconds

 

This summer no attempts to teach bike riding, until a week ago when DD said she wanted to ride her bike in the upcoming "neighborhood parade" and I said "well, you better start practicing then" - DD got on her bike for the first time this summer - and went!

 

Yesterday we rode together down the street and back (about a mile total) - DD did great - a little trouble starting and a couple times where she was doing big front wheel loopys to get her balance but otherwise fine. Hurrah!!! Yay for DD!!

 

However... things like this, where she just "gets" something suddenly make me feel like she is just following her own schedule - the whole "just wait, they'll start reading when they're ready" kind of thing. Like everything we've done is really just "make work" until the right brain connections happen on their own :glare:

 

I know that we were doing things that might have made a difference:

1-swim lessons - after a couple years break, DD requested swim lessons again- of course I jumped on it since I know this works the brain with both sides of the body working together etc + hard physical exertion has seemed to help DD mentally in the past - so she swam 2x a week over the summer

2-CoQ10 - gave her this over the first half of the summer, and then stopped (vacation schedule threw our routine) - by chance gave her one again the day before the whole bike thing + her timed math facts (xtra math) subtraction score jumped 40 points within a couple days too (consistent 40's to 80's) AND earlier in the summer while she was taking it she finally, after 2 years!, passed addition! - I will have to experiment with this 'cause I can certainly believe the CoQ10 was just happenstance too

3- This wouldn't seem to apply to biking but of course we continued working on her reading - using High Noon books to read aloud and Dancing Bears C for word practice, Apples & Pears for spelling plus various other things

4- She has been in speech therapy for R's- no real improvement and a lot of struggle (this was harder than VT for her!) until they gave us a bunch of tongue exercises about a month ago - these types of exercises are actually pretty controversial and/or considered useless from my reading however her tongue was very clearly weak to begin with and they do seem to have helped (no Wow! but some improvement)

 

But still: the sudden ability to bike, and as I said above her xtra math took off this summer, and her reading aloud did too just recently - with a sudden major improvement in time spent backtracking/repeating words/ sentences -- all implies to me that there was some kind of brain growth this summer that hit lots of areas.

 

So what do you think? Was it really just a matter of time? or is our hard work (and/or supplements) paying off? or both? or am I just over thinking things or what? :confused:

[Jennifer-72]

 

So what do you think? Was it really just a matter of time? or is our hard work (and/or supplements) paying off? or both? or am I just over thinking things or what? :confused:

 

First, cheers for dd riding her bike! :party:

 

I can't tell you how many times I have had similar thoughts about ds's development.

 

I really do think it is a combination of all the hard work and time. Also, don't underestimate how important a role intrinsic motivation plays. She had a goal in mind and set out to make it happen.

[LaughingCat]

Thanks Jennifer-72 - it's good to know that others think about these things too.

 

Logically I completely believe in breaking down/practicing the areas of struggle at a deeper level to move her up to the next level. And I am overall happy with what we are currently using and generally see slow but (relatively) consistent improvement - which of course is just what I would want to see.

 

But when she makes these big leaps in several apparently unrelated areas with no clear cause it just makes me wonder.

[Dmmetler]

I think it can sometimes be "then a miracle happens" and something connects. I've seen DD make major jumps physically, and often it seems to be after we've taken a break from an activity for awhile that had become frustrating.

[Pen]

First, cheers for dd riding her bike! :party:

 

I can't tell you how many times I have had similar thoughts about ds's development.

 

I really do think it is a combination of all the hard work and time. Also, don't underestimate how important a role intrinsic motivation plays. She had a goal in mind and set out to make it happen.

 

:iagree:

 

But also, do please tell us how the CoQ10 experimenting goes. How much are you using? I am unaware of any dangers of it, and would consider trying my ds on it too. Is it supposed to help this sort of thing? I do notice that my son clearly does do better when on some supplements (B vits, fish oil, )

--CoQ10 is not one I've tried.

[LaughingCat]

We're just using a gummy brand (vitafusion) at 1/2 dose (1 gummy/day instead of the 2 listed on the label) - so 100 mg a day. She started up again on Sunday so we'll see what happens.

 

I basically tried the CoQ10 due to reading about it and low tone on this board (and happening on that gummy version at Costco :tongue_smilie:) - DD9 isn't obviously low tone (based solely on my googling) but she has no physical stamina across a number of different areas. She usually does fine in short bursts.

 

The only other supplements she takes regularly are 1 T of fish oil (which also appeared to give a learning boost when started) and a small amount of magnesium citrate (for constipation & calming before bed). I'd actually like to try B's but haven't found a form that she is willing to take yet (gummy vitamins don't have most B's, she won't take chewables, can't swallow pills yet, and vehemently rejected a liquid form I found - even when I tried to "hide" it in other things ).

[sbgrace]

Yay OP!

 

My special needs son almost always just gets things spontaneously and suddenly on his own time. I did find vision therapy helpful on it's own as well as mito supplements (carnitine, coq10). Other than that I can't point to x or y as instrumental in any gains. Most of it just comes in random leaps.

 

Coq10, since someone asked, would be helpful if there are underlying mitochondrial type metabolic issues. Low tone, fatigue, etc. would indicate investigating that area might be helpful. I made a post here quite a while back with other signs of metabolic issues.

 

If person wants to do coq10 I'd recommend Tischon form sold by epic4health. It's what metabolic doctors use because of it's usability by the body compared to what you get over the counter. It's actually the kind in trials right now for Orphan Drug Status for mitochondrial issues. It's different enough to be the one treatment.

 

Outside of metabolic issues Coq10 is good for anyone and safe. I don't know that I would put the money into it without cause though. It can't hurt.

[jujsky]

I think it could be a combo of all of the above. DS just turned 9, and we're seeing the same type of improvements. He couldn't ride his bike until this spring. Once he made up his mind to do it, he got it. I've seen other improvements too, and I wonder if it's his age, medication, all the OT we've been doing, or the curriculum changes we made. I've concluded that it doesn't really matter WHY he's improving, so long as he IS improving. Maybe it's the same with your DD. Don't worry about the why -- focus on the amazing gains she's making.

 

Congratulations to your DD on her progress and good for you, Mama, for all of your hard work! :party: