Gross motor skills progress

3 and a half years old

Gross motor skills

Currently gross motor skill is an area of strength, although it wasn't always like that. My son was born with low muscle tone in his upper body. Very strong lower body. He worked with a physical therapist (PT) since 3 months old. I should mention that he is, and always was, a big guy: 98 percentile height on typical kids chart, 95 percentile weight on typical chart, off the DS charts from birth. While this is great (my husband is tall and I'm not short), in the beginning, his height and weight made it difficult for him to move around. It's a great advantage now, no doubt about it, but I digress... He rolled over when he was about 7 months and sat independently at 11 months. We were very eager for him to sit and start exploring the world, so we pushed sitting on him and on his PT. In retrospect, that was a mistake and we are paying now with fine motor skills trouble. Basically, he didn't crawl. From sitting he started moving around scooting on his butt, and that was it until 27 months when he started walking. It was then when he started doing a little crawling around while playing for several months.  Not enough for building muscle. If I were to do it again, I would purposefully discourage sitting and encourage crawling.

In these first years we used quite a bit Patricia Winder's  gross motor skills book. I found the information in the book well organized and easy to use by parents. We used the book both for exercise ideas, but also to have a more meaningful dialog with our PT. In the end, she bought the book too. 

Gross Motor Skills for Children With Down Syndrome: A Guide for Parents and Professionals

Anyway, once he started walking everything clicked. He started going up and down the stairs right away (holding rails, pacing steps). Soon he was fast walking. He is now going up and down the stairs alternating steps, no railing. He is going up and down a ladder! He is throwing and kicking balls. We are working on catching. He is very close to jumping (does some serious jumping when supported). He is attempting to walk on a balance beam, but needs help. His upper body got stronger, thanks to his current PT and his dad.

Regarding gross motor skill I have an ongoing concern about his posture. He tends to slouch both when walking and when sitting down, especially when tired.  The PT and the developmental doctor don’t share this concern. My fear is they are thinking something like “well, children and adults with DS don’t have good posture and there is nothing one can do”. Maybe indeed there is nothing one can do, but I’m not happy about it and I will keep pushing the issue. 

Updated 12/15/2018. My son is now 10. Reflecting back, here are my 5 favorite toys for gross motor skills and so much more.The links below are affiliate links, meaning that, at no cost to you, I earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links. If you decide to use these links, thank you. I only recommend what I own, use, and love.

1.  Balancing toys - balancing is such a hard skill for many of our children. We have been  working on balancing for more than 7 years. There is a lot of progress, but still hard. The school PT is working on balance. We are working on balance. At home we use balancing disks and balancing boards. They both work great. In our house, everything works better if we take turns, so we have 2 balancing disks (or stability disks) and 2 balancing boards. The good news is that all this training does wonders for my abs :).
2.  Basketball is amazing for posture! We used Little Tikes Basketball Set for many years. We  now have one of those over-the-door mini basketball hoops. He loves practicing and definitely getting better at it.   
3. Lots of balls. We have sensory balls, soccer balls, football, exercise balls. Catching and throwing are such important gross motor skills goals. And gaining enough strength to do it well helps with fine motor skills, including writing. So we are working on it with every occasion. My son's favorite color used to be purple (now he's a big boy and his favorite color is black), so we have a purple exercise ball. I'm pretty sure it works as good as any other ball. And of course an assortment of sensory balls, which are easier to catch, so nice for emergent skills.
4.  Frisbee rings. I find rings much easier to use than discs. We tried to introduce frisbee since my kid was 5. Every year we would try and every year we would give up. It was just hopeless. It got better when he was 8, and now he is pretty good at it. We enjoy playing frisbee as a family. Activ Life Frisbee Rings are the best rings out there.
5.  Velcro ball and catch game - a present from our early intervention PT, they last forever and are great practice for catch and throw. We have the 4 paddle set, which allows the whole family to play.

There you have it. I hope this is useful. Please, let me know your favorites! I'm always looking for new ideas.