I want Owen to want to get himself from A to B. I want Owen to be able to get himself from A to B. I want Owen to think to himself "I want to go to my ballpit" and take himself there.
Here are the
- He can crawl, in is own little way, for small distances to toys he can see.
- He knows where things are in the house as he will lead me to where he would like to play when we do assisted walking.
- So he also knows what he likes to do (and what he doesn't)
- He loves his Little Tikes rocking horse but he is getting too tall for it (not related to the above points but relevant)
My assumption is his crawling method is hard work, too hard for him to use it for any great distances. Walkers are too tiring and big at this stage (to use inside anyway). A scooter board is too low and requires too much core strength for him to want to do it for any length of time. Soooooooooooo this is the solution:
Ok, so it is a Scooter board like trolley I got from Bunnings for $29.00, Owen's Little Tikes Rocking horse, attached with a huge Physio strap I already had. He can move backwards and forwards using his legs, turn around easily. He loves it and has already started exploring a little. The rocking horse does not rock and I have secured it very tightly. It does move a little but Owen's sensory needs love that.
Owen loves water and can play in it all day! For this reason we like to make his bathing experience fun and even at times a learning experience.
Tips to make showering easier:
Shampoo visor: The only part of a shower Owen dislikes is the shampoo in his eyes. So I bought him a Shampoo visor like the one in my attached photo. I got it from my local chemist but there are so many to choose from on e-bay (search "shampoo visor"). Note: Owen is 8 1/2 with a smallish head and this one fits on the last clip only. There are however many larger options.
Shower Chair: We have two, one with wheels for when Owen is not up to walking and one without wheels. With the "Wheeled" one, I can hoist him from his bed into it and wheel him into the bathroom to use. For when he is up to assisted walking we have a Goanna Chair where the wheels have been cut off at the bottom. This means it is at a height Owen can walk to and transfer into with minimal assistance. He can feel his feet on the ground when he sits in it.
Wheelie stool: This is for me and to save my back. I can wheel around him at the right height.
Making shower and bath time fun:
First rule: ebay is your friend.There are lots of weird and wonderful lights etc on e-bay. You will have to wait a few weeks for them as the cheapest ones come direct from Hong Kong or China but boy is it worth it :-).
Disco shower: We bought a disco shower head from ebay. They have a turbine in them, that lights up LED lights as water flows through the shower head. There are no batteries. There are two types, one that changes colour based on the temperature of the water (so you know when it is too hot or too cold) or one that randomly changes colour (we have one of this sort).................There are oodles and oodles of them on e-bay for around $15 with delivery (and some a LOT more expensive). You just need to search in e-bay for "shower head lights", pick the one you want and order. To install, you just screw off your old one and screw on the new one.
Disco bath lights: In ebay search "disco bath light" and these little lights come up for around $5. Now you do need to make sure you really tighten the screws so no water gets in or they won't last ling. Owen loves these.
Light up bath animals: You can get rubber ducks with LED lights in them that will flash when in water. They are awesome. They don't last for ages but if you shop around you can get them for a $1 or so each.
How do we make it a learning experience for him?
Shower: After he is clean I give him the shower head to play with. We practice the signs stop, more and yes. I stop the shower and ask him if he wants more. We do this several times each shower as the water is a big motivator for him
Bath: The disco bath lights can be turned off, so again I turn it off and ask if he wants more etc. As they float and move it encourages visual tracking plus hand and eye co-ordination to pick it up. I also put cups of various sizes in there for him to tip water in and out of, pick up etc so that he can feel the various weights of the cups.
