How To Encourage Walking With A Late Walker

Pictures of Our New Living Room! Lovely Isn't it!?



So, Since our son Jaden has Down Syndrome, this Diagnosis obviously means certain things will Probably Happen within the Growth and Development of his Life. Luckily for him, he has avoided so many of the "Certainties" associated with Down Syndrome, but has not been able to escape others. Such as, Lower Muscle Tone. Now, many kids who don't have Specific Diagnosis' have Low Muscle Tone, however if you have THREE 21st Chromosomes, you are most certainly going to be afflicted with this. Again, lucky for Jaden, his Low Muscle tone isn't So Low, however he has had some delays with Gross Motor Skills. For Example, he first sat at 6 months, by himself, but got up to sitting without help at 8 months, first really crawled/creeped (on all 4's) at 10 months, but funny enough was standing holding on at 10 months also. His legs have always been slightly stronger than his upper body. So we were holding his hands and he has been walking/running with help since about 11 months. We thought he'd be the FIRST EVER Recorded case in history of a Kid with Down Syndrome Walking by ONE!!! He even took his first actual steps alone at 12 months, however his walking hasn't progressed as fast as we would have thought it would. Considering all his therapists have always been astonished with his progress, strength, and amazing congnition! They have always considered Jaden the "Super Star" with DS. Walking being a HUGE MILESTONE in Down Syndrome can take many, many months to accomplish, it just needs to "click", and when they're 100% ready, (not mom and dad), they will!

Funny how all of us parents have the Best kid isn't it?! The thing with Jaden that I never would have expected is, he's so "normal" and "typical". He understands Everything, speaks many words, (he just turned 2 Dec. 16th), and is so independent. He Loves Music and Reading! He's funny, great sense of humor, goes with the flow, we can take him anywhere, and do! We've always taken our kids everywhere, partly because we don't have a babysitter and mostly because we want to. We even take him to movies with us, which he loves, and always seems to laugh at the right parts. I could go on and on with all of his accomplishments, because they are so numerous, in fact we have never considered ourselves to have a child with a "disability" because frankly, we still don't see it! Don't all kids have strength's and weaknesses anyway? My Non Chromosomally enhanced daughter, has her own strength's and weaknesses also. If you look around your own family you quickly realize we are all flawed, yet within our own flaws are complete perfection!

Anyway, in getting our son to Really Walk consistently instead of walking then crawling, etc. we have set up a sort of obstacle course in our living room to encourage him more. Our Physical Therapist suggested putting furniture closer together so that the nearest object didn't seem to far off in the distance. He wasn't feeling secure enough to let go of the furniture because the next closest piece would be so far off in the distance! Makes perfect sense to me! Great advice our Therapists always give us, I tell you, the kind of advice where we want to slap ourselves for not thinking of it sooner. So with a little re-arranging, we did, just that. And sure enough, he's walking all over the living room now! Unbelievable! Here's a picture of Jaden doing just that! If you're in the same boat with a "late" walker, maybe you could try this!