Some children have more difficulties in planning and organising their movements and many children can appear more clumsy and awkward than usual during a growth spurt. They may bump into things or trip and fall more often than their peers and may struggle with more complex activities such as riding a bike or swimming. There are lots of building blocks required in order to develop coordination including strength, stamina, postural control, body awareness, attention and concentration and the ability to use your left and right sides together. The following resources should help you to support your child in developing their abilities.
Below are a few tips to help get the most out of the activities and your child:
- Always start with activities you know your child will succeed with so they are then more confident to try more challenging tasks.
- If your child is becoming frustrated or upset it is usually not worth persisting at that point, but trying again the next day, with a slightly easier activity. Unless children can see some improvement or success in what they are doing, it is very hard to keep them motivated.
- We find the best way to get children engaged in trying and practising different activities is to make it fun.
- Some children have difficulties with the focus and attention required to learn new skills, so it can be easier to work on an activity that they are interested in.
- 10 minutes spent doing activities every day is more effective than doing 2 hours, 1 day a week. You can try incorporating activities into your child’s daily routine so they can practice little and often.
- ‘Sticker’ or ‘Star’ charts leading to small rewards can also be a useful tool in engaging children in activities and will help them to see their progress.
- In order for children to master certain skills, thousands of repetitions are necessary, so don’t give up if you don’t succeed initially.
- Children gain different skills at different ages and each child develops slightly differently.
- Focus on the outcome of the activity – rather than how they get there.
- If your child continues to have significant functional physical difficulties, it may be beneficial to seek a referral to the Children’s Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy Service via your GP or School Nurse.
You will find an activity recording sheet on this website which is useful for recording what activities you have tried, and what has been successful. This will be useful to show what you have tried when seeking a referral to the occupational therapy or physiotherapy service.
- Core stability
- Balance
- Upper limb strengthening
- Using left and right sides together (bilateral integration)
- Ball skills
- Riding a bike
- Purchasing a gym ball
- Hypermobility
- Choosing the right school bag
- Hypermobility: Information for parents and carers
