What do you do when they want to climb/crawl/bounce/wriggle?

[peaches]

Raphael likes to climb all over our furniture, roll on it, hang upside down, fling himself on the sofa cushions, bounce on the bed and crawl under the quilt etc etc. We tried to discourage it. We used pictures of him using the furniture properly. It worked a little. We were given an old sofa from a relative, he uses this but the seat and back cushions are always all over the place and he seems to injure his little sister whilst he is using it. We ask him to leave our bed alone and direct him to his own. He has a trampoline and a climbing frame outside, but he prefers to be indoors.

 

I keep thinking that the solution would be if we had a soft play area attached to the house. The cost is prohibitive though obviously. We have a large dining room. What could we set up in there that he would have free rein to generally climb/roll/bounce or whatever on? I was thinking about a ball pool but a lot of them look too small for him, they look more like a toddler toy.

 

He is in his element when we go to the indoor soft play areas where you pay for a session ... there must be something I can provide him with at home that doesnt cost the earth, but he would like to use. I would like to be able to direct him to this resource when he starts to have his "mad hour" around 6-7pm.

 

Any ideas?

[Flora]

When my son was younger (he's 14 now) he used to do exactly what you describe all the time. He was never ever still. He had an amazing ability to get accross a room without his feet ever touching the floor! Soft play and other similar things were great, he enjoyed them, but they didn't stop him from still doing it at home. Now that he is older he is the opposite and moves very little. However, what I've noticed is that in it's place he has to have something in his hands that he can fiddle with; blu-tac, stress balls, and elastic band etc. If he doesn't have something to fiddle with he develops facial tics and starts chewing his clothes. It makes me wondering if the constant bouncing, leaping, etc when he was younger was a type of stim.

 

Flora

[Sooze2]

Mine was just like this, I used to put loud music on a lot and we'd dance together. He loved the Wiggles and it was played back to back some days, I would do all the moves to that with him too. You could take him to the park as often as you can each day and we let DS ride his trike around the house. He'd go up and down all day long humming etc etc, I had no idea at the time it may be stimmig behavioiur but it kept him happy, he had to be moving all day long!

 

Is your boy at school yet, if not you could see if there are toddler groups in your area. Some have large areas full of trikes and scooters which are great. We liked them and he could trash the hall rather than my house! His behaviour did stand out at the groups and he had loads of loud meltdowns especially when it was time to pack away but the people running it said I should keep coming because "he has to learn" so it became a nice break for me too.

 

It has settled down now though, he's 8 now and is more into humming fiddling etc.

Edited June 25, 2008 by Sooze2

[bikemad]

O gawd this drive my partner nuts cos my lad uses the sofa like a climbing frame n trampoline-no idea how to stop him!!!!!

[stressedmumto2]

My son is the same, he has got a bit better with age mind!! At the moment we have a king sized old matress, that's been folded in half (by son) that needs tipping in our landing in the hallway, just down a few steps form the top and that is being used as a mini trampoline. Both my children are bouning on it lots!!

 

Could you set up a mini trampoline and one of them bar's that people at the gym use which go acroos the door frane which people can hang from, argos sell them, also big bean bags and gym balls for balance and stuff could be ideal.

 

I think your child needs to do this and I used to always try and discourage my son from doing it but with him it also seemed like he needed the constant moving and climbing, when he was younger I was always taking him to mac d's as they had a ballpit which was free!!

[bid]

Maybe you could turn your dining room into a sort of mini 'soft play' area?

 

It won't have to be for ever...my DS was like this when he was little, but now at nearly 19 he's quite still!

 

Bid

[jo jones]

we have this with blaine also,on sunday he decided to do a roly poly off the end of the sofa,,and yes he landed right on the fractured part of his skull!!!!!!!so another trip to a & e just to check him over!!!!!!! he was fine thank god,,,, he likes to skid,,jump and is like a whirlwind constantly,,,he is such a danger to himself all the time ,,,,,,,,,,, he cant go out to play with other kids cos he will run off and will cross the roads without a second thought,,,,nitemare,,,,, if you look in rompa or spacekraft catalogues they have crash mats which are really good,,,,,,,,,

[peaches]

He is at school and I think I will start taking him to the park a bit more. I think I might try a ball pool too as he likes them.

[baddad]

Yep same as...

 

Buy cheap furniture and don't replace it until it FALLS apart

[Sooze2]

Sorry but I just wanted to add that if he's at school all day and trying to be still and good he may need to let off steam afterwards. We are lucky because the park is next to the school, we have to walk through it to get home. Every day we go to the park after school and I just let them play for half an hour, the girls don't really need it and are always tired but DS does and especially when he was in reception and year one if I didn't let him go to the park after school he would be totally hyper all evening and couldn't sleep!

Edited June 25, 2008 by Sooze2

[allsetuk]

mine does this constantly , throws himself violently against sofa, banging, climbing,jumping, no matter how many time i say stop, he says whoops sorry i forgot then 30 second later does the same .... why ? i dont understand ? from morning to night

[LizK]

Has he had an OT assessment? Sounds like he's got a lot of sensory issues and is actively seeking sensory input. In a sesne he brain is being deprived of motion,touch, spinning and so forth and he needs to get it somehow. So instead of stopping him doing this try diverting it to a more appropriate less furniture wracking way! Swings, slides, trampoline in the garden. 'Egg' chair from Ikea (my son adores his) . Play pillow mountain, buy cheapy duvets and pillows (ikea again) pile them in the middle of the room and let him jump and throw himself on them. Wrap him up tightly in a duvet or sleeping bag and pretend he is a saaudage roll or hot dog. Then push down on his back with your hands or big ball as you put the 'pretend' ketchup on. Get him to make your room 'bigger' by pushing on the walls of your room. Wheel barrow races, handstands, dancing to music. Another vote for The Wiggles here.

 

The Out of Sync CHild has Fun abd Building Bridges Through Sensory Integration both have good ideas. I prefer the latter.

 

Lx

[bikemad]

mine does this constantly , throws himself violently against sofa, banging, climbing,jumping, no matter how many time i say stop, he says whoops sorry i forgot then 30 second later does the same .... why ? i dont understand ? from morning to night

 

That is my lad to a t.

[lorryw]

My lad was exactly the same. We found that one of those mini trampolines (about 20 quid from Argos) made a huge difference to him. We had it in the corner of the front room and he loved it.

[allsetuk]

hi bike mad sounds like our boys are really similar as ive notice you comment on a couple of my comments about same behaviour.

HI liz K and thanks for reply , my son was diagnosed last year january since then we have seen the department once at my request just to feel like someone wanted to discuss it and now he has been discharged ???????? as in their words he is progressing as you would think he would

 

so i have had no help whats so ever ....

 

i see my local cahms unit by myself to talk about his behaviour but not with my son

 

What would a OT assessment do ?

[bikemad]

hi bike mad sounds like our boys are really similar as ive notice you comment on a couple of my comments about same behaviour.

HI liz K and thanks for reply , my son was diagnosed last year january since then we have seen the department once at my request just to feel like someone wanted to discuss it and now he has been discharged ???????? as in their words he is progressing as you would think he would

 

so i have had no help whats so ever ....

 

i see my local cahms unit by myself to talk about his behaviour but not with my son

 

What would a OT assessment do ?

 

They do sound very similer-a few times it is like reading what I could have written lol.

 

O/T I saw them recently and they diagnosed a sensory disorder in my lad-he likes extremes either pain or no touch at all

[allsetuk]

he will be heading for the tattoo parlour when hes older then lol ...

if he likes pain i mean LOL