LET’S GET MOVING! Crossing the Midline, Gymnastics, & More

“What do I do with Jack?” That was the question I asked of the various experts who were assessing him for developmental delays in 2014. Time was ticking during the great wait for a diagnosis. I wanted to start immediately on early intervention. One of the teachers at the school district said that swimming and gymnastics are some of the most helpful activities for development. Why? I remember her saying something about ‘crossing the midline’.

Time for some research: what does this mean? It turns out it’s a big deal. Our bodies have a right and a left side to them, with an imaginary line down the middle. It’s natural for most people to move fluidly with both sides of the body: the right arm goes across one’s self to throw a ball off to the left, other times the left foot crosses over to kick a ball to the right.

Jack (4 1/2) switching hands to avoid crossing his midline.

It seems innate to reach across your body, yet for a person with physical or mental challenges, it can be a real struggle. Many will transfer an object from one hand to another to avoid crossing the midline. For example, when putting on shoes, they might put the right shoe on entirely with their right hand, and the left shoe with the left. Tying the shoes becomes extra difficult because both hands are needed! The more one is encouraged to do full body crossing movements, the less awkward and more skilled the person becomes. And why not make it fun?

>>If you are wondering if your child might have autism/sensory integration/other disorders, watch his or her movements. Does he/she make a huge effort to not cross their midline? Do they switch hands in order to do a task?<< 

Therefore, off to the pool and gym we went. Swimming wasn’t successful at that time and it’s a discussion for another day. I was excited about gymnastics because I had already promised my other kids that someday we would try out lessons. And so, 2014 became our Gymnastics Summer, with all but my baby enrolled in various classes.

I placed Jack in the 3-year-old class, as he was still 3 until the end of the summer. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was a tough thing for a mother to watch. This is really where his delayed development hit home. Watching Jack’s peers, directly comparing their coordination and attention…he wasn’t even in the same universe. He would look the other direction and wander during the instructions, he would stand next to the gymnastics equipment with no intention to use any of it himself.

I wasn’t sure what to do as an observing mother. Should I step in to help him? The instructor gave me an unprompted answer after class—she said he might be more suited for a ‘mommy and me’ class, where I could help him do the moves and prompt him to focus. She said to give it one more class period to see how he did. And at the end of the next class she took me straight to the registration desk to place him in the lower level class.

It was a bit depressing to take him to a more ‘babyish’ class, but it was the right thing. His mind couldn’t wrap itself around what either teacher was asking, nor could his body even consider voluntarily moving in such ways. Well, we finished out the rest of the month in class together. I would say it was fun for the two of us and he improved a little.

But that wasn’t the helpful part. That summer we were sitting at this gymnastics complex a lot, what with 4 kids taking lessons. I started to notice that there was a steady stream of unique kids flocking to one lady. She would push the sometimes cheerful, sometimes crying kids on a huge swing, jump with them, help them through obstacle courses, hug and high-five them. I finally asked a parent what was going on, which class was this? I found out it was an occupational therapist, working with special needs kids.

My ears perked up. Hmm, the school said Jack needed occupational therapy at preschool. Could this woman be helpful to us? So when there was a break, I talked to this Cynthia lady to get information. It sounded just like what I was learning that Jack needed, so we scheduled an assessment appointment.

Cynthia helps Jack out of the foam pit.

I’ve always thought that Jack was good on gross motor skills, thank you very much. He could run, jump, and climb–all the playground skills a kid needs. But what I learned in that assessment was how uncoordinated and weak he was. No wonder he couldn’t handle a gymnastics class on his own, his body physically couldn’t move in those ways. And his brain didn’t know how to plan for those moves. One example was when they got into a foam pit (awesome gymnastics center perk, a huge ‘pool’ of foam blocks to jump into) and Jack could not get out. He didn’t have the muscle or motor planning skills to figure out how to hoist himself up.

Also, Cynthia showed me that he had sensory issues. He was curling up at the sound of loud noises, he was afraid to touch certain surfaces, he was distracted and fearful of many things in his view. Her report pointed out all of these sensory observations and stated he had difficulty with sensory processing. I had read that autism and sensory integration problems usually go hand in hand, so this wasn’t a surprise. And so, we signed up for occupational therapy with Cynthia.

Jack flying through the air on a swing at therapy!

On to the fun! I wish all OT’s could have a facility like this one! I would highly recommend seeking out a therapist with a set up in a gym. There’s so much opportunity for physical movement. If you happen to live in Ventura County California, check out Cynthia here.

Oh the things I learned from watching Jack & Cynthia! She truly formed the foundation of my current interactions and my attempts at ‘therapy’ for Jack. I will be highlighting different aspects of her therapy practice as we go along in this blog. I’ll leave you with a clue for a future subject: one of her greatest tools is the SWING…