Weighted Vest for Motor Apraxia?

[Guest guest]

For a child who has Motor Apraxia a weighted vest can be helpful as part of

the child's sensory diet. This " diet " should be monitored by an OT who is

trained in Sensory Integration dysfunction. I do not know how old your child

is, For preschoolers, the vest should only start out with about 2 pounds

equally distributed. For 5-9 year olds start with 3 pounds. Over 9 start

with approx. 4 pounds. If your chills shoulders drop down then its too much

weight for them. As the OT observes the child the weight amounts can be

changed as needed. All children's nervous systems do not respond the same.

How this intervention will affect your child has to be closely monitored. It

is not recommend the vest be worn longer than 20 minutes at a time. You can

do a schedule of 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off but do not have your child

wear the vest longer than 20 minutes. It is believed that the weight gives

input to the propriocepters. The proprioceptive firing stimulated by the

increased weight can help the child become better organized to sit and

concentrate on the task at hand. Most children get lots of this type of

firing during active play naturally. Thus it is often recommended during sit

down time. BUT- When you have a child with low tone they often are under

responsive to input. The vest worn during ACTIVE play for these kids can

help orient them better, and give a sense of where there body is in space.

Jeni