- Need to Vent

[Guest guest]

My boys have an official diagnosis of hypotonia, autism, speech and motor

apraxia, and sensory processing disorder by a medical doctor. They are very

clumsy and do tire out if we required them to walk long distances. But they can

run their clumsy way around our living room, jump on their little trampoline,

and get into every thing all day long if I let them.

I found your post interesting about having your son walk more instead of

relying on the stroller. When we are out, we take the stroller every where

because they do not like to walk long distances but will drop to a sit when they

get tired of walking. If I start requiring them to walk more instead of

carrying them or using the stroller so much - maybe in increments- would that

help build up their muscle tone? The major low tone is more in the abdominal

area and also in the mouth, lips, and tongue which is another reason why they

are not talking.

I am going to start encouraging them to walk more!

Thanks, Dana

kiddietalk <kiddietalk@...> wrote:

Hi Dana,

Conditions overlap -but each has unique symptoms. Apraxia is a motor

planning disorder. Hypotonia is muscle weakness/low tone. Sensory

Integration Dysfunction is sensory dysfunction (seeking or

avoidance 'could' be signs) ADD is attention problems and ADHD is

that plus hyper activity - but as with anything with symptoms you can

only suspect diagnosis to separate from normal behavior. It takes a

knowledgeable medical professional to know if a child has a diagnosis

or if the symptom is developmental.

Being very active or sensory seeking are not symptoms of hypotonia.

Of course there could be exceptions where a child has more than one

diagnosis -a child with hypotinia and ADHD and DSI perhaps -but I

know from my own son that with hypotonia the child tires faster -and

if they push themselves the muscles " burn " so they can only push so

much.

There is a chance that this child may also be an exception -but

" very active " and " running " are still not signs of hypotonia in themselves-

so even more the reason to seek appropriate diagnosis.

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