Need help/advice with sitting down

[blueShark]

DS 4 (asd and speech delay) is mostly on the go and happier this way. He does sit down when we do activities at home, during meals but Im sure if you ask him he'd rather do these on the go too.

Last week teacher reported that although he is very bright (I taught him numbers, shapes, colours, phonics etc) he would benefit more from the day in school if he was sitting down more and of course paying more attention.

He does sit down when I ask him to, using my 'you must' strategy as nothing else seems to have helped (rewards, positive reinforcement, star stickers dont work). I tried the ABA approach and gradually extend the time with sitting but he cant wait to get up even if we are doing his favourite activity.

I am taking him to a behaviour consultant in few weeks time to hear his suggestions/strategies but in the meantime would love to hear from you parents, what have you done to encourage sitting down? Also some of you do ABA, how have you achieved it?And if its a sensory seeking thing we are hoping to get it improved through the AIT we have booked over Xmas holidays but in the meantime PLEASE HELP.

Could be related to poor vestibular system (sense of balance) and poor Proprioception (sense of where you are)?

Which means he doesn't know where he is so he has to keep moving to find out where he is
(eg my Son asked me to squeeze his hand because he'd forgotten where they were :( )

If his vestibular system is really bad he may feel like he is about to fall off the chair....

Not at all sure if same as what my son has, but what has helped my son is:

• MoveNSit cushion
• fideget toys
• retained reflexes therapy

Thanks IndigoBell.

Proprioception was brought up by the OT when I questioned it last month; he follows all instructions when can be done 'the go' but as long as it involves sitting down he immediately make excuse to need toilet, is thirsty etc.

MoveNSit cushion and fidget toys dont help, we tried them both at school.

Have him booked at the Sound Learning Centre for AIT and retained reflexes assessment, would be curious what their findings and suggestions are with regards to that.

Anyone else with success stories please????

We have recommendations of a weighted laptop and a foot rest for feeling more grounded.

Also movement breaks every 20 minutes and an adult to apply pressure regularly in class to reduce repetitive behaviour.

thanks Claw. Will call OT or suggest to the teacher to order for him....

I have a list of movement break ideas if your interested? (none of these have been tried on ds in school i might add)

But movement breaks and exercises definitely help him at home (i think anyhow, he rarely hand flaps or vocal tics at home, just in school)

oh yes pleaseeee. thx

Can I see the list too please?pretty please?!
Thanks Claw

We are using timers with dd2 at school. She has to do activity for ten minutes, then she can choose reward (often something physically active as a reward). she then does several ten minute slots of sitting down throughout the day. Is working well for her.

cansu how did you get her to do the 10 mins sitting t begin with? was it gradual or let her scream give her reward and then she gets the message? thanks.

(Ds can sit, but he fidgets and scratches and picks and moves his hands constantly)

Provision of a koosh ball or fiddle toy (ds shows no interest in these)

Provision of a movement break star jumps/wall push ups or chair push ups on a regular basis (approx 2 minutes every 20 minutes)

Asking the child to do seat push up from the chair (about 10) every time it is noticed that he is fidgeting.

Finger walks up and down a pencil as a distraction.

Putting deep pressure down through the shoulders by an adult regularly in class and asking him to push his hands down on his knees - this may be done at the same time as checking his work for example.

Using a seat wedge to bring his weight over his knees increasing proprioceptive input.

Often it is a case of trial and error and using a number of these strategies in conjunction - this will depend on what the class teacher can incorporate into the lesson - a whole class approach to the movement breaks/pencil walks could be considered to 'wake up' their systems or similar 'brain gym' activities. Dont give up if they dont work brilliantly first time, it is important to offer some consistency.

OT made these recommendations for school.

At home i also use trampoline (not ideal in this weather!) and stretching ds ie he lays down on the settee and holds onto the arm and i pull him by his ankles (he loves this) also massage but not gentle, chopping him.

I have found the more sensory input i give him, the less he craves it in inappropriate ways.

Hope that is of some help to you.

excellent ideas, thanks Claw. Will suggest to the teacher as she is willing to try out strategies to help DS and the whole class and I think the whole class may benefit as they are only 8.

I think once seated DS is ok for 10 mins ish and then he just stands up and nothing will make him come back to sit down...

Hopefully something will work soon.

something else I found googling which havent tried but may benefit others too. Its meant for more than 1 child and I am sure it will be fun game for siblings/parents to join:

Materials
Empty Bottle, Food Coloring, Sequins, Tempera Paint, Water

Skills
Body Awareness, Proprioception , Upper Body Strength

Description
This activity should be done outdoors and is designed for more than one child.

For each child, fill 3 bottles one-half or two-thirds full with water. Add a couple tablespoons of oil, a couple drops of paint, and a handful of sequences. Mark a "START" point and place all the bottles at this point. Mark an "END" line on the opposite side (you can use a rope, a blanket, or some chairs).

Ask the children to line up at the starting point and pick up a bottle. On your mark, ask the children to walk as fast as they can, without dropping their bottle, to the end point. Once they get to the end point, have them put their bottle down and walk back to get another bottle.

The first child that transfers all his/her bottles from the starting point to the end point, wins!

What a brill teacher you have. Ds's school cant do it without a statement!

I heard it described by an adult with sensory difficulties "You could only sit here for 15 minutes and then you had to take a run around the building or do 20 jumping jacks so you could sit for another 10 minutes before your muscles felt like they were going to jump out of your skin"

here what it feels like when you have sensory difficulties i found it very helpful, putting myself into ds's shoes so to speak.

Hi, you could try a wobble-cushion.

The thing about the ABA approach is that you need to be skilled on the reinforcement side and adaptable. Reinforcers can change daily, hourly and sometimes by the minute. The higher the reinforcer the more likely you are to get the behaviour you want, but it is not up to YOU to decide what a reinforcer is, it is up to the child.

You can also pair high level reinforcers with other lesser reinforcers (or even social praise) to raise their desirability or help them to be seen as steps to a final gain. Sometimes this work will have to be done before you even embark on the sitting strategy.

You also need to undo the pairing that might be 'not sitting' is the reward for sitting iyswim.

Thanks for the link Claw - have studied that site a long time ago when I was getting fed up with some of my DH traits , he cant sit down at one place for too long either and always have something more interesting to say, so cant keep a topic going for too long...

Star thanks for the ABA insight, the sitting and reinforcers work with me as he now sits down for most important things like mealtimes, homework, therapoy time but I suppose him generalising that in school concept doesnt work, or perhaps teacher/TA not consistent and not setting boundaries well.

[going off to google wobble cushion]

BlueShark - I know Star has had huge success with ABA and I have tremendous respect for ABA and for Star - however to me it all depends on why he won't sit down.

If there is an underlying physical reason (like poor Proprioception or whatever ) then surely it is better to fix the cause, rather than stop him doing the symptom.....

I am with you IndigoBell, I def think its a sensory thing as I mentioned DH is the same; this is why we are doing the AIT and visual therapy and retained reflexes assessment first and then if necessary starting ABA. DS is reported to be more attentive, sitting better [hmm} at school this week.

Great. AIT and retained reflexes have had a huge huge huge impact on my DS. Hope it does the same for your DS.....

Indigo I have had huge successes with ABA and a combination approach that uses evidence-based practice and goal directed learning. I mentioned ABA in my post because blueshark had CAT me specifically asking about the ABA approach in this regard.

I am not an ABA evangelical however and certainly any purest would find our programme horrific as I believe that any intervention should be based on the individual child, their difficulties and that non-measurable therapies can add benefit. This is all fine PROVIDED you have a clear rationale for what you are doing and are not just following along blindly with hope. DS goes to music therapy, gymnastics and an autism playscheme, just because. He loves them.

Anyway, given I was asked about how ABA might fit into all of this, it can be argued that whatever is making it uncomfortable for a child to sit down can be made less uncomfortable through a desensitisation programme, - depending of course on the cause. A bit like that experiment into depression where they made the patients smile for x number of hours per day for a fortight with the result that compared to the control group by the end of the experiment they smiled spontaneously more often.

Anyway, I suspect as always the solution lies in a combination approach. Tackling the actual discomfort whilst tackling the perception of the discomfort.

thanks all for the great advice. The school home book yesterday highlighted he is sitting much longer now (could have been setting boundaries issue) and paying more attention and learning. Teacher is ordering the wobbly cushion (thanks Star) that OT recommended last month as well.