Do SN children get more exhausted than NT?

[PrinceRogersNelson]

I really didn't know how to title this thread, but I need to talk through what is happening with my DD and thought MNSN might be the best place.

I have a DD who is 3.10 months old. She has some SN although we have no dx yet.

She has a speech delay/disorder. She is hypermobile and has low muscle tone. Essentially she finds everything harder than a NT child. Speaking takes moer effort, listening and undertanding takes more effort, movement and both fine and gross motor skills take more effort.

She has recently moved from a community pre school to a school nursery. One of the reasons I wanted to move her was so she would get pushed more and would get more help. She has also started one on one SALT (private) and group SALT (NHS).

I work part time and she goes to a childminder 3 afternoons a week.

I am being told by childminder, nursery and a friend who looked after her last week that she is exhausted.
The childminder doesn't know if she can manage her anymore although is willing to try, but I am obviously concerned at the extent of her exhaustion. And wondered last week if her SN means that I really need to be at home for her.

I love working and really selfishly don't want to stop, but obviously DD needs come first.

She has a good breakfast, has vitamins everyday, eats well and gets to bed at 7:30 everynight. I am not sure what else I can do, but life seems to be overwhelming her at the moment.

I should say she loves nursery and runs in everyday and would hate to be at home with me instead.

Don't really know what I am asking actually. Just needing some help in understanding her and knowing how to move forward I suppose.

Does she sleep through? Does she snore?

ds does get mentally more tired than other children even though he seems to have bags of physical energy.

Could you find another childminder who is happy for your dd to go back and have a nap and then just play quietly/watch cbeebies?

Could you cut down the nursery mornings to 4 days a week and either have her at home or with the childminder all day that 5th day?

could you reduce your hours so you pick up a bit earlier on your 3rd day at work?

When ds is going through a tired phase I try to have low stimulating weekends - so just walking in park with us and no friends or pottering around house and garden (atcually now feeling guilty as we have been v busy and very social all month and ds is getting a bit overwelmed).

do you have to wake dd in the morning? if so then I would bring her bedtime forward by 30 mins or so. 7.30 isn't that early for a 3 yr old. i sometimes put ds down at 6.30 when he was 4

have you had a blood test for her? I had to push for one and found that ds is slightly anaemic which wasn't helping. They put me off for ages telling me how traumatic it was (it was aboslutely fine!)

Her bedtime sounds late - what time does she wake in the mornings? My 7 year old is in bed by 7.30 on school nights as she needs her sleep and she has no SN. My 4 year old with ASD has sleep problems but does get very tired after a busy day (just doesn't like sleeping)

I think children with hypermobility and low tone do get more tired.

It is harder work for them to actually stay upright.

Dd3 is very floppy and is always shattered when she gets home from school.

She flops in the settee for a while and has a snack and usually by teatime she is coming back to life.

I think it is important to work on their core stability and muscle strength and then stamina might improve. Although if you can get her to do physio you are a better person than me because Dd3 just lies on the floor wailing at me.

Thanks everyone.
I think she is being pushed quite hard at the moment and needs a fair amount of down time which she isn't really getting.

If she goes to bed earlier she tends to wake up earlier and if she sleeps in the day she will not go to sleep until 10pm and then she is even worse the next day. I will try and get her to bed about 7 and see if that helps.

Ineedalife - do you know how I can improve her core strength and muscles? I have had a physiotherapy report, but it didn't give me any exercises to actually do with her. And floppy is exactly the right word to describe her.

I am surprised they didnt give you any exercises. PRN.
Can you go back to physio and ask for some?
We do a lot with the gym ball, she was supposed to do three point kneeling but she just doesnt have the co ordination for that and kept falling.

You could try googling core strength exercises and see what comes up.

TBH Dd3 is so bad at doing her physio that I try to find other things that work the same muscles. I have enrolled her into a canoing club and this is really good exercise because she has to sit up straight and paddle.

We have the same problem with bedtimes. Dd3 goes at between 8 and 8.30pm but can sometimes still be awake at 9.30. Then she is like a bear with a sore head the next day and even floppier.

Yes I definitely think these issues cause children to get more physically and mentally exhausted than NT children.

I have a dd with mild CP who is also low toned and hypermobile. Everything is harder for her but because she wants to do the same as her friends and siblings she gets absolutely exhausted. By the end of a week at school she's falling over all the time and crashing out on the sofa by 3.30pm.

You can work at building up her core strength to help - we also use a gym ball for physio exercises and dd also goes swimming and horseriding. What worries me is adding to her day by doing lots of physio and extracurricular activities on top!

My son is 4 has asd/PDA and hypermobility syndrome. He gets far more tired than other children, physically because if the hypermobility and mentally due to asd. We have been doing physio daily ( not easy with a PDA child) and he's at the park daily. Initially this caused him pain at night and more exhaustion , but over time he is so much stronger physically than before. He's asleep by 7 most nights till 6 ish. General exercise is good , but hypermobile children do better with more specific muscle work.

My DD has low tone and much less stamins than other children

dd asd aged 7 is usually pretty tired mentally after school. i let her chill out and relax doing whatever she wants to do. Whilst she seems physically OK i know that coping with the school demands and environment are harder for her than for other children. Myabe when she is with the childminder it needs to be less demanding as she will be worn out by pre school. Is she expected to do lots of activities there or lots of walking?

DS (ASD) does not get much more tired, if anything he sleeps less. However the second he gets slightly ill eg a cold or anything he is knocked out and loses the ability to do practically everything which is when I realise how much he must be working the rest of the time just to do stuff I take for granted.

Its also the worst term in that its cold, dark, really long half terms and most children up to year 1 are exhausted by the end of the day during the winter term.

The nursery and CM should be able to make sure she has some down time even if its just putting her in a buggy and going for a walk / putting her somewhere quiet. We used to put DS in a buggy and put a blanket over it in the nursery corridor just so he stopped for half an hour (he refused to lie down in the day) and often he would nod off but if not he would look at a book or sing to himself.

My DS2 (age 4) has EDS and he is exhausted a lot of the time. If he does have some energy he uses it all up really quickly running around, argh. No advice though, still trying to work it out myself.