By Emily Vanek,
In my earlier post, I mentioned my youngest son struggles with Dyspraxia. He is delayed about a year across the board. He is 2 and a half now and just recently started walking. Some things that helped him were toys! We had used all of the standard walkers, the grocery carts and other toys designed to help kids walk but I found a few of Chewy’s older brother’s toys that ended up helping him the most.
Zhu Zhu pets.
Yes, those cute and furry battery-operated hamsters! They would scurry across our wood floors so fast that Chewy couldn’t keep up by crawling. He was just itching to chase them! He took some of his first steps in an effort to catch that crazy furry friend.
Toy Trucks of all shapes and sizes.
The older kids would zoom one truck across the floor and Chewy would try to walk to get it. It became this great back and forth game that the boys could play with their little brother, all the while teaching him to walk.
Pool Noodles.
Sounds strange but they really help! The skinnier the better. I took two pool noodles and held them out for Chewy to hold onto. I held one end and he held the other and I slowly guided him one foot in front of the other. Hula Hoops also work as a sports toys and are great for just getting kids to balance while standing upright!
One thing that also helped tremendously was our pet tortoise, Hot Rod.
We would set him down in the basement and Chewy would get so excited to get to try to pet him. He would wobble all around pointing and laughing at Hot Rod as the poor tortoise tried to out run him. Well, as much as a tortoise can out run anyone.
There are lots of things that can become great motivators for kids to learn to walk. Some just decide to pick themselves up and go one day and some take their sweet time. Either way these are some fun and quirky ways that helped my son.