Sport-School
[Written 14 October 2012]
Just thought I’d post a couple of pictures from Bjarki’s ‘Sport-School‘. He started attending one on the west side of town a few months after we moved to Iceland to help with his (preemie-related?) unsure gross motor skills, and since he’s really enjoyed it, we’ve kept attending ever since. Sadly it only lasts for about 7 weeks on either side of Christmas, but we’ve seen a huge improvement in his gross motor skills nonetheless.
Kids lining up, pretending to be a train, at the mid-point of the session to go play running games. Anna got to tag along to this session and followed Bjarki through the track, while I got to sit on my lazy butt. It should be noted that Finnur’s usually the one to take Bjarki – It’s their father-son thing! 🙂
A snapshot of the track sans children. It’s never the same from week to week, but has similar elements. They make sure the kids jump on one foot, both feet, walk on their tippy-toes, that they crawl, jump over obstacles and climb under them, walk on not-too-sturdy wooden beams, jump from height, climb on the bars, run, etc. etc. It basically a lot of movements that you don’t necessarily encounter in daily life, but are worth practicing.
We’ve often remarked that Bjarki appears to have a bad sense of balance, especially compared to the mountain goat that is Anna, but I think it’s more accurate to say that he has weak muscles (weak muscle tension?). Heck, he figured out how to ride a bike without training wheels at 4 years old, so he’s not entirely balance-less, but his movements have always been somewhat unsure.
I don’t think I blogged about it, but Bjarki was evaluated by an occupational therapist last winter, at the request of his daycare (which we agreed with). The result was that he was within normal limits, so he didn’t qualify for any kind of special assistance or training, but that he did have his weak and strong points. The therapist remarked that it was very common for micro-preemies to have weak muscle tension, and poor stamina, which explains why Bjarki has a hard time walking heal-to-toe in a straight line (he flat out couldn’t do it last year, he’s better now) and he’s been late learning how to jump on one foot for more than one to two jumps at a time.
Since then he’s spent a whole summer playing, biking, and scootering outside our house which sits at the bottom of a gentle bowl, and he’s definitely gotten stronger. I think the scooter has been particularly helpful because it helps with those pesky side-muscles he’s had trouble with. This fall we even added a twice-weekly swim program, which he loves, and he may be starting a once-weekly gymnastics program now that sports-school is drawing to a close. We’ll see how that goes…
But yeah, Bjarki seems to be progressing nicely, and we’re happy to live in such a sports-oriented town to help him get stronger! 🙂