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hypotonia

abs05abs05 member
in Special Needs

Can anyone tell me anything about it?  We had a private evaluation with an OT last night and she immediately told us DD has low tone.  Totally makes sense.  She wears out easily and has a hard time with oral exercises such as sticking out your tongue, licking your lips, and she has an expressive speech delay/apraxia.  I'm just surprised that no one mentioned it to us until now at 2.5.

She made it sound like no big deal but google seems to tell another story (as always).  We will be following up with our pedi next week but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone had any advice?  We will be working with the OT for a few sessions so she can teach us how to do daily oral exercises and she suggested swimming lessons.  Anything else I need to know?

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Re: hypotonia

  • zoeyandsummersmomzoeyandsummersmom member
    My DD has low tone. We started aquatic therapy about 3 months ago and it has made a WORLD of difference. See if they offer it in your area as they work on strength training in the water. 
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  • abs05abs05 member
    image-auntie-:
    imageabs1978:

    Can anyone tell me anything about it?  We had a private evaluation with an OT last night and she immediately told us DD has low tone.  Totally makes sense.  She wears out easily and has a hard time with oral exercises such as sticking out your tongue, licking your lips, and she has an expressive speech delay/apraxia.  I'm just surprised that no one mentioned it to us until now at 2.5. 

    She made it sound like no big deal but google seems to tell another story (as always).  We will be following up with our pedi next week but in the meantime I was wondering if anyone had any advice?  We will be working with the OT for a few sessions so she can teach us how to do daily oral exercises and she suggested swimming lessons.  Anything else I need to know?

    How big a deal it is is a matter of degree. Since it appears your DD's gross motor skills are where they should be, it is probably not that big a deal for her. It may slow down her progress on oral motor and maybe graphomotor.

    Tone can't be improved, per se, but building her strength and endurance can help lessen the impact. 

    Thanks.  We had her tested by EI this morning. Ironically, the one area she is ahead on is gross motor skills. She didn't walk until she was 16 months old but she made up for lost time. It definitely affects her endurance and motor planning skills, but I'm not sure if it is a big deal otherwise. Dr. Google likes to give you the worst case scenario always though.

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  • abs05abs05 member

    imagedcmetrobride:
    My DD has low tone. We started aquatic therapy about 3 months ago and it has made a WORLD of difference. See if they offer it in your area as they work on strength training in the water. 

    Thanks!  We got her signed up for swim lessons today.  They also offer aquatic therapy so I will look into it.

    Lilypie Third Birthday tickers
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  • macchiattomacchiatto member

    My son's school PT gave me this link which I found helpful:

    https://webot4kids.com/10.html

    His hypotonia is in the "mild" range but affects him across many categories (gross motor, fine motor, oral motor). He has most of the symptoms listed on that page.

    fraternal twin boys born january 2009
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  • lite-brightlite-bright member

    My DD1's low tone hasn't been officially dx'd, but her OT at school definitely recognized it. 

    Where I notice it most is that when we do activities in the late afternoon/early evening, she tends to want to sit on my lap and use me for support rather than sitting up on her own. She's floppier than other kids and most nights she crashes out very quickly at bedtime -- even a regular day is very tiring for her. 

    In general, it doesn't affect her too much in terms of limiting what she can do, although I think it plays into her handwriting/fine motor issues. Her OT recommended pretty much any physical activity to build up her endurance, but we haven't focused on formal therapies at this point. I've asked her teachers to be aware/pay attention when she starts full-day kindergarten this fall, because I think it's going to take her awhile to adjust to how much energy that takes. 

    image

    DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
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  • wellfleet04wellfleet04 member
    DD (age 6 kindergarten) was identified as having low tone, primarily in her core, at around 2.5.  Before then, her gross motor delays were explained in other ways.  She has been enrolled in swimming since age 3 and also rides horses.  Both are great for strengthening her core.  For her fine motor stuff, she gets OT through the school (PT too for the gross motor).  She just learned to ride a bike without training wheels, and has grade level handwriting skills, both of which were hard fought skills to obtain. 
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  • goldenleavesgoldenleaves member
    Our daughter has hypotonia as well. She also has Down syndrome.

    Her big challenges are gross motor. She is 16 months old. She gets herself around by army crawling but doesn't stand yet. She gets private PT weekly and EI through the school system weekly during the school year.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
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