The Joy of Walking Independently

For the Special Needs Child, This Means No One Touching or Helping the Child

On our Developmental Profile, walking starts at Level 4. This is described as taking steps with arms used in a primary balance role, most frequently at or above shoulder height. It is typical of average babies at twelve months of age. Special needs children like the average one year old pull up to the feet by holding onto a sofa, chair, or table. The child then discovers that for an instant, he or she can let go without falling down. Finally, he or she also discovers the fabulous fact that, aside from simply standing independently, the child can also take a few steps without falling.

At this stage, the child may carry his arms at or above shoulder height, using them as a balance device much in the manner of a tightrope walker—and for precisely the same reason, the child and the tightrope walker are both concerned with the crucial issue of not falling down. At first, the child will often fall down. The child’s initial steps will probably begin with letting go of the supporting piece of furniture, launching forward in a projectile fashion, and generally ending up on the floor. The child is unable to stop and stand still. 

Being Barefoot Remains Essential

As with Glenn’s Ladder, the child should ideally be barefoot. Like the average well baby, our brain-injured children need to walk barefoot. This is important from a sensory standpoint. It’s essential for the brain to feel how it feels to position and balance the child. The brain receives the most accurate information when there is not the sole of a shoe eliminating information. With bare feet, the development of ankles and toes will be more rapid.

In any case, the child will learn a great deal from falling. In addition, the child will learn about gravity when leaning too far to the right, left, front, or back and then promptly falling to the floor. Small children when they fall often will not hurt themselves and will be prepared to try and walk again. Bigger children may fear falling. When we fall, it is automatic that our arms and hands go onto the floor to protect our fall. Children who can do this will not fear falling. Children whose arm and hand function is not good enough may hurt themselves when falling. In this case, parents need to be present to protect them and we need to arrange an environment to minimize fear or the potential of being hurt. Below we will solve this problem with the best environment.

Ingredients for Success

Give your child unlimited opportunity to walk, walk, walk—independently.

Adults tend to want to hold a child’s hand when he or she walks. We understand this. All parents, including all of us, experience a spark of amazement and love when we hold the hands of our children as they begin to walk. From the child’s standpoint, however, holding the child’s hand is a very big disservice at this point. The balance mechanism (the vestibular part of the brain) needs opportunity to learn how to balance the child for walking. When we adults hold a child’s hand, our fully developed vestibular mechanisms balance for the child. Unconsciously, our hand makes the necessary adjustments to keep the child balanced. Thus the child’s brain is denied the opportunity to learn to balance. This unnecessary help may cause the child to develop bad habits in balance and walking.

Mother’s have often said to us, “But my child always wants to hold my hand.” Yes—your child is now dependent upon you for balance. This is what we don’t want. The whole objective is for the child to be totally, 100% independent in their walking. Look at it from the child’s standpoint. In order for a child to hold an adult’s hand and walk, one arm must be raised way over the head, which causes the child to be thrown off balance. Now the child must hold on in order to avoid falling over. Try walking around with one arm extended way over your head, and then you’ll really understand the child’s situation.

Once the child is an excellent walker, capable of walking many miles, you can enjoy holding hands as much as both of you like. Because then it won’t affect the child’s balance development.

The ideal surface for walking is smooth—such as a wood floor— but not slippery. A tightly woven carpet is better than one with a plush, deep texture. The child’s feet are wide apart because it is easier to maintain balance this way. (Sailors on ships stand the same way because of the rocking of the ship.)

The rooms in which the child practices walking should contain some low and stable furniture that will help the child get into the standing position easily and enable him or her to move from one piece to another. Make sure the corners and edges of the furniture are not sharp so that your child is not hurt in the event of a fall. It may be necessary to pad the corners so that your child cannot be hurt. Some pieces of furniture should, at first, be within easy reach of each other so that the child can easily and safely touch two pieces of furniture simultaneously, and then step from piece to piece.

Gradually separate the furniture so that the child takes two, three, and then four steps to travel from one piece to the next. As the child learns how to get up without the aid of furniture and walk without its help, these pieces of furniture should be moved aside to allow for the largest uncluttered area in which to walk.

Encourage your child to walk longer and longer distances non- stop. Give your child unlimited balance information with increased frequency, intensity, and duration. As the child’s walking becomes more and more surefooted, begin to give the child objects to carry in his or her hands as a preliminary step toward Level V on our Developmental Profile. Balance is one of the basic components that separate the child who can take a few independent steps as opposed to the child who can independently walk around the entire house and outside. Continue with a Balance Development Program until your child’s walking is totally independent inside and outside the house. 

What the Walking Child Should Wear

Your child should be barefooted until reasonably surefooted. This is so that the structure of the child’s ankle and the foot is not given any artificial support and therefore, develops naturally. The child should be fully clothed, but in clothing that is lightweight and nonrestrictive to provide the greatest amount of freedom. Putting your child in long pants to protect the knees from frequent falls is very wise.

It’s obvious that putting many layers of heavy, tight-fitting clothing on your child (even outdoors) will only weigh the child down, restrict movements, and probably guarantee that not much progress will be made.

Join In the Child’s Pleasure of Independent Walking

The joy of walking, as well as the opportunity to have your undivided attention and applause will motivate your child to walk and walk. The child will enjoy the new freedom of walking. While walking, the child will be brimming with pride, and the child is right to feel so prideful.

Walking upright is no small accomplishment. Like talking, walking is a miracle that is almost never appreciated as the incredible thing that it is except in its absence. When the miracle of walking occurs in an average child, we accept it as natural, which it is, and take it totally for granted, which we should not.

It is only when this miracle does not happen that we appreciate the enormity of the accomplishment. Every parent alive whose child does not walk at one year of age (when children are supposed to) appreciates the significance of the accomplishment. Parents whose children fail to accomplish this till-then-unappreciated miracle are then prepared to bring their child halfway around the world to our Institutes to learn how to make the miracle occur.

Ask any quadriplegic adult whether the ability to walk is a miracle or not. Ask what this person would give to walk.

Keep in mind that you must permit your child to walk independently, however difficult it may be for you. It’s so important. Let the child’s brain, i.e. the balance and coordination areas, do the work.

Some brain-injured children may make some falls at this stage. It goes without saying that you must watch your child like a hawk. A child’s craze for exploration will entice the child to the stairs and other places that should be avoided. Be careful and attentive.

It is very important that parents handle falls in a positive way. Falling is part of the learning process. When we see our child fall, most of us tend to immediately blurt out “Ahhh,” “Oops,” or other expressions of alarm. Most of the time, the child is fine and happy and may get up and keep going. But the alarm sends a message that something bad is happening. The concern you express is discouraging and often makes the child cry. If we fail to catch our child when he or she falls, we must discipline ourselves to be quiet and simply help the child up. If hurt, we should give the child a hug and ask what is the issue. For example, if the child’s knees are dirty or hurting, we wipe off the dirt and rub the knees. Once everything is alright, we need to keep right on going.

Mom, Dad, and Child Play the “Walking Game”

The amount of time spent walking will directly determine how quickly the child advances to the next stage of walking. All parents instinctively understand this. The point that is often missed is how much a child walks and how well a child walks will result in brain growth to the next brain stage. Each of these factors will develop the child’s mobility competence and intelligence, and that’s what this book is all about.

The classic walking game extends the duration and nonstop walking of the child.

Initially, it is important to walk with high frequency, short, easy, successful distances. The intensity of the program depends on how much and how far the child walks non-stop. The quality of walking will improve more and more as the child’s walking increases.

Frequency

When your child begins to take the first steps, high frequency is imperative. Gradually build up to twenty to thirty opportunities to walk each day. Each session should consist of a step or two of walking, followed by loving hugs and kisses. As your child improves, the number of sessions will diminish to the point where the child is on his or her feet most of the day.

Intensity

This will be determined by the distance your child walks without stopping or getting down on the floor. The distance should increase on an almost daily basis as the child develops. Encourage your child to gradually increase the nonstop walking distance toward the goals we will outline ahead.

Duration

The sessions will be very brief in the beginning—only a few seconds for your child to find his or her balance and then take a step or two. As the child’s standing and nonstop walking ability improves, the duration of each session will become longer and longer.

Remember

Always stop before your child wants to. Be careful, because your excitement (and your child) may affect your judgment. Don’t let your child become too tired by attempting to walk too much. The child should gradually build up to a total duration of at least two hours a day in order to improve his or her walking ability.

The objective is for your child to reach a total walking distance of two hundred yards a day. This is not achieved all at once but arrived at by adding up the day’s shorter walking sessions (two feet, five feet, fifty feet, or even seventy-five feet).

Nonstop walking, or walking without getting down or falling down, is equally important. The distance your child walks nonstop is a good measure of how rapidly balance and breathing are adapting to this newfound mode of mobility.

Goal

At this level, the goal is for the child to walk 40 feet nonstop and a total of 200 yards in a day 100% independently with no one touching or helping them.

Conclusion 

Your child is now a true walker—not highly skilled, but a walker nonetheless. Now, a subtle change will begin to take place. Its subtleness and gradualness belie its importance.

Up to now, your child has relied on holding the arms up in the air for balance. The child’s walking has been real but precarious, as well as dependent on using the arms exclusively in a balance role. The child will now begin to lower the arms to under shoulder height and walk without using the arms in the balance role. However, it is more significant than the child has now freed the arms to use them, along with the hands, as tools. They are no longer used for support as in creeping but rather arms and hands-free to be used.

You will know that your child has arrived at the next level of mobility when he or she is able to walk while carrying objects in the arms and hands. The brain is developed so well at the initial cortex level that the child has taken the steps required to enter into the next higher level of brain function, which is demonstrated when the child first begins to carry things in the arms while walking.

In addition, it is important that the child has many opportunities to stand independently. At first, they may need furniture to stand up from the floor and to get back down onto the floor. You can speed up this process by giving them furniture that is lower and lower to the floor. They should use this furniture both to get up and back down on the floor. The objective is for them to be able to get up in the middle of the floor without holding on to any furniture. They should be able to get back down onto the floor in the same way. The ability to stand up from the floor and get back down to it is totally necessary for the child to be an independent walker. The alternative is that they fall down, perhaps hurt themselves, and cannot get back up to walk. 

As mentioned in previous blogs, it is essential that the child has full control of their knees. For many brain-injured children, this is never an issue. It can be an issue for these children injured in the midbrain. As a symptom of their brain-injury they may have tight hips, knees, ankles, and feet. As a result of specialized mobility programs and our respiratory programs, we need to loosen these children's knees so they can fully straighten their legs and briefly lock their knees. Glenn’s Ladder which was fully taught in the previous blog is the answer to this problem. The final requirement for the child to be a good independent walker is that they are able to lock both their left and right knee as they walk indoors and outdoors. 

The Ultimate Distance Goal

The ultimate distance goal for brain-injured children is highly variable. For Trisomy 21 children who start our program as babies as a result of our program their development can be very similar to an average baby. The control of their knees is almost never an issue. For a severely midbrain injured child starting our program at 6, 8 or more years, the process may take years to achieve good quality walking similar to the average child. The child may walk independently and cover considerable distances. The issue is getting the knees straight and locked. 
To provide an ultimate distance goal to achieve the advanced walking of Level V on our Developmental Profile may vary from the minimum goal we have provided above. For older, bigger children, they may need to easily walk many miles a day non-stop. They may need advanced Balance Development Programs. In addition, they may need specialized mobility programs so they can walk outside, up and down hills, and on many different terrains and surfaces. Nonetheless, we have gotten thousands of brain-injured children walking and running. This is essential for them to become totally independent, self-sufficient children and adults. There are few milestones wins equal to getting a brain-injured walking and walking well. Often parents were told this would never happen. Yet, it was the parents who did all the work and made the miracle of walking a reality.