Walking

Tammy, Nicky is 4 so he should be walking, but he's not. Our second PT (one of the good ones) had some facts & figures. The median age for a child with DS walking is 2, so half of the kids are walking by then. And 90% are by three.

When Nicky was just pulling up at age 2, I held onto the 90% figure. Then he wasn't walking by 3, and then 4... At this point he's really close. He walks well holding onto our fingers. And he has a walker at school that he runs down the halls in and away from his teachers.

He was mobile relatively early, rolling at 6 weeks and commando crawling before a year. The early mobility may have hurt in that he could get where he wanted to without walking. At this point he can scoot on his bottom faster than I can walk.

He did have some pretty major sensory issues with his feet. It wasn't that long ago, if we picked him up by the arms, he'd put his feet out straight in front just like a gymnast on the still rings. Because of this he has amazing stomach muscles and strong arms from the scooting. Hmm, Special Olympics here we come!

I do know that he will walk when he's ready but as Jennifer said you wish you could look back from the future.

Things are better although, I think we're in for a battle with the school about Nicky's placement for next year. The lead teacher tried to tell me the type of program I want doesn't exist and then that we're not in the right attendance area.