This picture was taken when Mattie was 11 months old. At this time, Mattie just learned how to sit on the floor without support. He has also developed enough muscle strength and coordination to move in and out of sitting (from lying and sitting by himself), and has learned to sit well and balance himself sitting on the floor without falling. Our therapist wanted to further strengthen Mattie's sitting abilities by giving him more challenging sitting exercises. One of the exercises she asked him to do was sitting on a bench, just like what you see in the picture above.
Patricia C. Winders - P.T., in her book: Gross Motor Skills in Children with Down Syndrome, calls this the 90/90 sitting. 90/90 sitting requires Mattie to have his hips and knees bent 90 degrees. Here he will learn to sit with his trunk up straight, hold his legs together, balance with his legs together and take weight on his legs with his knees bent. His feet will be flat on the floor and he needs to learn to actively use his feet to help him maintain his balance when he leans forward. This sitting position, with legs positioned closer together, encourages Mattie to learn balance sitting on a smaller base as compared to sitting on the floor with a wider base.
Sitting on a smaller base is more challenging and difficult. In this position, Mattie needs to learn how to hold his trunk up straight, because if he leans forward, he would fall off the bench. Sitting on a wider base or on the floor makes balancing easier as he only needs to prop his hands on the floor to feel more secure. 90/90 sitting helps strengthen Mattie's back and tummy muscles as he learns to use them for balance, and encourages him to hold his trunk up straight rather than having his back rounded and slouching. Don't you think he has a pretty good posture? Notice how he keeps his back straight as he sits on the bench? =)
To make the exercises all the more challenging and interesting, our PT added in reaching and turning while sitting activities. This she said will help Mattie develop body and arm stability and control in preparation for fine motor skills. She challenged Mattie to reach in different directions for toys while he was sitting on the bench. By doing this Mattie learns to control the movement of his body while accurately reaching out with his arms. He also develops better stability, and body strength as he uses his tummy and back muscles for balance.
Note: Please supervise your child at all times. He may fall easily until he learns to lift his trunk and balance. It might also be better to provide your child with a bench that has just the right height. The correct bench height would allow your child to sit on the bench with his feet flat on the floor and his knees bent 90 degrees. Having a bench that is too high will make him be on his toes which will make him insecure and unstable. Having his feet flat on the floor can make him work on is balance using a stable position.
