River and Balance

The topic of balance has been discussed in several Insights before. That‘s because balance (and keeping it) can be many things and depend on many factors. The vestibular receptors are located in the inner ear. They register whether we are balanced and in movement.

Apart from being registered by the vestibular receptors, our balance is also dependent on the physical state of balance in our bodies. When children grow fast, their sense of balance often deteriorates, due to misalignment between the rate of bone growth and muscle length. Our psychological constitution also influences balance. When we are mentally imbalanced, or are in doubt about our own ability, our psyche affects our balance.
It can also go the other way. If we are sure we can do something, we get better at letting the other senses support the vestibular system. We call this ‘sensory integration’, which is the ability of the central nervous system to get two or more senses to work together as a single meaningful unit.
Good sensory integration means that we have more chance of achieving mastery and success when doing something physical.

When a child finds it hard to keep their balance, has a tendency to fall or be frightened when their balance is challenged, we need to study it in detail. Apart from testing the child‘s ability to register vestibular input, we also need to determine whether their sight is good, whether they can focus and their general sensory integration.
We also need to see what their psychological status is. If the child has had so many bad experiences keeping their balance, the negative effect will become negative expectations, which will affect their balance.
The child‘s balance problems can set off a negative spiral, in which the feeling of losing their balance and control over their body affects them, making them tense and mentally vulnerable.

River
With its multitude of colours and ability to twist and turn, River is a brilliant means of training balance. The relatively low height of the elements (4.5 cm) gives children with balance problems confidence. They don’t need to worry about falling off if they do lose their balance. And as in the case, when River is built in two parallel lines, it can be mastered by children right down to the age of 2 if they do not have any problems.

CASE

Asta is just under 4 years old. At home, she’s a happy, outgoing girl, if a little cautious. But she’s never come to love her kindergarten. The staff there have noticed that she becomes nervous and can easily lose her balance and fall when the other children are playing excitedly or rush towards her.

She quickly sits down in such situations. She prefers to play in the sandpit on the playground. She doesn’t want to try the slide or the various bikes and carts available.
Asta‘s parents say that Asta reached the motor skill milestones on time. Apart from not liking boisterous play, and always wanted to hold hands when walking, they had never noticed any problems before the kindergarten mentioned them.
When I examined her, there was nothing obvious. Asta is a fairly tall, slim girl. She has normal movement and strength in her entire body.
But as soon as I saw her in movement, I realised that she had problems when her balance was challenged. She became nervous and upset.
In therapy, she slowly but surely began to enjoy pushing the boundaries of balance through play, initially holding her mother or father’s hand. She quickly became confident in her new surroundings and looked forward to training sessions.
We‘ve used River built in two parallel balance lines from the start. Asta is asked to take one step at a time, treading on the colours I ask her to. It’s almost always possible to keep one foot on each line of elements. Asta gradually began to test her balance herself. She started by not holding hands, and then making less use of support when deciding to tread on two colours on the same line. Asta is allowed to choose herself, which gives her mental control. The feeling of control and our joint focus on her getting better and better at keeping her balance have a contagious effect on her attitude, which becomes more and confident and happy.
The kindergarten follows up on the balance games Asta learns in therapy. She‘s allowed to set the pace, and gains new status by showing the others what the game’s about.
The staff find that Asta quickly displays new and more confident sides of herself and has generally become more confident and social.