Just as driving a car can have navigation, the development of our physical movements, body movements, balance and coordination, etc., also needs a navigation to assist, which is the vestibular system.
The vestibular system can tell the brain: Where is your body? Where do you need to go? This is why both our vision and proprioception need to work in tandem with vestibular perception.
The vestibular system, like GPS, tells us how to respond to the various sensory messages we are exposed to on a daily basis by sending messages to the brain and other parts of the body.
Vestibular balance and proprioception
Since the vestibular system is the threshold of the brain, information such as the tactile sensation and joint activity of the entire body must also be filtered here, so that the brain can selectively respond to important information.
Therefore, vestibular perception must be completely coordinated with the sense of balance, so that we can correctly identify the spatial position of the body, which is the so-called vestibular balance.
The vestibular system provides a sense of balance within the body, and the body's recognition and perception of the movement of the external world is felt through proprioception.
Proprioception sensors are found in all muscles, tendons, joints, ligaments, and nerve endings in the inner ear.
They send information to the brain about perceived location, connection to the external environment, the current external environment, and the objects they touch.
Whether you're asleep or awake, this process is proceeding automatically and uninterruptedly all the time.
With a stable vestibular system and proprioception, we can better control our limbs, realize how to do the movements better, control muscle strength more freely, and the whole person appears more coordinated and flexible.
Therefore, in the daily sensory system training, our games will generally be comprehensively exercised to vestibular perception and proprioception to improve the child's basic sensory system ability.
Manifestations of vestibular balance disorders
Vestibular sensitivity:
Restless, inattentive in class, mischievous and willful, excited and active, sticky and poor self-control, emotional instability is easy to violate classroom discipline, easy to conflict with people, love to be picky, talk to yourself, dizzy in a turn...
Vestibular dullness:
Low sense of danger, like to climb up and down, jump up and down is particularly active, not attentive, it is difficult to calm down to do something to listen to but not hear, turn a blind eye, do not listen to instructions to walk often encounter things, poor sense of balance, lack of sense of space like to spin their own circles, long turn not dizzy there is aggressive behavior, like to lose, fall, smash, language development is slower...
Causes of vestibular balance disorders
There are many causes of vestibular dysfunction, such as insufficient exercise, incorrect fetal position, and excessive amniotic fluid during pregnancy of the mother, which may lead to delayed development of fetal vestibular balance function.
In addition, the baby's early lack of activity and insufficient crawling are also important causes of vestibular disorders. Therefore, as parents, we must give our children enough space and time to move from an early age to lay the foundation for the healthy growth of the baby.
Promote vestibular development mini-games at different stages
- Under 1 year old
Babies under 1 year old are in all aspects of the early stages of development, we must pay attention to safety when carrying out activities; after the baby will climb at about 8 months, it is best to let the child ensure 800 hours of crawling time.
Shaker
Prepare a large, clean and sturdy bath towel flat on the bed and place your baby in the middle of the bath towel. Parents grasp one end of the bath towel separately, and then gently lift the baby and slowly shake it from side to side, noting that the height of the bath towel cannot exceed 10 cm from the bed.
Up and down
Parents pick up the baby horizontally and slowly move up and down, so that the baby can experience a different sense of space up and down; then change one hand to support the baby's ass, the other hand to support the back of the baby's head, and then move up and down smoothly.
- 1-3 years old
After the age of 1, the baby slowly learns to stand and walk, and the desire to explore and the ability to act are getting stronger and stronger, at this time we can enrich the child's toy and play content and promote the development of sensory integration ability.
Roll over with the ball
Let the child hold a ball with both hands, the size of the ball must be the size of the two hands together to grasp, do not use a ball that can be held by one hand.
After holding the ball, let the child roll over from side to side, and dribble the ball to the designated place, and the parent can play with the baby to exercise muscle control and direction perception.
Catch bubbles
Parents while blowing bubbles while moving, guide children to chase, grasp bubbles, but also let children use their thumbs and index fingers to pinch bubbles, or blow bubbles into the air, are a good way to enhance parent-child interaction, but also can exercise children's hand-eye coordination, visual follow-up ability.
- 2-4 years old
Go in a straight line
Make a straight line on the ground with a yarn or double-sided glue, let the child walk in a straight line with your toes against the heel, and you can stretch out your hands to maintain balance. It is also possible to have children transport items while moving forward, adding to the fun.
High jump touch balloons
Hang a toy (balloon or bouncing toy) within reach of your child's jump in the air, and encourage your child to jump and reach out to touch the toy. After the child's ability is improved, the height of the suspension can be appropriately increased.
- 4-6 years old
3-6 years old is the golden period for the development of children's sensory integration ability, parents must give children a variety of rich forms of activities, and comprehensively promote the development of sensory systems such as touch, vestibular, and proprioception.
Paper skiing
Have your child step on a piece of paper on each foot as a sleigh, and walk on the paper forward or backward. Of course, when conditions permit, it is best to take children to experience real skiing, which can promote the ability of both sides of the body to coordinate and plan movements.
Spoon dribbling
Placing a few books or dolls on the ground as obstacles for children to cross the obstacles while transporting table tennis with a spoon in hand can improve children's muscle control, balance and hand-eye coordination.
- 6 years old and above
Children over the age of 6 have significantly improved their athletic and sensory ability, parents should take their children to experience a variety of different activities, such as swimming, climbing, basketball, football, tennis, etc., not only can improve the child's physical fitness, but also help daily learning.