Kids with Down syndrome, as well as many typically developed kids and others with special needs, have low muscle tone in their feet and legs. Bones in children are not entirely developed and if a shoe is not properly fitted, then the child’s body’s biomechanics can be altered. Therefore, careful consideration is needed to support the foot and to encourage proper form when walking.
While looking for examples of how others used PVC pipes to create the Walk Assist Parallel Bars we created for Mara, we stumbled upon this idea for a Jungle Gym. We modified it a bit and this was the configuration we used.
After seeing parallel bars used for young children to assist them in walking, PVC seemed like a good option. There were no resources we found with plans for making them for Mara. But we used a few pictures we found and relied on the advice of our friend and therapist Kailee @themovementmama to determine the height of the bars to make this for Mara.
The following are the instructions for the crawling track that we made for our infant daughter. Her progress was immediate and striking. Mara started at three months. If we had to do it again she would have started the day she came home from the hospital. It is that valuable.