WALKING
When we study the nature of walking, we see that it's not a
simple matter of `can' and `can't.' The ability to walk is a
combination of many skills, and a young child can walk with
varying degrees of skill, which develops over time. So at
first, he will only be able to walk for very short distances,
and will fall when there is any obstruction, incline or
distraction. As they get older and more proficient, children
are expected to manage for longer, deal with more difficult
terrain, and start to be able to walk while talking, or
looking around. If a child gets stuck at any particular
stage, then we have to investigate. We certainly wouldn't
just accept our lot and say, "Oh, well, not everyone can be a
good walker." Walking is too important for that.
If we take a layman's approach, then we might think that it
is obvious that if a child can't walk, then he must have a
problem with his legs, and of course, the remedy is `walking
practice' every day. This might help, but then again, it
might not. It depends so much on whether this is truly the
root of the problem, and whether practice is the correct
solution.
If we went to a specialist, then he would be looking to find
the specific underlying cause of the problem: Is it balance,
injury or deformation of a muscle or bone or something as
simple as a stone in the shoe? The problem could be caused by
visual difficulties, which give the child a false sense of
perception, so he keeps falling down. In this case, the child
might not even try to walk, for fear of falling. In such a
case, physiotherapy on the leg muscles would be very
misguided, and if not exactly harmful, would not be very
helpful either. Likewise, dealing with the psychological
factors (the `fear of walking syndrome') without
understanding the root of the problem will also be mistaken.
The `walking practice' sessions wouldn't help much either. In
fact, it might even make the child more resistant to
trying.
Now suppose the specialist decides the problem is in the area
of balance. If a child doesn't have good balance, then he
obviously can't learn to walk well. The center for balance is
in the inner part of the ear. This child needs to go to a
specialist for the inner ear. And if you, as a parent of such
a child, told your friends: "My child has problems with
learning how to walk, so I need to take him to an Ear-Nose-
Throat specialist, the friend might feel quite justified in
thinking you have `lost a few screws.' Whoever heard of ENT
for legs! But that is just ignorance; it shows a lack of
understanding of the complex mechanisms involved in a
multifaceted activity such as walking.
Now, when working on balance, the exercise prescribed might
not appear to have much to do with walking at all. The child
might be rolled and swung, which hardly seem to connect to
walking.
The important thing to understand here is that although the
end result you want now is that the child walk well, because
the underlying weakness will affect many areas besides
walking, strengthening it is important for many other
reasons.
From the example of walking, we can derive certain rules
that apply for all developmental stages and educational
objectives.
WRITING
It is not usually a matter of `can' and `cannot.' There is
usally a spectrum of skill. So although a child might be said
to `be unable to write,' he can, in fact, a) hold a pencil
properly, b) make lines, circles and diagonals, c) knows the
shapes of all the letters, and can produce most of them.
Therefore, this child sits on a certain place on the
`writing' spectrum, but not where we would like him to be,
and that place on the spectrum will depend on his age.
He might be said to be `unable to write' because his letters
are of different sizes, or do not sit on a line, or that the
capitals and lowercase are interspersed. Or, perhaps, the
child may be able to write perfectly well as a physical
skill, but cannot copy from the board, or think of anything
to write when he has to produce an original composition.
A child does not usually stay stationary at one point along
the spectrum, but moves along it. So even though he is
`behind' in this skill, he may be progressing. For some
skills, it may be enough that he reaches the right level of
proficiency in the end, even if it is later than other
children. For other skills, the late development may mean a
serious underlying weakness.
A `problem' exists when a child stops moving along the
spectrum, does not move at the speed expected, or moves the
wrong way. In the example of walking, this can mean that a
child lags significantly in walking skills, remains walking
at the same skill level without progressing or stops walking
as well as he could before.
We must be careful before we pass sentence that a child's
weakness is just inevitable and that it should be accepted
rather than worked on.
In some cases, a weakness in a certain skill may indicate an
underlying problem that will show itself in other areas, and
this should be addressed. So if a child has a weakness in
writing, it might be a muscular weakness, shown by difficulty
in holding the pencil, or it might be hand-eye coordination,
both of which will affect other activities. These should be
addressed as general problems, rather than just looking at
the handwriting in isolation.
Addressing the underlying causes can appear to have nothing
to do with the original problem. Again, in the example of
writing, if the cause of the problem is a muscular weakness,
then using `silly putty' to strengthen the hand may prove
helpful. If the cause is hand-eye difficulties, then learning
to catch a small ball or thread beads will be helpful. It all
depends on the root cause. Do not be too incredulous if the
exercises seem to bear little direct relationship to the
original problem.
READING
Reading is a multifaceted and very complicated skill,
requiring many stages. The child has to:
1. See the shape of the letter clearly.
2. Have it correctly orientated in his mind (not confusing
p,d,b and q or similiar looking letters in Hebrew like
beis and kof etc.).
3. Remember this shape and compare it to one previously
seen.
4. Remember the name of the letter.
5. Be able to recall that name in speech. This requires two
skills. Firstly, one can recognize a name when someone else
says it without being able to recall it for himself, just one
usually understands more of a foreign language than one can
speak. Secondly, one can `fish' into the brain for a known
sound or word, but come out with the wrong sound or word.
This is a speech problem, but may appear to be a reading
problem.
6. Remember the sound of the letter.
7. Be able to say that sound. This requires the child hearing
the sound and saying it. For example, the difference between
`n' and `m.'
All this is just to say one letter! This becomes even more
complicated when moving to whole words or understanding what
is being read. What is truly amazing is that anyone manages
to learn at all!
We must rejoice at every stage of development that children
reach, realizing that they are in fact achieving miracles.
But one must also be aware that sometimes, children need a
little -- or a lot -- of help to achieve all of which they
are capable.
