Walking and Down syndrome

I think for a lot of us who have kids with Down syndrome, there are two big milestones that we think of a lot:  walking and talking. 

We want to know, when are they going to walk, and when are they going to talk.  Unfortunately, nobody, no doctor, no specialist, no therapist, no other parent can tell you when your child will do either of those.  We teach, we encourage, we wait and wait in most cases, and it is all the sweeter when they reach those milestones.

While each child is going to reach the milestones at different times, there's a basic order that they will usually go in.  Here's Kamdyn's journey to independent steps.

 

Quadraped/ hands and knees crawling

20 months

Quadraped crawling is the precursor to pulling to stand.  Some kids will skip this step altogether, but for the most part, they will crawl on hands and knees before pulling to stand.  That's why most physical therapists will work on it so much.  Kamdyn resisted hands and knees like the plague, but she did get it.

 

 

 Pulling to stand and climbing steps:

22 months

Pulling to stand is obvious and speaks for it self.  Can't stand if you can't pull up.  Climbing up the steps was good for Kamdyn, because it made her bend her knees.  She had this habit of locking her knees for extra stability, and climbing the steps forced her to bend them.

 

 

 

Standing: 

 2 years, 2 months (26 months)

Kamdyn started standing independently by having something against her back.  For a long time, she was terrified of standing, and this offered her comfort.  Having something behind her gave her that leverage she needed, and it helped strengthen her back and tummy muscles.  I know I shed some tears in this video, because she worked SO hard to stand like that.

 

 

 

 

 Cruising:

2 years, 3 months (27months)

That's another one that goes without saying.  They have to start cruising before they are going to venture off and try walking independently.  We would place items (like cheerios) on different ends of the couch to motivate her to cruise along the couch.  The couch was good too, because it was soft if she bumped into it.  You can also build a cruising course around your living room and have them cruise along all the items and furniture.

 

 

 

 

Walking with help:

2 years, 5 months (29 months)

The "help" goes in phases.  There's walking while someone holds both hands, walking while just holding one hand (Kamdyn hated that one), and walking with a walker.  Kamdyn was scared of using the walker until she was at a place of being pretty sure on her feet.  Once she could do the walker, it was no time before she took independent steps.

 

 

 Independent steps:

2 years, 6 months (30 months)

 

 

 2 years, 7 months (31 months)

 

 

 

Right before her 3rd birthday (about 35 months)
Walking on uneven terrain is definitely harder for her, and you can see the wider stance she does to accommodate for that. 

Kamdyn is 3 years and one month old right now.  She is more sure on her feet, and she is getting better on uneven terrain, although it is still harder for her.  She tries to run, but it's not quite a run yet, more of a fast walk.  She goes down steps by scooting down on her belly right now.  She can hold someone's hand and take steps down, but she is pretty far off from being able to walk down the steps on her own while holding a railing.  She also does not walk up steps unassisted.  She crawls up steps.  That is part of her IEP at this point.  I'm not worried about it, because she has found ways to adjust and get up and down by herself.  It does make it more difficult at a playground, but she will get there.