GM.B.91 SQUATS TO PLAY WITHOUT LOSING BALANCE

Squatting is a position in which most children like to play. It is a good position to encourage, because it is wonderful for the balance and encourages good posture at the pelvis.

How to Assess

Method: Help your child into a squat position and encourage her to play in this position. Score plus if your child maintains a squatting position while she plays.

How to Teach

If you have been working through the earlier skills in this sequence, you have already been helping your child to squat – for instance, in GM.B.77 (stoops to floor and recovers) – but she may use it only as a transitory position rather than a position for play.

Start by giving your child some support as she squats and helping her to play in this position for gradually increasing periods.

Kneel and place your child in a squatting position between your knees, facing away from you. Don’t try to squash her down from standing. Hold her against you from behind and bend her knees up to her chest before you place her down on the floor. Keep your chest firmly against her shoulders to stop her pushing back. If she persists in pushing back, lift her up again, knees still in the squatting position, and lower her once more. Make this a rocking movement, up and down, until she relaxes into the squat position.

Once she can squat with your help for about 5 minutes (while you read a story, for instance), start to decrease your support until she is squatting on her own.