What’s the Problem with W-Sitting?

W-sitting is a way of sitting on the floor that is preferred by many children. When W-sitting, a child sits with his or her bottom on the ground, with both knees and the feet positioned outside of his or her hips. When viewed from above, the line of the legs and body appear to make a W shape. As a parent, you may have been told that this position is “bad” and that you should immediately have your child change sitting positions. It is perfectly normal for children to move in and out of a W position for brief periods of time as they play. However, there are negative effects associated with prolonged W sitting, particularly if it is your child’s primary sitting pattern.

Firstly, W-sitting can put unnecessary strain on a child’s hip joints. If a child has orthopedic issues or is prone to high muscle tone and tightness, excessive W sitting can further tighten the major muscle groups that allow for outward rotation of the legs. This can lead to problems with coordination, balance, and in the most severe cases, hip dislocation.

Many children sit in a W position because it widens their base of support. This is a very stable position that doesn’t require much weight-shifting or core engagement to stay upright. For this reason, it is often the preferred seating choice of children who are very flexible or have low muscle tone. Because this position is so stable, children do not use their core muscles much as they are playing, which limits the development of trunk strength. Developed core and trunk strength is necessary to reach the arms away from the body to participate in fine motor activities like writing, coloring, or using scissors. Children with poor trunk strength may fatigue easily and demonstrate more difficulty remaining seated upright at a desk as they grow older.

Additionally, W-sitting does not allow for much trunk rotation while playing. Trunk rotation helps children develop the ability to cross midline (reach their arms across their bodies), which is an essential skill for differentiating between and coordinating the two sides of the body.  Because the W position is so stable, it is relatively easy for children to complete tasks with either hand when seated this way. This can delay the development of hand dominance. Therefore, excessive W-sitting can affect the core strength, postural control, and coordination necessary to develop precise fine motor skills, and should therefore be discouraged.

To help your child break the habit of prolonged W-sitting, you should try to anticipate when they are about to W-sit, and encourage a different position. Sitting in a “criss-cross” position or with the legs out in front of a child’s body promotes core and trunk development. Sitting with both legs to one side is also an appropriate position. If you find your child already seated in a W position, try giving them a verbal reminder to “fix your feet”, and help them move into a different position. You can also try letting them sit on a cushion or an inflatable disc as an alternative to sitting on the floor.

Natalie Machado, MS, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist

References:

Pathways.org. (2017). What is W-sitting? Retrieved from https://pathways.org/blog/what-is-w-sitting/

Toy Guide for Babies and Toddlers

With the holidays quickly approaching, families are always asking for recommendations for toys for their small children. Here are a few ideas for age-appropriate toys for your baby or toddler!

Babies (0 to 12 months)

YOU! Your baby from 0-3 months is most interested in his or her parent or caregiver. Encourage eye contact, sing songs, talk to, play peekaboo, and make silly faces at and with your baby!

Mobiles: As their vision is starting to become more clear, toys like mobiles with simple pictures or solid colors will motivate them to reach for the objects above.

Rattles: Our littlest humans are interested in sensory play so what better than something they can bang, shake, and mouth? Rattles provide visual, tactile, oral, and auditory stimulation.

Unbreakable Mirror: Children love to look at themselves and playing in the mirror teaches them self-awareness. Look at each other in the mirror, make faces, put stickers on your face, put toys on your head, or play peekaboo.

Young Toddlers (12 to 24 months)

Simple Books: Make sure the books have simple, real pictures. This will help young toddlers recognize objects in the world around them.

Push and Pull toys: These are great for gross motor activities. These toys encourage movement and great for early walkers.

Hammer and Ball or Peg toys: These are great cause and effect toys to help your child problem solve. Hammer and ball toys also allow them to use tools, which we know these little toddlers love!

Blocks, Cups, Stacking Rings: Stackable toys help children learn spatial relationships, size concepts, and problem-solving skills. And this allows them to do engage in one of their favorite activities – destruction!

Older Toddlers (24 to 36 months)

Matching/Sorting toys: Puzzles are a great way to teach matching and sorting! Older toddlers enjoy see organization in the world and help encourage the earliest of preschool readiness skills.

Pretend/Imaginative Play toys: How often do you see your older toddler use the remote control as a “phone”? Provide your child realistic objects or toys so that they can imitate your actions and daily life. Baby dolls, kitchen utensils/play food, toy phones, cars, trains, dress up clothes, child size broom or vacuum – these all encourage pretend or imaginative play. This type of play to helps your child learn about social-emotional relationships and shows you their understanding of the world.

Art Supplies: Large crayons, markers, clay, paint, glue sticks, child-safe scissors, and construction paper are great utensils to introduce art and explore color! Be sure all of your supplies are non-toxic and to engage in these activities while wearing clothing you don’t mind getting messy – or ruined!

Simple Board or Memory Games: As children get closer to three, these types of games are great ways to work on turn taking and exercise memory and object permanence skills.  It will also help your child improve their concentration.

Kimberly Shlaes, MAT, DT
Director of Developmental Therapy Services

Why is My Toddler’s Speech Therapist Only Playing with My Child?

The importance of play in language development

Many parents are confused when their birth-to-three speech therapist arrives and begins talking about “play skills” instead of “speech skills.” Do not fret! Speech and play skills are HIGHLY related. Play, and more specifically pretend play, gives us a look into your child’s world. Play skills demonstrate your child’s cognitive skills, which are your child’s ability to think, process language, play attention, learn, and plan their next move. All of these skills are essential for speech and language development!

Let’s break it down!

 

There are four basic types of play: Exploratory, Functional, Constructive, and Pretend.

Exploratory:  using senses of touch, taste and smell to learn about new objects. This begins when your child has intentional control over their body. Children who enjoy shaking, mouthing or smelling new objects are in the exploratory stage.

Functional: using toys and objects as they were intended. Functional play, such as is using a spoon to stir, racing cars or rolling a ball. Pay attention to whether your child is using an object or simply enjoying watching one part of the object, such as wheels turning.

Constructive: manipulating objects to make something new. This stage of play includes more trial and error to see how pieces can work together with a final goal in mind. Constructive play includes building train tracks, assembling and disassembling blocks and other toys, or sorting shapes and objects.

Pretend or symbolic: using objects in imaginary ways. Such as, pretending your hand or a block is a phone, emptying a box to make a doll a bed or bathtub, pretending a baby is crying and soothing a baby, or making a pretend steering wheel for a car. Children who dress up and act like a specific person are also engaging in pretend play.

Why is it important?

If your child is using functional play then they are demonstrating an understanding of what objects are and why they are used. When your child uses pretend play, they are demonstrating symbolic understanding of one object for another object. Words are also symbolic! Words are a symbol to represent objects, people, events, feelings, and physical states. If your child is using objects for another object, then your child demonstrates understanding that words have symbolic meaning and the cognitive skills for using words meaningfully!

Children who are using words, but are not yet playing functionally or symbolically, likely do not yet have a solid understanding of word meanings and may have difficulty using the same words in a variety of contexts. For example, think of all the ways we can play with a ball: we can roll, throw, or bounce a ball. There are different balls for different sports, or we could even pretend a ball is an apple. A child who only knows “ball” for labeling or does not yet play with a ball meaningfully is not understanding what that toy is used for and how it can be related to other objects or people. Children who are not using pretend play by the time they are two years old are at risk of cognitive and speech and language deficits.

Ways to help your toddler!

Meet your little one where they are with play. If your child is still in the exploratory phase, try modeling constructive play (fill and dump or assemble and knock down) and functional play to begin showing how objects go together. For example, a spoon can be used for stirring or eating food, but we don’t use a spoon to wiggle in front of our face.

Once your little one has some early play skills, get creative and add additional prompts or a new way to play. Pretend food, animals and baby dolls are some of my favorite toys for pretend play!

For more information on pretend and symbolic play, check out a previous blog from Kim Shales, our director of developmental therapy.

If you have further questions or concerns, call PlayWorks Therapy, Inc. for a full speech and language evaluation.

Jessica Delos Reyes, MA, CCC-SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist

Image: https://www.google.com/search?q=pretend+play&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirjJi9097WAhUi3YMKHdKuDyQQ_AUICygC&biw=1198&bih=700#imgrc=-kgdDwYHFdD1kM: