The Problem
With diagnoses of Cerebral palsy, Autism, and Cortical Visual Impairment, 5-year-old J (our client) has experienced a greater number of hardships than most of us will ever experience. He has a tight muscle tone, making it difficult for him to move on his own.
He may experience muscle spasms causing limbs to be temporarily ‘stuck’ in any direction until his muscles can relax once again. Cortical Visual Impairment (CVI) is a challenging visual impairment that disables J’s ability to interpret what he sees. It caused this by an injury to his occipital lobe early in his life. CVI causes constant changes in his vision; sometimes he may see with little to no difficulties while other times he may be blind. This would be difficult for anyone to navigate, especially a 5-year-old child.
The principal component in combating these difficulties is movement. Not only can a calm rocking allow J to experience a much needed sensory input that would allow him to remain calm in even the toughest moments, but it will also allow his muscles to relax. The rocking would also positively affect the CVI, as movement helps combat the flickering of his vision, allowing it to be ‘on’ more than ‘off’.
Adaptive/pediatric swing sets are expensive, non-autonomous, and lack of portability. Teachers and parents are always engaged during the recreational activity period, as they have to manually maneuver their respective special needs students on the swing.
