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Help for Kids with Dyspraxia: Yankz! Review

By Dawn on January 23, 2012 Comments { 14 }

Help for Kids with Dyspraxia: Yankz! Laces ~ TheMommaKnows.com

“I wanted to show you these shoe laces I’ve been using. I think that D1 would really benefit from having a pair of these, with his fine motor struggles.” His occupational therapist pointed to her shoelaces, called Yankz!, and explained how they work.

“You just lace them in, cinch them down, and go. He could just slide his feet into his shoes and eliminate a whole bunch of steps in getting ready for the day.”
Seriously?! Eliminate steps? Just slide his feet in? Save time?!?!

Having kids with fine motor difficulties, shoe tying has been a bit of a blessing and a bit of a curse. It has been a blessing because they finally learned HOW and were ABLE to get them tight enough that they stayed tied. Mostly. It’s also been a curse because now I depend on them to get ready to leave. And it takes time. Lots. of. time.

Motor planning that comes naturally to you and I does NOT come naturally to a child with developmental dyspraxia. Motor planning is the whole issue. When you give them a task that has a lots of steps, it’s hard enough. Give him a task that has lots of fine motor steps, and you’ve got…. enough time to make lunch for four people, and EAT, while you wait for him to put on his shoes and get them tied. Yes, really. What I need is a way to save time. Enter Yankz!

I asked for, and received, some Yankz! to try out. I discovered that they were MUCH more generous than I ever hoped for, when this arrived in the mail:

We immediately set to choosing and, er, installing them. It is rather a bit of a process, lacing in these elastic strings with the plastic pulley hook thingy, but we followed the directions on the inside of the package, and went to it. Even the boys set to work on their own. D1, our budding pre-adolescent 11 year old, chose royal blue laces, the same color as the trim on his Cons. D2 chose light blue, which didn’t exactly match his shoes, but he’s a 9-year old boy. They don’t care about things matching. He just likes blue.

As for me, I was super excited to see REFLECTIVE Yankz! Laces, with reflectors on them! You may think I’ve lost it, but you don’t go running at 6am, when it’s still dark out. The only thing that would be cooler is if they lit up. With our newly laced Yankz!, we went about our business.

Our experience:

Yankz! have definitely improved our time-out-the-door. I can tell the boys that it’s time to leave, and they can have their shoes on their feet in moments. Record time! D1 has really appreciated them because he knows how long it takes him to go through the process of putting on his shoes. He likes that he can easily tighten or loosen them, depending on how his feet are feeling, with just a tug or two. His occupational therapist was right. These are perfect for him!

Our other son, 9-year old D2, also likes his Yankz!, but his experience hasn’t been quite as good. This boy is the human equivalent of the Tasmanian Devil. He CAN tear apart a steel anvil, on accident, and not even slow down to view the destruction. Things disintegrate in his presence. So did his Yankz! It is probably also due to the fact that he has these really heavy, wide skater shoes and Yankz! were definitely NOT made for skater shoes.

For me, Yankz! are fantastic. My running shoes are happy. I am happy. I am reflective!! And my shoes never, ever come untied any more.

And now I have goodies to share with you! Enter to win a family pack of FOUR pairs of Yankz! for one lucky winner! How does 3 Pairs of Yankz! and 1 pair of Yankz! Reflectives sound?!

You have two chances to win:

First- mandatory entry, leave a comment telling me why you need them! And second, follow me @MommaKnows on Twitter and come back here and let me know that you did! One winner will be drawn Saturday morning and announced here, on Twitter, and on my Facebook page.

Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links which, if you click over and make a purchase, help to support the costs of keeping this site running. Thank you!

categories: Product Reviews

Tags: dyspraxia, special needs, Yankz!

Comments { 14 } :

Therapy-Free Summer

By Dawn on June 8, 2011 Comments { 6 }

It has officially begun. Not summer, yet, but our break from therapies. I felt like they were handing us the Golden Ticket when D1’s OT said, “You guys need to have a break. Enjoy the summer together as a family and don’t worry about therapies. You deserve it.”

Ten years. 10 years of OT off and on, speech therapy on an ongoing basis, PT part time… it’s all just so… weird to think about right now. In the past parents have said to me, “Wow you have your hands full. I couldn’t do that.” But do what? Drive back and forth and sit in waiting rooms? Lots and lots of waiting in waiting rooms. Going to therapies has really just been a way of life for us.

There were times when we were there three times a week. Others when it was only once, but for 2 hours. Sometimes only D1 was taking therapies, and other times both were. People have asked why we do it. Some parents, homeschoolers who don’t want anyone else’s influence on their kids and don’t think anyone else needs to help them, REALLY don’t understand why. The reason is simple, however: I want my boys to be as successful as they possibly can be.

They were born with big challenges in their lives. Drug affected brains don’t operate like non-affected brains. Certain synapses have to be taught to connect. Muscle groups have to be taught the proper way to move. Sensory systems need help learning what to tune into and what to ignore. These aren’t things that my boys would simply outgrow.

Developmental delays and sensory dysfunction are both in the category of hidden disabilities. You can’t tell there is anything wrong when you see my kids… at least, not at first. They both “look normal”. That’s because they are. And normal, for them, is a bit different than normal for other kids.

For the first time, we get a break. They get a break. The years of early intervention are just about over. Karate, bike riding, and swimming will take over where physical and occupational therapy left off. Afternoons will be unbroken by my hurried yell to wet, playing boys, “Dry off quick! You have OT in 5 minutes!” or “Why are you muddy?! We have to leave RIGHT NOW!” There will be none of that. They can play.

DSCF9308

They can just BE.

categories: Special Needs Kids

Tags: dyspraxia, OT, PT, sensory integration, speech therapy

Comments { 6 } :

Life After OT

By Dawn on May 5, 2011 Comments { 10 }

“When was the last time you guys took a break from therapies?” His OT asked me this question, and I hadn’t really thought about it before.

“Never,” I replied, “we’ve been at this 2-3 times a week for 10 years.”

Wow. The realization hit me pretty hard after I said it. We have literally been in active therapy of one sort or another for TEN years with our boys (D1 in particular). I have sat in waiting rooms for 2-4 hours a week for TEN YEARS. Speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, all to give them the best tools for life later on.

Her response was a relief to this Momma. “Well, he’s at the age now where I begin to recommend that other activities take over for the work he’s doing in OT. Karate is the second activity I recommend, and the first is swimming, at least for all these sensory-needy kids. They all love to swim. We don’t want them to live their whole childhood in therapies. He’s aging out.”

YES!!!!

Nothing is definite yet, but the main gist of things is that they are noticing huge growth in D1, since he began taking Karate two months ago. They want to, at least, give us a break for the summer. Best case scenario, he will be discharged from his Speech/OT Social group and the Bal-a-vis-X group until he is in need at a later time. Discharged. Maybe for good. WOW!

Our younger son is currently taking PT, and would be happy to stop for a while good. She told me, “We want to give your family a break. You deserve it and you guys should have your summer for your family. It’s time.” We’ll see what the next few weeks tell us, but if this works out, we will be done with therapy appointments in mid-June!

categories: Special Needs Kids

Tags: dyspraxia, OT, sensory integration, speech therapy

Comments { 10 } :

Update: Dyspraxia at 9

By Dawn on April 7, 2010 Comments { 0 }

I happened to glance at my Dyspraxia Updates page and noticed that it hasn’t been updated in a very long time! It’s been a long time since I have written about D1 at all, I figure it’s worth a full post.

D1 is 9 now. “Nine and a HALF”, as he would correct me. He had his annual OT Evaluation last Monday, and we got good news! His OT has discharged him from individual OT again, for a while. He has met all of his goals. His score increases were HUGE, as have been his gains in everyday things. He can sit and attend, he can write although copying more than a sentence is still a big struggle. He can tell when his “engine is slow”—when he needs to do something to help him increase his attention—or when it’s “fast”—when he needs to do something that will bring him back into focus. That isn’t foolproof, but the Alert Program has really helped him pay attention to his body. This was his second time through the program though, so that helps too. It also helps that he is 3 years older this time. He still seeks sensory input, usually through movement, but not nearly as much as he used to.

He also attends Speech/OT group with two other boys and this will continue for quite a while yet. D1 loves his group activities. They meet once a week for an hour. They work on conversation, keeping eye contact, turn taking with dialogue, body language, and other things that D1 struggles to understand, like innuendo and idioms. Jokes play a big part in the therapy. So many jokes use word play and all three boys are working on similar language goals. Jokes really get them thinking AND they get to have fun too. D1 acts pretty much like any other kid, although his social skills are still immature. It’s weird to think that he’s going to be 10 in August, and in another year he very well could be taller than me. He comes up to my nose right now!! He wears the same size shoes as my 18yo daughter. Granted, she has small feet (a 6.5-7), but theirs are the same size and he’s NINE!

One thing we have discovered that D1 LOVES to do is sing. This boy, who at the age of 5 was struggling to use consonant sounds in words (he could make them in isolation but not in words), SINGS. His favorite band is Skillet, although he likes many others, and is always singing along with Air1 in the car, no matter what song is on. But Skillet…. I love Skillet! And I think I’ve said before how much I love concerts. I told D1 that I will probably take him to see Skillet next time they are in town. He still has a terrible problem with loud sounds, so he told me he will bring his “ear puffs”—his ear protectors that he uses in Daddy’s wood shop when the saw is running. They look like the kind runway traffic guys wear at airports. I’m hoping we can get by with earplugs though. As long as he has some noise reduction he will LOVE the concert! (So will Momma! heehee!)

He tends to do better in social situations where he is younger, rather than the same age. That may come from growing up around the youth group students almost as much as from his delays. He loves the big kids, and will play pool or ping pong with anyone who is willing to spend the time to play him. He is also quick to jump in and pray for someone, even a student years older than him. Kids his age tend to shy away from him, because they can tell he’s different. It makes me sad, but thankfully we don’t rely on age mates because he isn’t in school, and he is fully able to converse with any person, of any age. That’s where homeschooling just shines, and I love it.

Every child is different, with different needs, attitudes, gifts, and deficits. I am so thankful that I am able to teach him (and the others) at home. He has grown by leaps and bounds since I brought him back home from the public school. Praise God for homeschooling!