The Big Blue Floor Gives Children a Chance to Play and Learn
Reprinted with permission of
Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services Magazine
Sadie tries out the Big Blue Floor at High Point Gymnastics
The big blue floor at High Point Gymnastics in Logan, Utah is soft and springy enough that aspiring cheerleaders learn stunts on it. Karate kids practice their moves there, and young gymnasts stretch. It's a surface that invites play, but it poses a challenge to a child who is learning to walk.
That's why it's a great place for the children of the Up to 3 program. Up to 3 is housed at the Center for Persons with Disabilities on the Utah State University campus, and its focus is on children with developmental disabilities, delays or conditions likely to result in delays. Most of the Up to 3 services are provided within homes, but once a week parents can bring their children to the gymnastics floor.
If children who are delayed in walking can play on a more difficult surface, they can learn more about balance and coordination than a flat floor can teach, said Curt Phillips, a physical therapist for the Up to 3 program at the Center for Persons with Disabilities. When the children take those skills home to an ordinary floor, walking becomes easier.
Up to 3 physical therapists consult with a gymnastics instructor there, and she teaches the children basic skills, including a warm-up before the fun begins.The sessions at High Point give the children a chance to catch up with their peers. There, the children can experiment with moving on a springy floor, bouncing on a trampoline or climbing a ladder leaned against a stack of mats. Once they reach the top, they can slip down another mat leaning against the other side of the stack to simulate a soft, gentle slide.
Trevor has been coming for about three months, and he likes to have new things to do and play with, said his mother, Angie Heck. Trevor uses a walker, but he lets go of it to climb the ladder and slide down the mat. "He's getting more adventurous to step out," said his mother.
Sadie has been coming for about six months. At first she was suspicious of the playtime on the blue floor because she recognized it as physical therapy, said her mother, Julie Gardner. With time, though, Sadie decided it was good to come and play.
"She doesn't recognize it as work," Gardner said. "Watching the other kids gives her incentive. ... It's cool [for Sadie] to be here because there are other kids." --JoLynne Lyon
