Is Low Muscle Tone Interfering With Your Child's Learning?
Muscle tone.
It's a word most of us would associate with body builders and fitness buffs. But do you think of a child with speech problems? The kid slumped over on their desk at school? Or the clumsy child dropping their pencils and fumbling around the playground. Muscle tone may not be what you think and it could be affecting your child in the classroom.
Muscle tone actually refers to the tension or rigidity of the muscle as opposed to actual strength. The next step is understanding how muscle tone affects learning. To do that, we need to look into low muscle tone. Low muscle tone is a condition where the muscles lack tension. This is usually caused by muscles that are longer than average. The elongated muscles require more energy to get moving and as you can imagine, requiring more energy can result in a whole host of problems.
Low Muscle Tone and Learning
Muscles are everywhere. They control all gross and fine motor skills so if they're not working properly, especially if they're requiring extra energy for normal function, seemingly normal activities can become a lot more taxing. Some of these kids are fighting an uphill battle just to climb out of bed in the morning let alone sit focused in a classroom for six to seven hours. Low muscle tone in the core of the body creates difficulties with posture and sitting up attentively. Similar problems in the hands can exhibit in poor handwriting and poor dexterity. If the facial muscles are involved, pronouncing words becomes harder and more labor intensive. Low muscle tone can affect muscles all over the body and because of that, the list of possible symptoms can be long, but here are a few to get you started.
