Can a Moonwalk Help Your Child with a Sensory Processing Disorder, Autism, or ADHD?
Posted on: 21 May 2015
In the past few years, there has been an explosion in the cottage growth industry of moonwalk rental. Just about everyone has attended a child's birthday party, church function, fair, company picnic, or backyard BBQ that featured a moonwalk. Besides temporary moonwalks that are inflated just for an event, there are also moonwalks that can be accessed year round. Besides being fun for all children, moonwalks can be especially fun for children with Sensory Processing Disorders, children on the spectrum, and children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Children with SPD or Sensory Processing Disorders, children with autism, or children that are considered hyperactive, may enjoy some relief of their symptoms from using devices that help them to bounce. Utilizing a moonwalk, whenever and wherever one is available, can be a great way for your child to get more input into their nervous system and ultimately to calm them down.
Bouncing can help with Sensory Integration. Children with Sensory Processing Disorders either feel too much stimulation or not enough from normal stimuli. Sensory Integration Therapy using tools such as bouncing on a moonwalk, can help children with SPD learn to integrate external stimuli in a more normalized fashion.
Children with SPD, may have trouble with body awareness or movement. These are what Dr. A. Jean Ayres refer to as proprioception (body awareness) and vestibular (movement), which is how aware the child is aware of how their body is situated in space and also their motor skills.Bouncing on a moonwalk can help with both proprioception issues and vestibular issues. The bouncing motion helps to rewire the child's brain through the receptors that are on the child's ligaments.
If your child has been diagnosed with any of the above disorders, talk to your occupational therapist about adding bouncing to your child's therapy. Your child will burn off energy, get some exercise, and may be making valuable connections in his or her brain that can have a lasting, positive impact.
There is some controversy over whether SPD is an actual disorder. If nothing else, whether your child has a firm diagnosis of SPD, or you suspect that your child is not reacting to stimuli the way that a normal child would, a moonwalk rental is worth a try. Let your child bounce and see if they seem calmer. As long as your child is supervised the entire time by an adult, it can"t hurt and it may be an invaluable tool for helping your child to live a better life.
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