Low Tone Question

[Anonymous]

What are the possible long term outcomes for children who have low tone but don't receive therapy for it? Does it mean the child will just be slower at mastering physical milestones but will catch up? TIA.

[Anonymous]

I'm by no means an expert on this, but my DD has somewhat low tone (I would be willing to bet I do too).
I took her for a PT eval as a preschooler and was told that tone runs on a continuum from extremely high (which isn't good either) to extremely low, and normalcy means being somewhere in the middle.
We were told our kid had low tone but not low enough to warrant therapy. In her case, she has reached all her milestones but did it late, and clearly will never be an athlete. For instance, even though she swims really well, she is very slow in the water. She also has a somewhat arched back and slightly protruding belly.
I'm assuming that if your child isn't receiving therapy, it's because that's been ruled unnecessary. Otherwise, you might want to seek an eval.

[Anonymous]

It all depends how you child is impacted by the low tone. Hypotonia can be problematic not just from a developmental standpoint but also can creat many medical issues- strabismus, constipation, reflux, feedig troubles, speech articulation, pronantion issues, hip issues, scoliosis. It really all depends. My son has all of the above issues, but he is at the low end of the hypotonia spectrum.

[Anonymous]

Low tone can affect not only physical development but speech. Which can affect academics.

[Anonymous]

My older son has mild low muscle tone. He has had lots of issues with handwriting and has seen an OT for years. I never knew the core body muscles were important for writing! It's affected his schooling for sure, though he's now graduated from OT at age 8, doing much better. He will never be an athlete, and gym is hard for him.

[Anonymous]

My son was diagnosed with hypotonia (among other things) at 14 months old. He is now 6 and I would say it's very mild. I am not an expert either, but I believe getting them moving can really help - on the playground, helping with the monkey bars, climbing, etc.

[Anonymous]

My child has low tone, it affects his speech, mastering writing and other things. If you don't think that effects school, then think again. It also effects self care, like being able to carry a lunch tray or using stairs at school.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure I have mild low tone issues (my back tires easily, I hate sitting for long periods, etc.), yet I hit my milestones early and have been extremely athletic (can do almost any sport pretty well). I do do a lot of core work, however, and most always have since I did gymnastics from age 8 onwards.

I'm the poster who posted on the situp thread about my child being low tone yet having met his milestones early. It's because of his diagnosis, and seeing how he avoids sitting or frequently changes positions, that I think I'm low tone too.

But I agree with the others that it can effect speech, writing, academics, etc., depending on the level.

[Anonymous]

To answer your actual question OP, long term therapy won't cure or even "improve" low tone. True hypotonia is brain based. It's going to keep on keeping on, as the adults in this thread are demonstrating.

OT can be useful for managing the skills of life and may in some cases be *necessary*. In some cases it's nice but not necessary (mastering sport skills to keep up with classmates in P.E.)

[Anonymous]

We did not do therapy for both of my low tone boys because they were meeting milestones on the later side of average. You can not really train it out of them with therapy so unless there is a delay to work on there isn't a need in my opinion. I am completely open to therapy should one of my boys need it but if they are hitting milestones appropriately than I think we are okay.

The only lasting thing with my youngest is reflux that is still persisting beyond the age of 2. My oldest has trouble with swimming but seems to do quite well with soccer.

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know the history of diagnosis of hypotonia? My DC has it, and I probably do too in some form, as other posters mentioned but I have no recollection of ever hearing of it before having my kid. Is this like autism, a case of better diagnosing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anybody know the history of diagnosis of hypotonia? My DC has it, and I probably do too in some form, as other posters mentioned but I have no recollection of ever hearing of it before having my kid. Is this like autism, a case of better diagnosing?

I don't know the history of it, didn't bother to look on google but from my own experience I would say that it's a case of better education and better diagnosing. My father was a physician, my mom a nurse. There were 5 kids in our family and, looking back, I can tell 2 of my brothers had hypotonia (they're deceased so I can't exactly talk to them about it). Even as teenagers, they could sit in the classic W shape, they had very poor handwriting and while they were strong and fit, they didn't have the endurance their friends did. Two of my own kids have it. The oldest was diagnosed after our youngest was going through Infant Toddler for dev delays. Before that, a pediatrician and a pediatric orthopedist didn't catch it (which I find shocking since she was evaluating him for delayed walking). It becomes more and more obvious the older he gets.

[Anonymous]

23:06 here. So sitting in the W shape is a sign of hypotonia?
That means I clearly have it and so does DD. It never occured to anyone around me that that was a problem when I was growing up, although they flagged it early with DD and we had to spend years telling her to criss-cross apple sauce.
Even now I find sitting in that position extremely comfortable and I don't seem to have any problems walking or otherwise. I'm over 40.

[Anonymous]

Ha, this is funny in one aspect. The W sit in yoga is called hero pose and I find it extremely uncomfortable even though I am very bendy in other ways. Maybe our kids should be doing yoga to capitalize on the bendiness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anybody know the history of diagnosis of hypotonia? My DC has it, and I probably do too in some form, as other posters mentioned but I have no recollection of ever hearing of it before having my kid. Is this like autism, a case of better diagnosing?

I don't know the history of it, didn't bother to look on google but from my own experience I would say that it's a case of better education and better diagnosing. My father was a physician, my mom a nurse. There were 5 kids in our family and, looking back, I can tell 2 of my brothers had hypotonia (they're deceased so I can't exactly talk to them about it). Even as teenagers, they could sit in the classic W shape, they had very poor handwriting and while they were strong and fit, they didn't have the endurance their friends did. Two of my own kids have it. The oldest was diagnosed after our youngest was going through Infant Toddler for dev delays. Before that, a pediatrician and a pediatric orthopedist didn't catch it (which I find shocking since she was evaluating him for delayed walking). It becomes more and more obvious the older he gets.

Question for this PP: I have a 1.5 year old DD who has been diagnosed with Hypotonia (she is still not walking, although pulling up, cruising, and climbing thanks to 7 months of OT and PT). I also have a 4.5 year old DS who only walked at 16 months, but met all previous milestones. He isn't very coordinated and doesn't seem to do extremely well in sports, but I have never been told by his teachers that I should have him assessed. What are some of the signs of Hypotonia you see in your oldest? I am wondering if I should have DS assessed?

Also for the entire group: I have not seen a recent post about a neurodevelopmental pediatrician. Are Dr. Conlon or Dr. Shapiro still the doctors to see? Those posts were from two years ago and I'm wondering if there are any good doctors at Children's or Georgetown?

Thanks.