Low tone and the impact on sports?

[Anonymous]

My 3rd grader has low tone and does not receive any OT or other intervention for it. His sport of choice is baseball and he's really quite good at it, but he's noticed that his hits aren't nearly as strong as many other kids. I assume as he gets older, the tone issue becomes more apparent in sports, as kids get stronger? Just wondering what he's in for as he gets more and more into baseball.

[Anonymous]

OP - if he truly does have low-tone he needs to be in OT/PT. And stick with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - if he truly does have low-tone he needs to be in OT/PT. And stick with it.

OP here. Thanks. I don't know quite what to think. He was in OT as a preschooler/kindergartener primarily for SPD (yes, I know that's controversial!), and they said that he also had low tone and they worked on it some. I had totally forgotten about it until recently when he was at a developmental pediatric appointment and I happened to mention it. The practitioner said that yes, he was low tone and showed me different examples of what it looks like on him. They wrote it as a diagnosis as well.

BUT...it's not something that really stands out to me in daily life other than the sports impact at this point. His handwriting is ok, but I'm not sure if he's writing enough in school for it to be an issue.

Perhaps he's very mildly low tone- is that a possibility?

[Anonymous]

Yes of course there are different levels of severity.

With lots of practice and motivation, some low-tone kids can do sports quite well. Others can't.

If he wants to improve his hitting I'd think that having him do core work would be helpful, as well as pushups and squats to strengthen his limbs.

[Anonymous]

Gymnastics is functionally OT for mild low tone, if that’s something he’d be amenable to. It’s what my little brother did to get stronger/work on coordination for soccer (which he was surprisingly technically good at given his challenges, which were aide effects of a necessary medication in his case). It worked well and I think it helped him stay competitive enough to make travel teams/varsity even as he aged and the strength differences otherwise would have become more apparent. He definitely wasn’t getting a college scholarship, but he was good enough to enjoy it/for it to be his primary social outlet in HS.

[Anonymous]

We were told that after the age of 10, mild hypotonia would not be as noticeable, but this has not happened for our child, probably because he has other disabilities as well.

We transitioned from OT/PT in preschool to gym, martial arts and swimming, but in middle school, DS only does the school PE. He HATES exercise, except hiking/walking. In addition to low tone, he has skin sensitivities (sensory avoider) and very low processing speed (no reactive sports, ball sports, etc).

I'm thinking about getting him a trampoline, just to keep him in reasonable shape.

[Anonymous]

It's possible he'll decide to work out / lift weights himself, when he's older, too, I suppose.

[Anonymous]

My child does not have low tone but his best friend in middle school does. The mom shared that getting him to do anything physical was a challenge. He did swim for fun and would also go to a trampoline park (on less busy days). Over the past year my son convinced him to start riding his bike so that they could go explore the neighborhood. They have worked up to being able to ride 10 miles on a Saturday. His parents are shocked at the difference it has made in their son's feelings about pe class. He no longer complains and can keep up with the other kids.

I will say with my own kids I have always had them run track for the exercise. They don't love it but will be the first to tell others that they run track because it helps them with their favorite sport (LAX, football, softball) so maybe you can find another activity that will help your son stay active (swimming, martial arts, gymnastics) and frame it as training for baseball.