Pull Yourself to a Stronger Middle Back!

In this exercise, the child sits on the scooter board and pulls himself hand over hand down the rope toward me as I anchor the other end of the rope. I give the child only 1 end of the rope, and I get as far away as I can get while still holding the other end of the rope. I like to do this exercise in the long hallway in our clinic. I have a rope that is about 10’ long. I have the child pull himself down the hall all the way to me. When he makes it, I grab the other end of the rope and go another 10’ away. I can go all the way around the clinic in this manner. This exercise is much harder on carpet than it is on harder floor like vinyl tile or hardwood flooring. We have 2 ropes at the clinic, each about 10' long. Sometimes, I tie both of them together so the child can pull himself 20'! As a precursor to teach how to pull hand over hand, I often start with the child off the scooter board. I tie a rope to the scooter board. If there is not an easy place to tie the rope, then cinch a belt tightly around the scooter board and tie the rope to the belt. I put on the scooter board a light toy that the child wants. I sit behind the child on a bench. I help the child hand over hand pull the rope to bring the scooter board to us. If a child is going to figure this out, then he usually understands it this way. Usually I can progress pretty quickly to having the child pull himself on the scooter board in the manner described in the first paragraph.