A common household feature can be your best friend when working on functional developmental skills. Stairs are one of those items. I love using stairs to help with developmental skills like crawling, standing, walking, and balance. They can be used for a variety of ages starting around 8 months old, stairs can be used to assist in skills and foundational movements. When using stairs it is important to maintain safety at all times, always be there to guard your child from falling or slipping, preferably always stay below the child on the stairs whether they are going up or down in order to be able to catch them or stop them from falling down the set of stairs.
Stairs for Crawling and Standing
First, stairs can be used to help with crawling and transitions that lead to standing. When we first start to use stairs to practice, we focus on doing only a couple of stairs at a time and building our way up. It is helpful to put a small snack or motivational toy/object a couple of stairs above the child, in order to motivate them to ascend the stairs. To start, have your child start in a seated position or kneeling position at the bottom of the stairs. If they are in a seated position cue them or assist them to get into a tall kneel position (up on both knees). Once in the tall kneel position, the goal is to get them into a standing position to then reach up with their hands to the next step. If your child is just starting out with pulling to stand, they might require some assistance to get into a standing position. Once in the standing position with their hands on the next step up, we can move up to the next stair. Take one of the child’s legs and lift it so that they are on their knee on the stair above. Once they have one leg/knee on the stair above, encourage/assist them to bring their other knee up to the next step so that they are on their knees in a tall kneel position where they started originally on the first step. Repeat these for a couple of steps at the bottom of the staircase until the child is improving and is able to do a couple of stairs on their own. Once they are able to do a couple of stairs on their own, allow them to continue to go up the staircase. Remember, at this age, the children do not understand awareness of falling down the stairs. Always stay behind the child and guard them as they go up the stairs, once at the top of the stairs carry them back down.
Stairs for Balance and Strength
Once your child has mastered “crawling” up the stairs, and is a bit taller, stairs can be used for standing balance and strength. Stairs are a good way to work on muscles and skills that are sometimes ignored such as stabilizer muscles and single leg balance strength. In order to go up stairs, we need to be able to have some sort of stability on one leg while the other leg is getting up to the stair we are standing on. This is an important skill even if you don’t have stairs at home, your child is most likely going to encounter stairs out in the community so it is important to be able to have the skills to go up the stairs. Like everything else, we are starting small. Starting with one stair at a time. If you do not have stairs in your home or if your child is still a little bit short for the stairs, this skill can be practiced with a small stepping stool, thick book, a small box (load the inside of the box so when it is stepped on it doesn’t collapse), or any of these stair alternatives. Start small by stepping up with one foot and then stepping back down. Once your child understands the concept, and is comfortable with stepping up with one foot, step up with one foot then the other so that they are standing on top of the stair or object. Then, have them step back down. Repeat this on each leg until the child shows good strength and they are able to perform repetitions of this movement. As they get stronger or taller, you can increase the height of the object they are stepping onto, or make your way to a set of stairs and then try multiple stairs. When they first start out, they will likely need handheld support for balance, as they get stronger, try taking a hand away and have them use only one hand for support. They can also use a railing for support, if they are tall enough to reach it. If your child has weakness in one of their legs, stairs are a great way to evaluate single leg weakness. They are also a great way to help build strength for single leg weakness as well! When your child is first starting with stairs or step ups, start by bringing their feet to the same step. As they get better and improve with their skills, encourage them to alternate their legs on each step. One important thing to note is symmetry, when going up the stairs step by step, encourage the child to alternate the leg they are leading with in order to keep the muscle balance and stability symmetrical.
Going Down Stairs
Going down the stairs is an important skill to learn, but safety is the number one priority. Going down the stairs requires much more muscle control than going up does. I recommend carrying your child down the stairs until they are old enough to understand words and commands such as “sit on your bum” or “feet first”. When children are first learning to go down the stairs, there are two ways this can safely be done, however, there is one way I prefer over the other. The first is having the child on their stomach with their feet going down first, like a reverse “crawling up the stairs” sequence. The child will first go down with their feet to the next step and then move their hands down to the next step and so on and so forth. This is a great way to go down the stairs if your child is old enough to know to go slow and take their time. One issue I personally have with this way is if the child gets moving too fast or they slip, they can slide right down the stairs on the stomach, although they are feet first, it can still be dangerous. My personal preference is for children to go down the stairs on their bum feet first. The child will start by sitting on the top step, then move their feet down to the step below them and slide their bum to the edge of the step. Then, they will slowly lower their bum onto the next step below them and continue down the stairs. This way is safer and provides more control for the child. Once they are tall enough, strong enough, and can understand directions (typically around 2 or so years old) you can start to practice stepping down the stairs one by one, holding a railing or with their hands held.
*Always practice safety first, if you do not feel confident or ready for your child to start these skills it is always best to wait*
Alternatives for if you don’t have access to stairs or if you don’t feel quite ready to start with a full flight of stairs: Steps & Stairs
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