Suggestions for my brother

[Lyd]

My brother's little 4-year old boy has neurofibromatosis (NF1). Part of the condition is that he has diminished muscle tone and coordination. They are trying to do everything they can to help him develop in that area so that he doesn't get way, way far behind his peers. As a way to supplement his other activities, they are getting a Wii. He is wondering what games would be good to help with large motor skills, control, etc. I recommended Toy Story Mania, but we mostly play Lego games at our house, so I don't know much about the more active, large motor type of games. Does anyone have recommendations for games they could get to help get little Jake on his feet and developing some of his large motor skills? TIA!

[kristijoy]

I'm not familiar with the Wii, but with the Microsoft Kinect you HAVE to use your body. Here's a fun game called "kinectimals"

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...ctID.216507900

[k23m]

good question - we just have the wii sports that our kids play - it would probably be good. Bowling, soccer, boxing...

[JenTapler]

Lydia, I'm a physical therapist - is he seeing a PT that specializes in pediatrics (peds)? What about neuro peds? If so, I bet they have suggestions for this. I work for Kaiser and the Kaiser hospitals and even some outpatient clinics are using Wiis not just in pediatric rehab settings, but also for general balance training for older adults. I would imagine that Kaiser isn't the only company doing this! If his PT doesn't have any suggestions, I bet you guys could do some google searches and find some great rehab / PT-specific message boards with other families and even physical therapists who could chime in and give some great suggestions on what they've found to be helpful for similar deficits (not to mention the support they might find in such a community). - I'm not a peds therapist so I'm no help (I specialize in outpatient orthopedics / sports medicine). But there are some great things being done in neuromuscular rehab these days!!

[Lyd]

Thank you so much Jen! I will pass that on to him. I'm not sure if he is seeing a PT specifically right now. He has A LOT of doctors. We have an amazing children's hospital here, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a doc there that suggested they get a Wii. They are involved in the NF1 community, so I'm sure he can ask other families what they use.

I did tell him that the Sports game that comes with the Wii would be great. I'm sure they'll be able to use those. I think he was kind of wondering about some of the dance games, etc, and my kids haven't played any of those, so I couldn't really give him an opinion about those.

If anyone else has any suggestions or ideas, I'd love to hear them.

[Stacey42]

We like Wii Go Vacation, Wii Sport Resort & Active Life Explorer. They seem to be whole body experiences for the boys

[lovely1m]

So I am going to agree with Kristi, the Kinect is so much better. You have to use your whole body, its more interactive and its a lot more fun. The Wii, you just have to move the remote. I have both. My 5 year old has no interest in the Wii, but the Kinect he wants to play all the time. We both have a lot more fun with it, too.

[nun69]

I would say Wii sports, Wii Sports Resort and the Nickelodeon kids Wii game....the Nickelodeon game seems to have great motor skill fuctions for little kids....my kids are 6&4 and love it....

[kristijoy]

Originally Posted by lovely1m

So I am going to agree with Kristi, the Kinect is so much better. You have to use your whole body, its more interactive and its a lot more fun. The Wii, you just have to move the remote. I have both. My 5 year old has no interest in the Wii, but the Kinect he wants to play all the time. We both have a lot more fun with it, too.

Which games are your 5 year old's favorites??

[lovely1m]

Originally Posted by kristijoy

Which games are your 5 year old's favorites??

We just got it for Christmas, so we haven't tried a lot yet, but he loves the sports ones. I love those ones, too, so its great for both of it. I also just picked up the Sesame Street's Once Upon a Monster on super sale at Toys R Us. It had great reviews, I'll let you know how it is. The Disneyland one, we rented and hated. Couldn't figure it out, just kept walking into walls and spinning circles.