Hello everyone,
I apologise for the brachiation obsession. I really need to know if it’s worth paying £360 to have some monkey bars made at a financially difficult period.
Many thanks
Watching with interest! 
Also watching with interest … surely you can make something for a lot less than $360 !
To answer the specific questions:
I bought a used Brachiation ladder that was made almost exactly to the Doman specs. I paid $200 Canadian for it. It was a little taller than I expected and won’t fit inside my house, so it is my heated garage (that is attached to my house). I have owned it for about 8 months, I acquired it when my daughter was 3.5 and my son was about 7 months. And… the results are not pretty.
My daughter will sort of play around on it, sometimes, but is basically uninterested. I keep trying a variety of activities but they have all failed. I will keep trying, but I have stopped holding my breath.
My son is even less interested than my daughter. He will hang on a piece of dowel if I am holding the dowel, but he cries and refuses to use the brachiation ladder.
I have tried to brachiate on it myself, but there are a few difficulties: Doman’s ladders are not really long enough for an adult to get a good swing/momentum going before you run out of ladder. I don’t find the Doman ladder that sturdy, it needs more bracing. It is very difficult to spot another adult. My ladder is adjustable, but it takes some effort and is a 2 person job, so it isn’t that easy for me to brachiate, and then lower it for my daughter to brachiate.
Have I given up? No, I still try at the beginning of every week to somehow convince some kid. Do I think it was worth it? Sorry, no. I wish it was. I wish it had worked out the way Doman said, but my reality was very different. Of course, I still hold hope that one day soon it will all come together, if only I keep trying 
Just for a reference point, I did teach my daughter to read, she could read at age 2, and now at age 4 is reading at an grade 3 level. I did teach my daughter to swim, at 4 years old she can do a basic front and back crawl. I am currently teaching my son to read, and at 15 months he shows signs of understanding about 10 words. So, my failure at the brachiation ladder isn’t for my lack of ability or trying. If I had to choose between a teaching a kid brachiation or teaching a kid swimming - I think the swimming is cheaper and easier.
We didn’t have one at home but the kids all had/have access to one at daycare, school and the park we went to every week. They all used them regularly. I don’t attribute any major advantage to it’s use. However…my oldest is my most coordinated and she is the one always swinging and hanging. Age for age she is very bright but I think my son may be smarter and he uses the ladder the least.
I give most of their success to a supportive encouraging and loving environment for learning ( boy have I seen what the alternative can do to a child! 
) Then second I would say gymnastics. It has strength training, balance, swinging, hanging and coordination.
Would I buy one? Not at that price! Do I want one? Yes I still want one at home, I wouldn’t follow domans sizes though. My kids enjoy it and I would loe to add one to a nice big outdoor swing set that will be big enough for me and them to play on for years to come.
I do hope someone else can say it was worth it…
My father priced out the parts to make the one in the Doman book and for supplies it would cost us about $50. I’m hoping to have him make one for our basement this fall. We have been trying at the park, but its not practical for us in Winnipeg in the winter.
I learned how to brachiate in grade school, maybe around 2nd grade or so. The key back then was learning how to skip rungs, swing, let go on the backswing, and grab the second rung in front of me. Easy stuff. I’ve never quite understood Doman’s fascination with it, but when I caught an episode of Biggest Loser, I was stunned to see pretty much every adult incapable of doing basic rung to rung movement (not even skipping); keep in mind, the people on that show are obese, and there’s quite a bit that obese people cannot do that an ordinary person can. Doman, if I remember, made an argument that during WWII, troops were perpetually falling off the ladder bridges into the mud. It was his view that if you could brachiate, then you could do “anything”.
I’m not really sure if I have the argument correct, but if I do, it certainly does not follow.
I did go on to become a fairly successful swimmer, and maybe I can draw a parallel between brachiation and swimming (both use alternating arms with the body working in unison)… but I also think this is a stretch at best.
If it’s a fun activity and gets a child moving and interacting with their body, then great… if it just sits in the basement or the garage, it’s a complete waste, IMO. I’ll definitely teach my child to use the “monkey bars” at some point, but not sure if I’ll build my own set right off the bat.
EDIT: the one thing I remember as a kid that disappointed me regarding the monkey bars, was that I had to stop and turn around so darned often! They needed a set that was 30 feet long so that I could really get into it, but they make them so short (IDK, 6 or 7 feet maybe?) that I’d skip two rungs and be done. sucked.
We just built our brachiation ladder, so I can’t speak to results yet, but it cost us just over $100 in parts (lumber and hardware). That was a little more than I expected, but the two Saturdays we spent building it were tons of fun (my husband is good with tools and I’ve never done anything of the sort, and my 17 month old loved “helping”).
I cannot do the monkey bars at all. Never have been able to, not even as a child. (And I’m not obese, btw, but very fit, a good swimmer… I just can’t do them.) So I’m excited to use them myself. My girl’s been sick for the past week, so we haven’t used it yet, but I look forward to having my husband spot me until I can do them myself. And my daughter has been pointing at them and saying “Swing, swing!” ever since we put the ladder part together.
Honestly, I don’t think a brachiation ladder is necessary. My 17 month old is moving up Doman’s chart at the “superior” rate even without it. He uses it for manual competence; I find that Montessori practical life experiences and toys develop manual competence very well. However, he also argues that brachiation develops the lungs and visual convergence, which sound like good ideas to me. That’s why I finally decided to build one. Plus, as I said, I’ve never been able to do it, and it’s an ability I’d like to give my kids since I don’t have it.
I’ll post again when I’ve been using it a bit and tell whether I see any results.
Great post Wolf…
When I learned, it was a girl that showed me how to do it. I don’t remember who she was though, but she modeled it for me, and the key ingredient from my memory was just the courage to skip that first rung and reach for the second. Here’s my breakdown of the steps:
I think steps 5-10 take mostly courage, though this is through the mind of a kid that didn’t weigh that much (think grip strength relative to body weight). I have no idea if I could still do it today… and now I’m too tall for the monkey bars at the schools, ha ha ha.
When I did this, I had already been able to go rung to rung all the way across. That method isn’t as fun and is actually harder to do IMO.
The first time I did this, it’s possible that I just started out on the first and third rungs instead of the swing method I describe in steps 2-4. How you begin might make a huge difference. After thinking about it, I think if you can reach the third rung while standing on the top, this is perhaps a safer and easier way to get started than beginning from a cold swing.
PokerDad et al,
I just posted on this topic to someone asking suggestions for a crawling device. I suggested a rope strung like a clothesline and attached to a baby harness perhaps with a rotation attachment that allowed for the child to turn around easily when crawling. Two people (one left side, one on right side) can help the child practice with cross pattern crawling because that leads to walking which uses the same cross pattern to balance. For those who are not familiar with the cross pattern in walking (or crawling) just walk around a bit and notice how your arms and legs naturally move to balance the body (left arm is forward when you step with your right foot etcetera).
The rope can then be raised to allow a child easy, safe practice in walking.
The use of the ladder (brachiation) is not only to assist the child to stand and walk but practice in cortical opposition, squeezing with fingers AND thumb in coordination - the skill that makes us humans such stellar tool users. It is fine practice but just use a simple ladder. I personally would not get too excited about expensive monkey bars tailor made. My thanks to the dad who tried it and offered his honest assessment that it was not worth the expense. He also pointed out swimming is a great exercise, babies can do it and it is a crucial skill and a great exercise in more ways than I have time to enumerate. Wish I had taught my child to swim much earlier than I did.
Keep it simple. You can give your child practice in cortical opposition in many simpler and less expensive ways principally by putting your hands over theirs and squeezing gently to show them how to grasp a bar or your finger or some tool or toy.
These stages of development are often very short when skills are practiced effectively and consistently so expensive apparatus to accelerate development is often counter productive. You tend to use it beyond its necessity because you spent so much on it. This can retard development because you should be moving on to the next level.
My situation is somewhat different and having taken 3 Lecture Series Courses at The Institutes for What to do about your Brain-injured Child, I have different goals than those of parents with well children. The Brachiation ladder was designed to assist a brain-injured boy who had done excellently in the physical programs of crawling and creeping but was still unable to walk. This “overhead ladder” was designed to get the boy into an upright position that allowed him to use cross-pattern arms and leg motions. This was challenging for him and he did not particularly enjoy the challenge, but loved to have his mom raise the ladder and he brachiated beautifully. After this boy “developed” brachiation, The Institutes caught on to some of the benefits and thus began recommending it to other hurt and well children.
Our brachiation ladder was built by my father for my daughter (then almost 2) as a means of getting her accustomed to taking forward steps with the overhead ladder. This was built before my husband and I attended the first course, and when we returned after the week long lectures, my daughter was taking independent steps.
We have done a lot of hanging and brachiating since. My daughter has multiple neurological problems and I do see benefits from her brachiating.
We have done between 5 to 20 passes daily. Everyone in my family can brachiate, but the ladder is adjusted to the height needed for her program.
The size is per Doman specifications and 12 ft long. It has to be assembled in the room in which it will stay.
The benefits include, increased manual abilities including fine motor control and convergence of vision. My daughter has struggled to wrap her thumb around the bottom of each rung which is the key to using the thumb and forefinger appropriately for tasks such as writing and playing musical instruments.
I don’t know if it would be worth the trouble for well children who don’t have these troubles. Since my daughter is not brachiating completely independently yet, I cannot report on the outcome yet. It has made a difference thus far, and we will continue. I do expect to see a significant increase in manual abilities when she can brachiate independently. But well kids already have many of the abilities we hope to gain by the program. You can decide whether your child(ren) need a boost in manual abilities and this program could be helpful.
Wow, thanks for your replies and interest everybody.
No, I really can’t get it cheaper than £350 UK Pounds. I live in the UK where everything is expensive and I’ve been told that the timber alone is £200. It would cost £80 just to make Doman’s door bar by a joiner. Really wouldn’t trust my husband to do it!
Wolfwind, what Montessori daily activities do you suggest instead?
The reason I am worried for my son are that he has a squint in both eyes, wears glasses, has very poor speech for his age and a small lung artery (in fact, a small right lung too) left over from a birth defect called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.
Just seen bars at the local park but they are pretty far apart and I can’t do them myself really… not without getting serious callouses and it being very hard work!
Many thanks to everyone for their interest, please keep it coming!
x
Sounds like you need swimming lessons to increase his lung capacity and eye training excersizes to strengthen his eye muscles. Look into the benefits swimming has on kids with asthma, I had a flat mate who was on machines all night who cured himself completely just from swimming, and another who never had an attach while she was on her beach swimming holidays.
Also look into eye tracking ever sizes and anything on the forum on photographic memory and speed reading, he won’t be ready for all of it yet but you will be ready when he is. Mandala is a good place to start at 2 or 3.
You could also just hold the broom stick up and get him to hang on as a start and see if you get any benefits.
I like the idea of brachiating and we want to make similar climbing frame that Skylark suggested in other discusion on the forum.
http://ivasik.ua/cat/1293/product/24784/
See this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=wF7x736BjP4
Apart from that saw on the video I believe my dd won’t fall of the climbing frames in parks and to be honest with all those new climbing frames in our town I can’t see many possibilieties to try brakiating in the park as all of them offer " up and down" activities so I also like that the brachiating gives us to practise different muscles that children normaly excercise by going up and down on climbing frames.
Thanks for the video. It poses some interesting points, and showcases what could be a wonderful program. It also raises as many questions as it answers. So 4 stopped mirror writing? Well how long passes and what other handwriting practice did they receive? They jumped two reading levels? Well again how long passed? My own daughter jumped two reading levels just yesterday…it tells me nothing accept that she should have gone up sooner, oh and she still isn’t at the right level she needs to just 2 more before she is working at her level. Children often jump levels in a matter of weeks, when they first learn to read.
However, I would love my kids to be in that classroom, not only does it look fun but they are learning too!
http://www.babytrooper.com/product.html
Perhaps an adaptation of something like this could work as well.
I would love to have a brachiation ladder for my daughter…but there’s simply not enough space in the flat for one …I’m currently reading Doman’s book (How to teach your baby to be physically superb)…and he does mention the numberless benefits on having one, and ultimately teaching your child to brachiate independently…but he also emphasises on the brachiation as ‘a means of life’ for the family members…and to be honest, I don’t see myself (or my husband coming home after a tiring day at work) to brachiate as much as we should, in order to entice our daughter…
You mentioned you live in UK and can’t get it for less than £350?..there has to be a better sollution!..have you tried talking to some self-employed (and very skilles) carpenters?..I’m guessing (only guessing) that they’d be willing to build it for less…
Sorry for the long delay - I got sick just as my daughter was getting well. Yuck.
So I’ve started using the brachiation ladder daily since I felt better. I’m not actually able to do it independently yet, but I’ll do as much as I can before touching a toe down and continuing. I’m doing it about 4 times a day with my daughter watching - as the weather improves I’ll do more. (I definitely sympathize with those who have no room for it. I was originally going to keep it in the house… the thing is huge! It won’t fit!) My daughter likes to watch and sometimes likes to hang from a bar and swing; I’m hoping in a few weeks she’ll want to try it herself.
Montessori activities that fill the same “manual dexterity” bill are what Montessori calls “practical life” experiences. My 18 month old daughter is working hard on pouring water from a pitcher to a cup; she’s mastered pouring into a bowl, but not a cup yet. She also found out that butter knives cut, and so snack time always has to include a banana or a hardboiled egg or something she can cut. That would be better with a child-sized butter knife, but I haven’t found one yet. She can’t start a zipper yet, but once the two halves are linked she likes to zip herself up and and then unzip - again and again and again. Putting on socks - we’re working hard on that one too. She loves to help me wash dishes, in a dishpan on her little foot-high table with a piece of a sponge. Practical life experiences are just supposed to be little things like that, part of your daily life. But there are some toys that support the same development: wooden puzzles are a big hit with my daughter right now. Boxes to put things in and take things out of, opening and closing the lid - I bought a bunch of boxes at a thrift store and collect random things to put in them - poker chips, small toys, rubber bands, anything I come up with. (Some of these could be a choking hazard if not carefully supervized). Putting pegs into a pegboard is good if you have one. We used some odds and ends of the brachiation ladder wood to make one, and she loves putting the 3/4 inch dowel into the drilled 3/4 inch hole and taking it out.
Good luck with your decision. I wouldn’t have paid that much for one, I’ll admit. And the swimming suggestion is a good one, in my opinion. Of course, I love to swim. But try to let your child practice using his hands as much as possible, Montessori style, and you’ll get at least the manual dexterity benefits, if not the lung development.
I just posted about our success using a modified children’s climbing wall with alphabet textured letters for holds on the crawling track thread. We have had quite a bit of success and fun, and this has a lot of additional benefits like problem solving and lots of variation, as well as the fact that you can change the level of difficulty very easily…very easy to do.