Taking the Stairs: One Stair at a Time

Sometimes the best way to go where we need to go is to take the stairs, so here's how we handle the ups and downs.

Let's begin by traveling up stairs. We grasp the hand rail, line up in front of the first step, and shift our balance a little forward over our hips. Next, we tap the toes of one foot against the riser. That's the vertical part of the first step. We slide our toes up the riser, and place our foot on the first step. Then we slide the toes of the other foot up the next riser to find the next step.

We continue up the stairs this way, alternating feet. When our toes don't find another riser, and the hand rail comes to an end, we know we've reached the top.

Now, let's go down stairs. It's often easier to find the stairs when we're going up, so if we're in a new place with stairs going down, we might need to ask someone to help us find them. Looking down can actually throw off our balance, so instead, we lean back a little. That way, if we stumble, we're more likely to land on our back side.

To start, we grab the hand rail, and line up the toes of both feet along the edge of the top step. Let's say we're starting with our left foot. We gently slide the back of our left heel down the riser, and place it on the next step. Once our left foot feels secure, we bring our right foot down onto the same step. Then, we find the edge of that step by sliding the toes of our left foot forward, and slide our heel down the riser to the next step. We repeat these steps until we reach the bottom. Of course, we know we've reached the bottom when our toes don't find the edge of a step anymore.

On some staircases, we might also notice that the hand rail flattens out near the bottom. Sometimes, a flight of stairs is divided into two sets of steps with a landing in between. If the hand rail extends beyond the bottom of the stairs, that often tells us that there are more stairs to come. Contact a learning expert with any questions you may have, or for more tips like this one.