The Hailey Herald: therapy

Showing posts with label therapy. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Summer Vacation

Last week week, both boys finished up their school year and Hailey finished up therapy. We are putting speech and physical therapy on hold for the summer. Hailey has progressed wonderfully in both areas (at the moment). We are taking a break and working on things from home. We will reassess for both of them in August when school starts back up. So for the summer, we will only have early intervention through the county. We meet with her a couple of times a month. We are all looking forward to a slower schedule!

Kindergarten is in the books....now he is a first grader.

Now onto 4th grade

Today we met up with our EI therapist at the park. Hailey has a small slide in the house and has been on swings before but we have not had her at a playground since she started walking. I was hesitant. I didn't know how she would react or what she would do. As always, I shouldn't underestimate this little girl. She climbed right up the steps and headed to the slide. The only thing that she was not sure of was the platform leading to the slide. The metal had holes and she seemed a little hesitant to walk on it. It was temporary and she slid down the slide again and again.

Mom, this is a little bigger than my slide at home.

Let's go again!

Don't we all wish we were flexible and young enough to stand like this :-)

Let's go explore over here.

Oooooohhhhhhhh!

Love this smile!

Going to check out the ducks.

So....does this mean she is tired?!?!?

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Hidden Therapy

Today the boys were out of school for election day. Most of their school are used as polling locations. I promised them I would take them swimming. We don't go often...it seems to be quite the chore in the colder weather to take them to swim. Too much packing and preparing. The boys are very good about going for an hour or two and not fighting me when I say it is time to go. I know they would love to stay longer, but Hailey only makes it about an hour and half and then she turns into a pumpkin.

I seized the opportunity today to squeeze as much therapy and exercise into her swimming as possible. I've been a little frustrated with her lack of desire to walk since she started wearing her orthotics. We did a lot of walking in the water today. She generally will not walk with our hands at home...it needs to be her idea to walk and that type of walking apparently is not her idea. I then made sure she was in deep enough water that she could not sit down and she cruised the wall of the baby pool for about 20 minutes. She did quite a few squats along the way because she kept trying to sit down and then realized it was over her head. I later had her stand against the wall in the wave pool with the waves on. I was actually impressed at how well she was staying upright while the waves hit her. After about an hour, she was tired and hungry so we called it quits.

I'm hoping tomorrow while Hailey is at her actual therapy session, she will remember walking today and realize it isn't something that is going to end the world and she is capable of doing it. I'm definitely not holding my breath on that one. Gross motor has always been a strength of hers up until the last several weeks. I'm not going to complain too much because she is progressing with other things. Today she actually ate off a plate and didn't throw it! I think Ian was still throwing plates at this age. Her signing and speaking is still taking off. I'm amazed at her capacity for learning new words. She has been signing two word phrases...milk please...Daddy work...more please...mommy baby. She signs words as she hears others use them. Today she saw a CPR dummy and signed "baby". I'm trying to ease up on my obsession for her to walk when her verbal and language skills are exploding. I'm a little type "A" and OCD, so it is hard for me to let things take their normal course! We've been on this journey for 20 months, but it is still difficult to realize I'm not in control and I can't control it all.

On another note, we will have no political calls tomorrow! Yay!!!

Here are a few pics from today. It is hard to get any of the kids in the water. They don't like to sit still long enough!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Sometimes the best thing is nothing at all

From day one as a parent, you question if you are doing the right thing for your children. Using the right products...teaching the right things...feeding the proper foods...giving the right supplements...etc. Having a child with special needs magnifies all those insecurities. We are on a few week break from therapy due to vacations and scheduling issues. I was extremely distraught and worried about the lack of therapy and what it would do to Hailey...would it hinder her, would she hit a plateau?

Well the kids and I took a quick trip to Indiana to visit family next week. The kids' aunt is very pregnant and hasn't been able to make the trip to see us since February. We hoped she would have the baby while we were there but no such luck! We did have a great visit with everyone and the kids got their aunt/uncle/cousin/grandparent fix for a little while :-)

Our biggest issue now is....Hailey is spoiled! She has required more attention since we came home and she's not afraid to voice her opinion over not getting as much attention. While we were there, Hailey signed more than before...all done, more, eat...waving on command (both bye and hi). We did hear one "papaw"...I wasn't the only one who heard it...I have witnesses. She started cruising along the furniture now (before it was like her feet were planted in concrete.)

Needless to say, I was so happy to see my little peanut do great with just playing with everyone and being herself!