To therapy or not to therapy? That is the question!

Kaiden's physical therapy appointment started at 11:30 AM. I was updated with the ideas that were brought forth last session: walk in grass, walk in sand, etc.

We moved on to talk about how Kaiden's feet were doing since he had his casts removed. The therapist took Kaiden's feet and massaged on them, looked at them, and tickled them. He started out not wanting to have any stimulation applied to them. After a short bit of time, and both myself and the therapist coaxing, Kaiden started running around the living room and our bedroom barefooted. He stopped on the rug that lies just under the bed in the master bedroom and stared out at us. He then ran back towards us, yes, I said ran, and stopped on the carpet under the table in the living room.

There were many ideas shared about gaining movement in his feet:
*Fill a small plastic tub with either uncooked rice, beans or sand. Bury toys inside the material and have him dig around with his feet to pull out the toys.
*Have him pick up the washcloth with his toes
*Have him pick up anything with his toes
*Start allowing him to use a loofah and different materials with varied textures to stimulate his feet.
*Rub lotion on his feet and give him a washcloth to rub it in and off
*Have him kick a ball with grooves or a texture
*Take him outside to walk in the sand, grass, dirt or pool

Now, we have been told to give him a little while before he starts with a loofah or lotion. So, look at his feet before you make a move on doing any kind of therapy with the above mentioned options.

We went on to talk about the areas that I thought needed to improve out of him. The only obstacle I see him having is stairs. So, we were given more suggestions:
*Place a 2X4 under a blanket but on top of carpet or a rug. Have him step over it.
*Make Kaiden step over your legs.
*When walking on the sidewalk and stepping off the curb or walking up and down stairs, hold Kaiden's hands at his waist. This will make his hips work harder and strengthen them.
*Work on transitions between sidewalk and grass. Go back and forth to help with understanding transitional changes.
***MAKE SURE HE SEES WHAT HE IS DOING, AND REMIND HIM TO FOCUS!!!***

One of the therapist's observations was that she thought he probably did not need therapy more than once a month. She found that for only being out of his casts for two days that Kaiden was doing very well. A couple of the things she expected to see from him were bent knees and still walking on his tip toes. She was afraid his knees would still be bent from having been in the casts and not understanding the full weight of his own body. She was excited that he was not experiencing muscle tension in his hamstring. She was also excited to know that Kaiden had walked that out over a two week period of going into the second set of casts.

Now, he does not actually get stretched and pulled on, but we do receive helpful insight on how to retain stimulation and how to strengthen certain skills (ie: hip control and movement). I was told to start massinging the scar on the inside of his foot to help move around some of the scar tissue. It needs to be stretched so that it does not cause the tendon to be held taught. I was also told that we needed to keep up with gently massaging the toes and allowing Kaiden to use his motorized toothbrush twice a day.

Splish, splash, I have naked feet!

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When: Around 9:30 AM

Where: Shriner's Hospital

What: Taking off the "boots"

How: With the help of a skilled man by the name of Angel and his trusty cast removal machine

Today, Kaiden met with the people at Shriner's to remove his second set of casts since surgery. The process started with a short visit to the cast removal room and a quick cleaning of the feet.

Kaiden introduced himself to his new shoes while waiting on the removal of his casts.Here, Kaiden's casts were being opened to allow Angel to cut the cotton and sock that lay underneath. We tried to distract and appease the wee man as best as possible, but nothing matched the sound of the machine buzzing!

Look! Naked feet!!! Don't get too close...

After the cleaning and drying of Boo's feet, we were able to make our way to the prosthetics area of the hospital. Kaiden had been fitted for his braces during the last visit, so the AFO pieces were able to be put on, adjusted, and fit into his new shoes. Here, the technician was sliding the Velcro through the loop and then would bring it back across to strap the prosthetic down. Kaiden immediately took to his accessories.

The Boo Bear walks!!!

We ended the day with a lot of playing outside. Michael told Kaiden, "Go play in the dirt. Go get dirty!" Kaiden listened very well!

***We celebrated the first day of school***

Today found Kaiden watching Claire get ready for her first day of school. The excitement grew as they made their way through breakfast and onto brushing their teeth. Finally, the moment arrived when it was time to make our way to the truck. Kaiden was excited to be a part of the first day of school for Claire.

Claire and Kaiden in the living room!

The big schoolgirl giving Daddy a Claire Bear hug.

Claire was standing on the front walk waiting for all of us to go. She was ready to make it happen!

Claire quickly found her seat and was all smiles.

While Claire was at school, Kaiden and I took some time to run to the library and take some pictures along the way. We worked on sharing toys with another little guy we met at the library, sounding out words, and walking up and down several steps at the gazebo and the train caboose.

Kaiden was happy to walk.

Kaiden decided that the frog needed to hang out a while.

And so he did.

That's all for now folks! See you on the next ride!

08/19/2008 Visit with Mary Beth

At nine o'clock this morning, we had another appointment with Mary Beth. She is one of the women that we are working with to help Kaiden learn to speak more clearly and to retain sensation in his feet.





Topics of discussion:


*Has Kaiden been in daycare before?


*Has Kaiden been exposed to using scissors?


*Has Kaiden been walking or crawling?





Areas to be worked on:


-Contain the drool by working on strengthening the jaw


-Fine tune motor skills





How are we to go about this?


There were many ideas given to us to help with strengthening Kaiden's jaw muscles. We should try using a straw to drink with, try blowing bubbles into the drink, chew sugarless gum, blow bubbles outside, and (my favorite) share a milkshake with someone and drink it with a straw. The thickness of a milkshake creates a great tool to exercise the muscles that need a little more help.





For helping with the fine motor skills, we were told to try to use scissors ***WITH A LOT OF ADULT SUPERVISION***, glue pieces to paper to create collages, cut out different products from grocery store circulars, and talk about the different items that are being cut out.





We also need to remember to model words and sounds for Kaiden as this is helping him think about different sounds.





Below is a video of Kaiden enjoying some art time. He became really excited about making a dot of glue on the paper!

The finished product:

The blue arrow on the right side of the page is pointing to the "leaf" that Kaiden cut out. When he finished cutting this one out, he turned to me and said, "I done with scissors." When I asked him if he was ready to color the tree, he stated very strongly, "Huh." That means yes in his language. We are working towards getting him to say "yes" instead of "huh." I showed him how to make the dots with the glue stick so that he could add leaves to the tree. He greatly enjoyed making this tree!

Our next visit with Mary Beth will be on September 11th at 10:30 am. Kaiden's next visit with the physical therapist will be on the 28th of this month. We are not sure of a time yet, but will keep everyone posted about the news of his PT visit.