Therapy Day

So, yesterday we had our Day of Therapy.  And I just can't brag about Harlie enough!  She was SO good!!!  She was really cooperative (for the most part) and went with the flow without any real protest.

First we had Feeding Therapy with Allison.  We love Allison.  She has been with us since Harlie was just a wee baby.

Then we had Speech Therapy.  She did well.   She is definitely trying so hard to verbalize everything.  She just has a really hard time with consonants (b she can say).  So the words that she's "saying" are just the vowel sounds.  And some of the vowel sounds she can't produce yet - like "eee" and "aaa".

They have this cool swing that Harlie LOVED.

Barbara (her therapist) wanted to focus on getting her to say some action words.  Since action words have a lot of power, she might be more likely to use them (like go, or stop).  I have a video of her saying "stop" and "go" but it won't upload right now.  So, I'll have to try to upload it later.  

For some reason, she decided she wanted to take her dog to therapy today.  Which was fine by me.  Hey, at least it got her to walk!

And when we got into speech therapy she tied the dog to a pole.  That dog isn't going anywhere, that's for sure!

Then it was off to her physical therapy evaluation.  Traci was Harlie's PT since she was a wee baby.  When Harlie aged out of Early Intervention (when she turned three last September), we changed over to the school system's PT services.  But, according to the school system, if the child can get around without assistance, then they don't need PT.  At first she got PT for 30 minutes once a week, then it was once every other week, then it was as needed.  So, it just wasn't adequate for what she needs.  We missed Traci and it was so good to see her again!!!

She has no arch at all in her feet.  

 She has weak ligaments and that will never change.  Muscles you can strengthen, but ligaments are the way they are.  We were hoping that the ankle braces would help some with her ankles and feet.  And while they help her when she's wearing them, they haven't changed anything for when she's not wearing them, which is unfortunate.  And that means that she'll be wearing them for a really long time.  Bummer.

This was one of her less cooperative moments.

Overall, she totally qualifies for more PT.  Traci said that she will continue to fall behind other kids her age and the gap will get wider, faster.  I think she said that will fall below the 1 percentile for locomotor skills (I think she said she's at 1% now).   That link says that "most children learn to walk at one (Harlie was two), and to run, hop, and jump at two (she is almost four and doesn't do any of those things).  And that they begin to master galloping, skipping, sliding and leaping at about three (again, Harlie doesn't do any of those things.)  Not that I care that much, though.  She can walk and walk fast (her running, I suppose) so I'm happy.  She's happy.  But, later, she might not be so happy about the difference in her abilities vs. her peer's abilities.  Like in Kindergarten.  So, we're looking more long-term here.

We will also look into getting her a shoe lift for one side.  Since her hips are crooked, it gives her a leg length discrepancy, so putting a lift in one shoe might help her.  The faster she walks, the more you can see that she isn't even, so to speak.

So, we will work in seeing Traci once a week.  The only unfortunate part is that she's not close.  But, I really feel that seeing her is worth it.  In other words, I would rather not see someone else closer.  Traci and Harlie have a relationship and Traci knows what Harlie is capable of when she's just being stubborn.  And I think that is so valuable when dealing with her and trying to push her to the next level.  So, we'll just have to figure it out and make it work.

We are going to be very busy, very soon.

Both Brandy and I were pretty much dreading the day.  But, it turned out to be great.  Harlie really seemed to enjoy herself - especially in physical therapy.  And at 7:30, Harlie looked at me and signed "night-night" asking to go to bed.  She was one tired little girl.

Have a good day!
Christy