Back to CHOC

We returned to our twice weekly therapy schedule at CHOC today. Every couple months the therapists reassign treatment rooms (there aren't enough to go around), so on Wednesdays we don't have a treatment room. Natalie's therapist, Sarah, is very good at thinking what would be the best situation for us since I usually bring Lukas with me, so she chose the mini gym for Natalie's treatment on Wednesdays. The mini gym doesn't have the activity of the large gym (other kids having PT, OT and ST)...so far, we've been the only ones in when we've gone twice.

I anticipated we would be in the mini gym again, so I brought the camera along. Here's Natalie getting set up for therapy: Sarah puts on one set of electrodes (they stick to her throat), then another set, then puts tape over top of everything to try to keep drool or liquids or food from taking the electrodes off (it's painful to reapply the same session because of all the sticky stuff that's used).

Here she is finally ready for therapy, and Leslie, a student, is trying to coax Natalie to take a drink. Natalie prefers to eat, and she's used to the therapists giving in and giving her something to eat (at home I make her take a drink between each bite, then work for 10-20 minutes to get her to drink the rest of her cup). But the therapists don't have that much time, so they often give in...which ends up taking more time! I'm going to try bringing more salty food the next time so Natalie may want to drink more.

Here's Lukas playing with the fun stuff in the mini gym: the ball pit and a tire swing. I haven't pointed out the climbing wall to him because I'm afraid that will be too much distraction for Natalie...already we had to turn her around so she wouldn't watch Lukas' antics! You can see why Lukas took a nap yesterday...I might be able to count on him taking a nap on Wednesdays!