Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Back and forth

It was great that I could go to Natalie's therapy session last Thursday and leave the boys at home while Tom finished packing for the camping trip. I've really missed seeing what her PT does with her, and now that Natalie's therapy is at the clinic instead of our home, there is more equipment that can be used during therapy.

One activity that I'm working on at home that I was reminded of by watching Natalie's therapy session is to have her walk between two points, bringing a block to put in a box. So at home, I have a pile of blocks on the couch, and put a dining chair six feet away with the box. I get her to select a block, help her turn around and get balanced, and then she walks unassisted to put the block in the box. Often she makes a diving fall for the chair, so I have to be careful to "spot" her. She puts the block in the box, I help her turn around, and she walks back to the couch to get another block. Repeat. It's great, because she does well walking between small spaces, so it's just a matter of increasing the distance of the chair from the couch...and pretty soon she's walking more than 6 or 7 steps!

She does seem to walk great at the beginning and then dive for the goal, so we really have to be careful, but it's exciting to see her walking, and she gets excited for herself.

1 comment:

Anxious AF said...

The picture I have of her walking is sweet, Im sure she has a huge smile on her face as she reaches her goal with her block!