PT recap: Steps and uneven surfaces, with crutches

E worked hard with her crutches this week. Some days, she's very upright, and willing to move (this normally has to do with motivation)--other days she is a whiny, cripply mess. She's looking pretty good here. Teresa is very good at getting Elena's attention while speaking softly and reasoning with her when she is frustrated.







Teresa also helped E climb a rope ladder--while it was swinging, she used that opportunity to teach E where her hips/legs should be in relation to her torso for better balance.

E "runs" The Track

Elena wants to run BADLY. She wants to run and jump around the house...we tell her that this will be easier if she works on walking first. "Walk before you run" we tell her...yeah, try to reason with a four-year old, right?! Lots of bumps and bruises, but honestly, that's nothing new.

Here is E giving it a pretty good shot; notice she doesn't raise her right foot as much.*

>



*I noticed this week that she wasn't using her left leg as well as I previously thought she was. I did this by watching her head-on during treadmill (normally I am on her right side)--she REALLY leans on the left, b/c she does NOT like to weight shift onto her right leg. I asked about exercises we can do about this--I'll have to devote this to another post.

PT recap: Power of the Tutu

E wore her puffy tutu last week to PT. She spent a lot of the time working on controlling her movements while walking--start, stop, stepping up, and down.



Her movement on the mat was really great! We are starting to see her "stop" and "start" in normal settings. Very exciting!

New Hardware

A couple of weeks ago, E had her eye checkup with Dr. P. She was a very good patient. The eye exam was long, but that's because she is older now, and able to converse about what she sees and if corrective lenses help or hinder her vision. During E's eye exam, when they have corrective lenses on, she said "OH WOW I can see SO much BETTER!".

We left with a prescription for glasses (for astigmatism). She is slightly farsighted in her right eye at the moment, but it's not bad enough to correct.

Home Highlight Reel: Dinner Table

We can now say, "Elena, please come to the table for dinner", and she can do it by herself!

This makes life SO MUCH EASIER I JUST HAVE TO SHOUT ABOUT IT IN ALL CAPS!

Check it

4-year checkup

E had her four-year checkup this week. She's 26 lbs, and I FORGOT HOW TALL. She took a hearing test (she did well--auditory analysis when she was a baby indicated she cannot hear one tone in one ear), and she took a vision test designed for depth perception. It's a little early for Elena to be able to understand the test, but overall she did well, and the results indicated that she has (at least some) depth perception. This is HUGE for us, given her vision history, and how long her eyes worked separately.



Her regular eye exam (both recently with Dr. P in Northern Virginia and at her pediatrician) showed that she has some farsightedness with her right eye.

Her language and comprehension are great.

Her pediatrician sees a big difference post-SDR. He's real happy with her progress!