PT recap: Stopping (NOT Ending Therapy--"Slowing to a Stop")

We've been focusing on stopping at PT for a while. Elena can now walk a reasonable distance in a forward direction. Her stopping ability is not reliable. This is a huge issue when other elements are added to the walking problem; other people, objects on the floor, no handholds (for instance). E also tends to reach her destination by stopping short and leaning onto an object (wall, table, person, etc.).

We are trying to teach her to walk to her end destination (end of hallway, for example), STOP, then touch the wall. We have had countless falls because she stops short and leans for a handhold for balance, only to miss it, or have the handhold move (door swinging, etc.).

E is definitely better at stopping when wearing her AFOs and shoes. She still leans for walls, but overall she can stop in the middle of a room and avoid falling or running into people. With her sneakers (sans AFOs), this still needs a lot of work, but this skill is definitely emerging.



In just a week, though--huge improvement!

PT recap: Good movement

E was great at PT last week. She started it off by pulling a toy into the therapy room. This is a short video--but check out this POSTURE! No AFOs, standing very tall! Note this is NOT E's usual position. Normally her knees are bent, and her right knee slightly caved in (you see this is in the video too). But she CAN stand very, very nicely!



Here is E doing another obstacle course.



And one on an incline--this is a long movie. I am there as a spotter in case E falls. I'm also trying to observe how Theresa helps operate E on an incline/decline--this is something I have not had the courage to try at home. Inclines would certainly be easier if E's tendons weren't so tight!



Theresa ended the session with a few walking drills for E. The object was to stand up, carry a car across the room, STOP, and slowly bring the car to the starting line. Then she was to stand up, walk back to the other car(s), STOP, and repeat with the next cars--a total of three cars, one for each of us for a car race. Elena's main issue here is stopping--she cannot reliably stop her forward walking motion wearing her sneakers without AFOs. She can reliably slow down, as she falls to the floor.



Overall, a very productive morning!

PT Recap: Obstacle Courses and Stuff

Just the usual stuff. E is doing well at PT. We need to do more of this at home--finding the time can be a real challenge, though.



I thought E did a particularly good job here--this is her longest sliding session! She seems to stop when she's bored and wants to move on, instead of being tired or unbalanced.

PT Recap: Obstacle Courses

E has been doing a mash-up of CME exercises at PT, rather than just one at a time. For instance, if she will be walking over boxes, instead of placing her on them, she'll start on the floor and have to step up (or down). This has definitely improved her ability to go down steps (she's been going up them well for some time now--with one hand held and one on the rail).

Here is E at PT last week.





E really didn't feel like doing much CME...she'd rather play with the swing on the mat. So we tried to get her to move to it herself. This is a big deal, b/c it involves her stopping, starting, walking, and stepping up in a controlled manner where she doesn't have the support of her AFOs.





It occured to me yesterday that this post contains clips that E has done before, with her AFOs. Each of those clips took FOREVER for E to do, months--years--of training. She's only been working without her AFOs since November. Her progress is incredible. In our experience, this CME therapy has been amazing!

PT Recap: Showin' off those hips!

E has really looked great lately at PT. Her hips looks so square! In the past, she's really had her right knee cave in, followed by her right hip. Her knee still caves in, but not as much as in the past. Her right hip does drop--but she has started to fix it herself, even without a voice cue.

Here is E doing CME with Molly--hips looking good here, even though she fell.


Crate Steps--again, hips look square, and nice lifting of each foot out of the crate.


Awesome!