Physical Therapy IV

Last Friday Aaron had his assessment with our new physical therapist, Jan. She came out to the house around 8:30 in the morning. She asked us some questions about his development so far and then did some observation and exercises with him. One of the things she did was put Aaron on a giant bouncy ball. She held him on top and then moved him to the sides and then to the back, watching to see if he'd put his hands out to catch hiimself (when she went to the sides) and if he'd use his abs to right himself (all directions). He did really well on that test.

There was no question that he was delayed and we planned follow up visits once a week. Some of the things she did with him, that we were supposed to work on with him during the week, were getting him from a sitting position (on our legs or a low stool) to a stand at the coffee table, getting him to crawl over legs or pillows, just getting him crawling more in general, and working on getting him from his knees to his feet (when standing at the coffee table).

I have to say we didn't do very well on this for two reasons. One is that she came on Friday and again today - less than week which wasn't much time to get into the habit of doing his new therapy with him. But also, Thom strained a muscle in his lower back on Saturday and has been unable to help out with Aaron as much as he usually does. He can't pick Aaron up, so I can't leave him alone with Aaron for more than a few minutes, but he has been good about feeding Aaron - one of the few things he can do to help out. So it's been a rough few 4 days and physical therapy slipped to the bottom of our list. Thom can't get into the car so he hasn't been to the doctor, but he is taking Aleve and doing easy stretches and is slowly recovering.

When Jan came back today, she had a written assessment of Aaron with her. She broke down his gross motor skills assessment into two parts. One was on stationary skills (like on the ball) and for that, he was in the 11-13 month range. But for locomotive skills, he was at the level of an 8 month old, or in the 2nd percentile for his age.

She was here about 30 minutes while we sat on the floor with Aaron and worked at the coffee table with him. I'm supposed to focus on the sit to stand exercise this next week which should help strengthen his quads. We put his toys on the table and it's basically a game for him, not some form or torture. Not that he always cooperates. Not when there are CDs that need to be pulled off the shelf just a short crawl away.

Jan is really good with him. She is a new grandmother, too. I like her and like that she comes to our house. And I especially like that she used the adjective "adorable" several times in her report to describe Aaron. She comes back Tuesday. I'm sure I'll remember to spend more time on physical therapy this week. And hopefully Thom will be recovered soon and can help out.