Equipment and Therapy

IT Finally Came!!!

The long awaited stander finally came and we were so excited! (Me especially) We had been practicing standing in his braces on the floor in preparation for the stander. The braces help stabilize his legs and give him the support he needs to figure out how to stand and get used to the weight through his legs.

What I didn't realize (and wouldn't have if it weren't for our lovely therapists) is that children have to get used to the pressure of their body weight and gravity through their legs, knees, and feet before they can walk. This pressure is also very important for growth and development for bones, muscles, and joints. Not only is the standing good for physical development, but cognition as well, as is the case with any movement. Movement = cognition = movement. So you see why this is so important.

The goal is to work up to about 3 hours per day (1 hour at a time) in the stander unless he gets so good at standing that he can do it that often on his own without the stander's help. We'll see how things go.

It took me a couple times of working it over to figure out how to use this contraption, but I daresay it's a handy dandy thing. One I'm so grateful exists! We have really only been using the stander for about a week, and already we have seen changes in the way Jake responds to weight-bearing.

We have had a couple set backs...one we are trying to work out currently. His skin is so sensitive that the weight through his legs and through the braces causes his heels to turn bright red after about 5 minutes in the stander. So we've been doing about 5 minutes at a time multiple times a day. The only thing is that he keeps getting a little red spot here and there that won't go away after about an hour which is a bad sign. If we kept on going without addressing the issue it would cause a blister, which would cause us to not be able to use the stander for a very long time until it healed, which would cause slowed progress with the standing. And so I have to figure out a way to get over to the orthodic place and get his braces adjusted without a car to drive.

We usually do bubble time in the stander. He's very curious about bubbles.

Speaking of bubbles, Jake also got a bath chair! This has worked WONDERS in the bathing department. Before we got this I used the swimming noodle (located in right upper corner of photo) and we put it under his head and he just laid flat in the tub. It worked, but   A. how uncomfortable would that be?   B. He couldn't play with his toys or see the water, and I think being upright is so good for the cognition.

The bath chair we originally got, Jake was much too advanced for. We ordered it right before he learned how to sit up, so the whole thing lays down and has about 5 straps on it. It's also so high you would need a spray nozzle to bathe the child, and I don't have one. So I gave that one to Jake's physical therapist to pass on to a family who needs it and she gave me this one that was in her office from another family.

It works pretty great!! I don't know if he could tolerate it for a long period of time just because the strap can dig in and if I loosen it then he tries to propel himself backwards to lay down and gets caught... so I have to tighten the strap pretty tight and if he flings himself backwards I just try to get him to sit as straight as possible again. At the end of the day he's tired of holding his head up so he tries to lay down as much as possible.

But how cute does he look? And so grown up when he sits and stands.

Here is a video of Jake crawling during therapy. We are trying to teach him to move his arms and legs correctly, and trying to build his strength in his arms and neck. The hand and knee position is also very good for his hand development, again because of the weight-bearing. Oh the things I never would have thought of! I quite enjoy being a therapy mom overall, even though I obviously have my days, because I feel as if I'm getting an education at home. I someday want to go back to school, but I'm highly interested in the human body now and would love to do something with therapy or nutrition.

Anyway, I digress.

Enjoy the video! I hope it works right