Some creative home therapy (with pictures!)

Our therapists have given us plenty of good ideas to turn our home into Maddy's own personal therapy space, some of them are messy, but it has been a lot of fun. I posted some pictures of some of the things we are doing with her. We don't do them all everyday, but we do attempt to do some of them everyday.

 We put Maddy's snacks into an ice cube tray so that she has to practice using her pincer grasp (picking things up using her pointer finger and thumb)

 Maddy has sensitivities to some textures, so to help desensitize her, therapy recommends that we offer her lots of different textures in different ways. She is sitting in a laundry bin full of dry rice and beans in this picture.

Maddy really enjoys and craves bouncing and rocking motions as well as deep pressure on her joints and tendons. We bought her a trampoline so that she can learn to bounce on it herself, she almost has it figured out! By offering her what she craves, she will be able to focus better on learning new things. 

We also give her deep pressure massages to help relax her.

Here is a picture of Maddy wearing her new Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFOs), which are the little braces on her legs. They help to keep her knees from locking and keep her feet in proper position. This will help strengthen her legs and improve her balance.

The vision consultant at Early On highly recommended these bubbles. They are called touchable bubbles and don't pop when you catch them. We are using them as a tool to get Maddy's eyes to focus on them, and we will be working up to her being able to see them and follow them as they float in the air.

Maddy also enjoys vibrations, which are soothing to her. Her therapist gave her this vibrating tooth brush, which Maddy loves to hold in her mouth. 

At night, we put Maddy in dark room, often with a black light and 1 single white image or object so that none of her other senses are being stimulated, this allows her to focus only on using her eyes on that one object.
In this picture, we are using an object that lights up and flashes instead. (It also doubles as something with texture to desensitize her hands to the feeling!)

Messy Play! Using different textured foods (this is chocolate pudding) is another example of desensitizing Maddy to different textures. We have also used jello and playdoh.










As you can tell, the fun (and mess) never stops at our house! Although it is a lot of work, most of it Maddy truly enjoys, and so do we!

The results are in...

Maddy finally got her AFOs (Ankle Foot Orthosis), they are very small plastic pink and white braces that she wears on her feet and lower legs. She does not have to wear them all the time, just when we are working with her on practicing standing and walking. They help to keep her feet in the proper position and her knees slightly bent instead of locked. Maddy seems to be doing well with them, she likes to bounce when she stands in them. The first time she had them on she kept squating like she was skiing and about to hit a big jump. I can already tell they are going to help.

The moment we waited for over the past few weeks finally arrived. Maddy went to Grand Rounds with all of the local Pediatric Ophthalmologists last week and today we finally heard the results. It is satisfying to know that 3 doctors who are all specialists agree on her treatment and that we are on the right track. However, there have been some concerns over the last few weeks that her right eye, the "good eye" has been fluttering back and forth (nystagmus). The doctors told us that it is not surprising, and what it means is that Maddy's developing her vision and focusing in smaller objects, it is also a sign that the optic nerve in that eye is, after all, smaller than normal. So now we are left wondering if she will have normal vision in either eye. Unfortunately, it isn't a problem that glasses or contacts or surgery can correct and we just have to wait and see how her vision develops.

The doctor also mentioned that some of the areas Maddy is still having difficulty with (picking mommy or daddy out in a crowded room from far away, or focusing on objects not close to her, not mimicing things like clapping or waving), could be signs that her vision is not quite as good as we have originally hoped. But they tell us there is still time for her vision to further develop, so it is not all bad news!

She has needed more stimulation and sensory input lately. We have been experimenting with lots of new ways to help her with this, but I will save those antics for another day, perhaps with pictures?