One hundred days

 Tomorrow is Sadies 100th day of Kindergarten! I can't believe how fast it's gone! After a couple years in the preschool autism program we wanted Sadie in a "typical" kinder class. She was above her peers cognitively but physically she has a hard time getting around. She is in a walker for part of the day, then for longer distances she uses a wheelchair. Oh and she kind of screams, hits and has melt downs over anything that bothers her. Any how, after a bit of a fight and with the help of an advocate, the school district agreed to put her into a typical class with a one on one aid. My husband calls it the "holly grail of services". He's right and I still can't believe we got it but here we are.

 Beebsism:Sadie can't isolate here index finger and thumb to make a pincer grip. This happens naturally as kids develop but Sadie has a bit of weakness in her upper body and she really has to concentrate to bring the other fingers in. It's like her brain is fighting against it, it makes my brain hurt just watching how hard she has to focus on it.

 Our solution:I wish I could say I thought of this but no, Sadie's awesome occupational therapist told me to bring in some gloves and like 7 min later she walked out with these:

The middle, ring and pinkie finger are sewn together and then Velcro attaches them to her palm. The thumb and index are exposed forcing a perfect pincer. Brilliant! It will take tons of practicing, but tonight she had to fill her bottle full of 100 beads for the 100th day of school tomorrow so it was the perfect opportunity to make practicing fun. The hope is that after doing this so much her fingers will be trained to go in when she wants with out so much effort.