Mommy OT

Don't you wish that after driving your child to endless therapies you could just be done when you walked through your front door. I'm totally guilty of callapsing on the couch (after 15 min of taking off AFO's from Sadies feet) and closing my eyes and pretending mommy isn't home for just a moment or three.  The fact is, when we get home it's harder because now we are mommy, house cleaner, cook, wife, and therapist.

Beebsism: When kindergarten first started Sadie could already read all the kindergarten words and even spell most. When it comes to writing she has a difficult time. At first her primary problem was applying pressure to the pencil or crayon she was using. For a child with CP the simple task of even coloring can be very difficult on many levels. Sadie's upper body has low tone. I realize there are so many kids out there that have it worse then Sadie but theres things she still struggles with. She's not only challenged physically with weakness but also challenged mentally with perception. 

Our solution:If we were pushing something that wouldn't budge we would push harder. Its a natural reaction. We have to train Sadie's brain to have that reaction. By making different sizes of theraputty balls she has to learn to apply different amounts of pressure. After a few months of regularly practicing this her pencil pressure greatly improved. You can do this at home with regular play dough too. The theraputty comes in different strengths depending on what you need. Another way to practice pressure perception and exercise (I think I just made up that term) is hiding things in the putty then have your kiddo find them. Sadie's getting a bit bored with bingo chips so I think I need to move on to plastic bugs with a check list to make it more fun.