Hi Everyone,
I worked from home today so I could be here for the new bed delivery. I can happily report that Corey is tucked in, resting comfortably, hasn’t slid down with each position change, the bed doesn’t make a horrible cranking noise every time you raise and lower her head and most importantly she appears to be very content! Nothing could make me happier!
Corey did not have any scheduled therapy today. That will not stop us. We had (2) 1/2 hour sessions of PT/OT ourselves. We also had 30 minutes of cognitive and speech therapy…I’m not 100% comfortable with the speech therapy yet, but I plan on working with the therapists to work on those skills.
I spent a great deal of time memorizing and taking notes on the therapists techniques at Bryn Mawr. Today I put them to full use! We sat her on the side of the matte, helped her extend her arms to steady herself. We practiced leaning forward and trying to lean back to right her self. She reached out and up with both arms (assisted on the left) and held her head independently for 20 minutes. She lifted her right knee in a marching motion, extended her lower leg and then combined the motion. We assisted the same commands for the left leg.
It’s important to give Corey short repetitions and breaks during her sessions. At one point she laid back against the bolster and we practiced lifting her hips, expanding and contracting her knees in a “butterfly” motion, extended her legs to swing left and right (this works her hips)
We also worked on speech. I have several packs of word and letter cards from when the kids were little. I showed her a card and would sound out the name. I asked Corey to repeat the word and she was trying to Mouth the word! For example, she would pinch her lips for the letter “m”! We also had wood blocks that had numbers on them 1-15. I put them in rows of 5. I wanted to know what numbers she might remember. I asked her to pick up number 8. She picked up block number 9, looked at it for almost a minute. Put it down and picked up #8 and handed it to me! I was thrilled…and of course we continued pushing forward to recognize more. She was about 80% accurate with everything but 12,13,1 4…that’s okay! I told her that it was amazing she recognized the numbers because she’s going to need to know them for her measurements when she cooks again.
Corey you had a really good day! I’m so proud of you for working so hard. Thank you for showing us what you remember. You were exhausted tonight but that’s okay. A good night’s sleep makes for a good day’s work. And a day full of effort makes for a good night’s sleep. You earned your rest tonight kiddo. I’m so proud of you! Happy dreams in your new bed. xoxo