Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Therapies


Peyton is doing really well this week. She had a visit from her physical therapist and vision teacher at the daycare yesterday. She also had a visit from her occupational therapist at home last night. A busy day for Peyton to be sure!
Both her physical and occupational therapists are very pleased with how well Peyton is coming along. They are working with her trying to position her so that she is doing things that are a little bit weight-bearing. Her overall muscle tone is low. So they work position her so she has to use her arms a bit or her legs a bit. We work with her as well to try to help her to sit upright, supported, to help strengthen the muscles of her trunk so she will become strong enough to do other things.
At nearly 10 1/2 months, she cannot sit on her own, when laying down on her back does not lift her head up off the surface she's laying on very easily, and does not crawl or make attempts at it. This is all expected for her developmental progress. We know she's probably at least a few months behind. We'll have a better idea of what age level she's at when we visit the neurologist in a few weeks. At her 6 month visit, she was anywhere between 1 and 4 months development depending on what you were looking at. She continues to make progress, which is just wonderful. I'm quite sure her neurologist will be pleased. Well, at least that's what I'm hoping!!
Every little achievement that Peyton makes is just so exciting for us. It could be the smallest thing but it is huge for us. Since her future developmental progression is unknown, everything means so much. I'm learning to try to not compare her progress to anyone else's. Even if she didn't have issues, you couldn't compare her with another child because everyone is different. She is on "Peyton Time" and that is good enough for us!!
Her vision teacher was also very pleased with how well Peyton is doing. She works with Peyton for about 15 minutes or so a week at the daycare. If you were to observe, it really looks more like playtime! She brings all sorts of toys with her and also uses some toys that the daycare has. She also uses some positioning techniques to help her along. She's had the benefit of being there at the same time as the physical therapist, so she's gotten help from her on how to help Peyton in terms of positioning. She works with her on tracking objects. That was Peyton's first goal set back when we started with the vision teacher months ago. She tracks well side to side and all around now. Her current goal is to learn how to activate toys - like being able to push a button on a toy that makes something pop up or push a button that makes lights come on. The goal is to connect that pushing on one thing causes a reaction. It will be a while before that one is mastered, but we have time!
Speaking of progress, I cannot leave out that Moira is making excellent strides in her potty training. I want to say she's almost there! Night time potty training - well, that's a whole other story. But daytime - she's doing really, really well. She has been doing very well at the daycare for a long time, but when she was home that was a different story. She'd go - if you reminded her and asked repeatedly. However, if she was distracted by a toy, the cats, the tv, or whatever, she would forget to go to the potty and have accidents. While my Mom was down a couple weeks ago, we FINALLY got her to pay more attention. We've been telling her all along that she needs to go so she doesn't have any accidents. Her cue to us that she had to go was her saying "No accidents!". That meant drop everything you're doing and get her there NOW. In just a couple of weeks, she has just been saying to us that she has to go to the potty and we take her. Last night, she was playing in her room and I heard her saying that, but by the time I put Peyton down and got to Moira, she was already doing it on her own. In fact, I think she was just stating a fact while she already had herself situated in the bathroom. So, good for you, Moira!! It's been at least a week since she had an accident at home - maybe a bit longer.
That's about all for now. I'll keep you updated on everyone's progress!

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