April 09, 2010

Physical Therapy

Owen had his first physical therapy session yesterday. His therapist, Nancy, was really impressed with his head control and his ability to lunge himself off his boppy. She said his overall strength is actually pretty good. The main thing that she wants to work on is his core muscles and his ability to lift his head from up from the laying position, when he is on his back. He does not enjoy sitting in his bumbo chair, which Nancy thinks is because it is just a little too much work for him. She suggested getting him a bouncy chair that will allow him to sit at a slight incline but not completely upright.
Nancy will be visiting in about 3 weeks, after we get settled in from our move. At that time she is going to bring some daily activity ideas and we can start some therapy on the exercise ball. From there we will decided the frequency of her visits. We are thinking about once every other week. She said there will be a lot more things we can do with him in a couple months when he gets a little bigger.
When did you guys start therapy? And what did you do?

3 comments:

  1. We started PT when Brady was 3 weeks old, which is kinda funny thinking back. The PT came every other week. We started private PT in addition to early intervention when Brady was 12 months and I wish I would have started that when he was 9 months. He has really benefited from the additional PT in the private setting. The early intervention people are great, but I am amazed at the difference of private. The ball is a good idea for core strength, continue tummy time.
    On another note, I wish I would have focused more on speech begining when Brady was 12 months old. The physical stuff WILL come, but the speech development is what is tough. It has to be taught. Be thinking about speech when Owen is 12 months... private AND through early intervention.

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  2. Curtis meets with a developmental specialist once a week and we will be starting PT once a week as well. It was recommended that way so the therapists can get to know the babies and determine the improvements they make maore easily but that's just us. I love it though! Curtis LOVES Jamie (his developmental specialist) and seeing her that much has made her more of a friend and he gets so excited to see her. Good luck! Owen looks so great!

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  3. How exciting that therapy started! It's always a good sign when your therapist is positive.

    I would push for weekly visits. Since gross motor is where kids with DS really struggle, if you can get weekly, I'd fight for it. We started at 5 months, just after Marissa's heart surgery. She's nearly 19 months and is pulling to a tall kneel so she should be cruising before too long.

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