Skiing?

You know, I’ve realized that to be a PT or OT or ST of children, you really have to get creative.  I don’t know how many times I’ve watched Luke’s therapists turn something so simple into a therapy session.  They take a ball and play basketball, kickball or “dodge ball” all while trying to get Luke to say “ba…ba” or trying to get him to use two hands to throw or even trying to get him to be balanced enough to kick the ball while using his walker.  Something so simple…turned in to an activity that helps Luke to reach his potential.

Even though they get creative with regular everyday toys, they also use their resources.  There is a “machine”, I’m not really sure it would be called that, that has two large pedals attached to each other but are set up so that one pedal is up when the other is down.  It also has tall handles that kids can hold on to so they don’t fall off.  With the pedals being so large and the handles being so high, it looks like Luke is trying to ski when he is on it.  The point of this “machine” is to work on strength and for Luke it is a great tool to use to get Luke to bend his knees.  Luke still likes to lock out his knees when he should be bending them, like when he is going down the stairs.  He is getting better at this, but still hasn’t mastered it.

So…we got this “machine” out the other day at PT.  Luke has done this once before, about a year ago, and was only able to go a few feet before he was ready to quit.  Luke was upset the other day when we started using this “Ski Machine”, but calmed down enough to let his PT continue working with him.  The result?  Luke was able to go down the hallway, about 100 feet, and back on the “machine”!  It was great to see!