Physical Therapy

When we started Physical Therapy the beginning of December, Oaklynn didn't like it. She is more of a personal trainer for Oaklynn. She has Oaklynn doing situps, squats, sit to stands and other things. Oaklynn would just start fussing to get out of PT when she was here.

Since we found out about the diagnosis Oaklynn's Physical Therapist, Beth, has been taking a new approach to her PT. She still does all the same stuff but in a different way. She explains to her what they are doing and why they are doing it. She talks to Oaklynn the whole time and interacts with her. The last couple times, Oaklynn has LOVED having Beth over. She gives Beth lots of hugs and smiles. She has been doing really good at  her situps and her bridges! This last time Beth told her what they were going to do and without helping her Oaklynn started doing bridges... I mean one after the other. She did about 20 in a row and then started doing situps and then back to bridges. She was looking at me and Beth smiling the whole time and we were just cracking up. She totally knew what she was doing. She is such a ham!

Although none of Oaklynn's therapists have working with girls who have Rett syndrome, they are all going out of their way to do as much research as possible and figure out how to help Oaklynn the best they can. We are very pleased with the therapists we have. Beth mentioned coming twice a week to try to get Oaklynn walking. She sees lots of potential in Oaklynn but feels that she needs more time during the week with her in order to get her to walking. She had heard that the sooner/younger you can get a Rett girl to start walking, the less likely they are to loose that ability. We have a meeting with my support coordinator next Friday to try and get it approved. (sorry the pictures were blurry, they were from my phone)

 This picture (below) is Oaklynn doing her bridges. She just kept going up, down, up, down (with her pelvic bone)...

Beth is working on getting her a walker. One that straps you in so you don't fall and also helps to strengthen and align your legs so she is walking correctly and not on the inside of her feet with her toes pointed out.