Therapy, therapy, and more therapy

Randy had all three therapies today.

His speech therapy reviewed Randy's planner. She talked about having Randy set monthly goals and let him know that it is okay for him to change his mind about the goals that he sets. She advised Randy that having 3 main goals to accomplish each day would be a reasonable amount because he does need have some "down time". She then went over some papers she had given him to do. He hadn't finished an assignment where he had to read a paragraph and come up with the main idea, so she had him read the story out loud and re-read the questions. He was then able to pick out the correct main idea. Talking through the questions seemed to help Randy answer the questions more easily. She gave him a sheet of homework to do until the next session.

In occupational therapy, Randy let the therapist know his shoulder was still hurting him so she gave him a little bit of a massage, worked on some exercises, and then gave him some kinesio tape for him to wear on his shoulder to help the muscles be retrained to go back into their normal places. Then Randy and the therapist worked with a rubber ball, bouncing it back and forth between them (see video clip in previous post). They then worked with a board, nails, and colored rubber bands. Randy was given "task cards" and had to duplicate the pattern with the rubber bands, matching the color and the design. It was good perceptual practice and good utilization of both hands in stretching out the rubber bands.

Throughout the therapy sessions, Randy's mom noticed that the harder Randy had to concentrate on a task, the more he seemed to have more "tremors"(the shaking of his entire body, though most noticeable in his head).

In physical therapy, RAndy and the therapist started with the shuttle machine (pictured above). He had to do 20 pushes with both legs and then 20 pushes with each leg separately. Then Randy worked on a balance star where he had to walk backward while hooked up to a stretchy rope. The goal was to walk backward as far as possible, then walk forwards using even steps, then sidestepping. It was very challenging. The therapist also had Randy work on standing with his feet toe-to-heel, and get his balance. It was much more difficult for him to put his left foot in front of his right foot.

This evening was suppose to be the last of the seminars for the chronic pain specialist but we all skipped out on going. I am still in quite a bit of pain from the pinched nerve and didn't want to sit there for 2 hours. This evening, we all just hung around the house. Cass played ping pong with anyone she could get to play with her ~ first her grandma and then Randy, until Daisy got ahold of one of the balls and squished it with her teeth. That is one down side of playing ping pong on the floor! You have to be quicker than the dogs!