More Therpay today

Randy had a hard time getting up today. His mom was able to get him up just in time for him to have a shower and then head out to his therapies today.

For physical therapy, Randy worked on the exercise bike to warm up, worked on some step exercises and some wall exercises. He also did some squats and worked on marching, walking backwards, and walking sideways. Marsha inquired about pool therapy so the therapist put Randy on the list. I think he will really enjoy that and it will be a nice break up in the therapy routine.

In speech today, the therapist got on to Randy for not doing his to do list. He has even stopped carrying the items over as he did before. I tried putting a sticky note on out bedroom door to remind him to check his to do list, but that didn't work. His response to that was to write on the note "What? You think I have a memory problem or something?". Lately, he seems rather resistant to any suggestions or reminders. We aren't giving up, though. There has to be a motivation "button" to get his buy in with following through with completing tasks and such. My thought was to give a rewards system ~ if he sticks with his tasks and completes them throughout the week, at the end of the week he can "reward" himself with getting another model airplane to build since that seems to be what he is wanting to spend his time on currently. The therapist also suggested that Randy set specific times and set an alarm clock on his cell phone to remind him to complete the task.

The speech therapist also today gave him a worksheet to do. The first instruction on the worksheet was to read through the entire sheet before beginning. Randy ignored this instruction and just began working the problems on the sheet. Well the very last problem contained the instruction to only complete items 1 and 2. So Randy needs a little work on his impulsivity and needs to slow down a bit.

In occupational therpay, the therapist put a hot pack on Randy's left shoulder. It has really been hurting him. The heat seemed to really help it. The therapist also gave Randy techniques to reduce stress and possibly pain. The first was going on a "mental holiday". The second technique was meditation ~ starting with concentrating on your breathing, then imagine your head and neck feel light and floating like a balloon and feel soft, then with each breath the muscles get softer and lighter and loose and more relaxed, then you focus on feeling warmth starting with your neck and having it slowely move to your toes, and then focusing on relaxation of fingers, toes, mouth and tongue and end with breathing deeply.

The occupational therapist also worked on eye tracking. She had a laser pen and Randy had to track it with his own laser pen. Randy had to close one eye to see it, but he did well with this exercise. The therapist also did some exercises with ping-pong paddles and sponge ball ~ they rolled the ball back and forth on the table. This exercise was also working on Randy's eye tracking.

Then this evening, Randy went out with his friend Brandon for their usual Tuesday "hanging out". Randy really looks forward to getting out with him.