Hi Everyone,
We hope you all were safe and warm through this winter storm. Corey didn’t take a snow day. She was in the gym working hard!
During OT she was sitting upright on the mat. Typically the therapist puts a beach ball on the floor at her feet. They ask Corey to kick the ball straight ahead of her. Today, they tilted her forward to look down at the ball. They placed the ball to her far right side and asked her to kick the ball. She pulled her foot to the right, aimed and connected! They alternated between right and center. Each kick hit the bull’s eye! To push her response, they moved the ball to her left to see if she would kick with her left foot. She didn’t use her left foot but she did cross with her right and hit the target! Smart girl!!
Corey has been vocalizing more with each transition as well as when she lies on her stomach. Natalie, PT, and Jessica, Speech, teamed up for her afternoon session. We’ve borrowed vocalization buttons from a friend of ours. I was sharing with the team that Corey appears to be responding to YES questions by tapping the button to answer and the gadget “speaks” YES. We took two of the buttons to Corey’s afternoon session.
Corey was sitting on the edge of the mat. We showed her the button marked YES (large bold letters in black/white) and placed it in front of her. We asked her several questions that would require a YES answer. She successfully tapped the button appropriately with each response. We then added a second button for NO (similarly marked). Now she had to choose the appropriate button. She was inconsistent with the response; however she did “answer” appropriately a few times. One answer in particular gave us all a cheer, ‘is your name Corey’? She tapped YES. ‘Is your name Samantha’? She tapped NO! I guess she knows that’s not her nickname!
I’d also like to share a touching gesture of love and friendship. I received a call that the young boys in our neighborhood shoveled several driveways in our development. At the end of their day, they donated their earnings to Corey. What a testament to the character of these young men and their parents! Thank you so much boys!
Corey, we love to watch you communicating with us each day. You are very creative! PT/OT/Speech and the nurses are so excited to see what you’re going to come up with next. Keep it up honey, we’re anxiously listening! PS – we all love watching how busy that right foot is! Happy dreams, xoxo