Therapy at the Park - It's A Good Thing

Today we had our physical therapy session at a local park called Kit Carson Park. I was a little reluctant to even go - picturing tantrums and head banging on the park equipment and all. As soon as Raquel spotted Trish, the crying started so I began preparing myself for another catastrophe with the PT.

Trish asked that I sit at a bench in front of the play area so I could observe the session. Again, I was hesitant but agreed. Just a few minutes into it, I realized that outside therapy is what Trish knows best. She started out by walking her to the playground with both Trish and Gabby holding Raquel's hands. Then she had Gabby let go and then Trish let go and just had her hand on Raquel's shoulder and then not at all. Whenever Raquel would stop and become insecure about her surroundings, she'd put her hand back down on her shoulder. Before I knew it, Raquel was walking all around on her own. Trish had her going up and down the steps on the playground, pulling herself up and on to the slide. She even went down the slide a few times alone (with big sister catching her at the bottom, of course.) And she laughed and laughed and laughed. We agreed that all further PT sessions should be done outside the house. Raquel walked from the little playground to the big one - going up and down curbs and hills and on varying surfaces. Trish was very pleased. She showed me ways to help ease her in to uncertain environments, which I'll work on with Mike over the next week.

Mary (speech) and Elizabeth overlapped today. Elizabeth is already over her assigned monthly hours and is basically volunteering her time at this point. They had great sessions with Raquel. Although she wasn't very vocal, she was playful and cooperative and was demonstrating a lot of effort. They discussed picture therapy to bring out her vocals but Mary is not convinced this is the way to go just yet and will think about it more over the week. Mike was there towards the end of the session and was able to talk to them both, ask questions, and give them his own feedback.

Elizabeth is still going to her evaluation on Friday - again, off the clock - and said it will most likely take a couple hours. She is calling this the "let's rule out autism" screening. I'm trying to be optimistic but also preparing myself at the same time. It will be interesting to see how the evaluation goes.