Bits of Progress in other areas

Treadmill
On Tuesday last week, we made a minor modification to the treadmill for him. Now he's able to take longer strides without hitting his feet on the front of the machine - I'm very happy.

I also took off his "indoor" pair of shoes (Bata) in the last few minutes of Tuesday's session cos he was walking funny. His left foot was turning inwards which got me worried! But he was ok after I took off his shoes.

I also noted that sometimes he does seem to walk heel-toe but sometimes it goes back to toe-heel. I'll count it as a bit of progress cos he's doing it at least some of the time.

Noted that his right leg is taking longer strides than his left leg - that's unusual. Typically it's his right leg that's the problem. Perhaps my helper needs to move over to his left and give some focus to his left too.

Pedalling

Overall, we've seen the benefit of his pedalling exercise. He's definitely engaging his lower quads more. For e.g. when he steps down from the car, he's bending his left leg a lot more (that usually is the last leg to come down). Previously, he didnt bend it and would just let gravity do the work, by letting his right leg take a bigger impact when "jumping" down.

Just last Wednesday at Lake Gardens, he was able to comfortably lift up his leg to all the ladder rungs, without my help. This is especially noteable because we had stopped playground equipment activities for a few weeks due to his cold and due to the focus on treadmill and pedalling. Before stopping, he often struggled getting his leg up a single rung. Very very happy.

Lacing
I still showed him how to lace it for the first few holes, then help him lace the next few. Last week, he laced the last hole all by himself. No big deal if he were a normal kid. But for me, that's great! I seldom do this activity, so I count it as a small step forward.
Wearing sandals
If the sandals (imitation of Croc sandals) are placed in front of him, and he holds on to me for balance, he could slowly get his right foot into the sandal. I am a bit hesistant to include this point in the posting cos he only did it once (he seldom wears sandals), but I will cos for him learning motor patterns/movements is not easy.

Music
A few days ago, I started off holding his hand (the way the teacher does at class), to guide him in playing Twinkle twinkle little star, on the piano at home. I did this for the first few notes - do do so so la la so.  Then whilst my hand was still holding his but no longer guiding him, he played the remaining bit - fa fa mi mi re re do. Very very happy.

5 steps forward, 2 steps back
We stopped gross motor and Neurosuit therapies when he caught a cold a few weeks ago. We have now resumed, focusing on the treadmill for gait training/correction and pedalling for engaging/strengthening the lower quads. Once school starts, there'll be a whole lot less time for these outdoor activities.


Am glad that he didn't regress too much because of the stoppage. I'm glad that he is picking up not too far back from where he had stopped before he fell ill. As his therapist said, it may be that he goes 5 steps forward, 2steps back but at least you've still gained 3 steps forward! It's also one of the key reasons it's so important that he not fall ill often.