Manipulation and Therapy

On Tuesday I quietly entered the therapy room to take a few pictures of Ryan working with his Occupational Therapist, Manuel.   I didn't say a word, but just snapped a couple of pictures.

As you can see from the picture above and below, he was working so hard and sitting so well with just a little help.  Ryan looked so strong.  He even seemed to be enjoying himself.

Then, I said, "Hi, Ryan!"  And, the manipulation began ... notice the eye rub that says, "Oh, I'm so tired!"

We're all on to him about that.  So, I don't rescue him.  So, once he remembers that, then he kind of smiles and continues to work.  (Well, sometimes.)  But, he never fails to give it a try.  

It was fun to catch it on camera.  It really made me smile that in the first 3 clicks, I caught it on camera.

Below are a couple of other shots that I thought you might enjoy. 

A few interesting things you might notice in the pictures: 

The white the brace on Ryan's chest helps to stabilize his midsection so that he can work a little harder and a little longer.  We've really seen a lot of improvement since we started using it.  It's called a TLSO brace, which actually stands for Thoraco-Lumbo-Sacral Orthosis. It wraps around Ryan's body and then velcros closed in the back.  You may also notice that there's a little round cut out just off center by his belly button.  That is actually cut out so that his mic-KEY button doesn't get messed up by the brace.

The green disc that Manuel is holding in his right hand is what Ryan was sitting on.  (Manuel was removing it as I was taking this picture.)  I'm not sure if he was using it just to position Ryan or if he was using it get Ryan to balance himself more.  It can be used for both purposes.

One of the skills that we are working on with Ryan is reaching.  He has just recently started using his hands more.  He can now wave hello and goodbye.  He will occasionally even lift his arm a little when he waves.  So now we are trying to get him to extend his arms for things.  You can see in this next picture that Manuel has moved the toy away from him and is getting him to push the horn.

You might also notice that Ryan's face is pointing away from the toy, but if you look closely, you'll notice that his eyes are looking in the direction of the toy.  Ryan seems to do that a lot.  From what I have read, it is common with children with cortical vision impairment.

I hope you've enjoyed a quick peek into therapy with Ryan.  It was a good day!  I'm so thankful Ryan is getting stronger.  He sure has worked hard and he's come a long way in the past year!