Week Seven :)

Today we visited our little blind baby first. Her grandparents have told us she is quite the ham and is quite subdued for us, and so today, after treatment was almost over, we said goodbye and closed the door…but then just sat there quietly. Her grandfather started talking to her (he calls her “Toot”, lol), and she just became a different person immediately…scooting on her bottom, clapping and giggling and wiggling………it was a reminder to remember that children act differently at first with new people, and that she has abilities we don't know about. It also explains why sometimes her grandparents stare at us like we are crazy. I try to always explain why we are doing something – like today we were pushing her off balance while she was sitting (gently), because we are working on building up her protective responses….since for right now she is content to just flop backward and trust she is safe, she has NO! safety protection response at all. Just straight back.

Then we saw our baby that is deaf/blind, the mom and baby were asleep when we showed up, and mom decided her sleepwear of a low-cut shirt and undies were appropriate for the session, lol. There were several bugs, dead and alive, around our little area…we let the little girl, sibling, help with using the vibration buzzy toy, on her sister's back etc. This baby has NO muscle tone in her legs and arms, she is totally floppy….I think she has neurological damage that will prevent her from ever walking normally, as she can't even really weight-bear on her arms (like to prepare for crawling), and she is a year old!! When you can't even really sit upright unsupported at age 1, that's not a great sign for what's to come…but she has made REMARKABLE progress in a single month, so who knows what the future may hold 🙂

Then we ate at a tiny little country grocery adorable hamburger/fry place, and then Charlene the amazing COTA saw kids while I did a combination of organizational work + assist with kids who came early, or showed up not on schedule at all but needing to be seen so badly that we saw them anyway, etc. And I am tired of writing so I'll stop there instead of going into any detail, beyond to say I don't understand the purpose of co-treating children unless really low level – like I don't understand how billing works for co-treats for Medicaid but want to better understand!! I am still confused by a lot of the rules.

Lester the Lion Kitty and I are watching the Olympics and I'm about to have a baguette with Nutella (chocolate spread popular in Europe) for dessert. I plan to go to bed early, I'm sooo tired!

Tomorrow we see both our blind babies for home visits, then do a home visit in the afternoon, then she has about four kids scheduled, and I'll help with that/try to finish organizing, since Thursday I have quite a few of my own kids scheduled…and then Friday is the low vision rehab for children seminar!

Aug 13, 2008 | Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none