IT'S HUMPDAY!
Today was another good day at therapy! We got started, pretty much, right at 8. We spent the first part of our morning working on a variety of hand manipulations, doing key grasps, tripod grabs, and occasionally working on our pincer grasp. Ben is really making strides with the key and tripod grasps and is developing a significant amount of strength all along the way. When he hits with his left hand, it actually hurts! (Should he be hitting??? Yeah, yeah... but frankly people, I don't give a damn.) I'm so happy to see that Ben is developing an amount of strength sufficient to demonstrate force; its been an amazing development!
Some excellent "tripod" grasping...
We were lucky enough to get to play with M again, playing with a parachute. M was a good sport and both he and Ben did a great job of sharing and demonstrating some awesome age-appropriate behaviors. We also met another little boy, B. He was younger than Ben, but was all too happy to partake in the parachute festivities. Like yesterday, we were too busy in the moment to take any pictures, but rest assured that all involved had a great time!
We also did yogurt again today. This is one hellacious mess, but Ben gets a chance to put both his gross motor, as well as fine motor skills to good use! Take a look!
We also have some sweet video evidence... if it loads properly...
Tonight we ate pasta at Guisseppe's Cafe in Homewood and we had a great time. Tomorrow night, we are headed to Steel City Pops as part of our last night in Alabama.
For those of you who watch the video and wonder if there is progress, consider the following...
Reanna and I were are given a questionnaire regarding the usage of Ben's left arm. Reanna reported, prior to therapy, on 22 questions. The questionnaire was Lickert in style. Tasks that Ben could accomplish independently are scored at a minimum of 3 - he can do it, but very slowly and with great difficulty - up to a 5 (which would indicate that he can do tasks just as well as he does with his dominant hand). Scores of 0.5-2.5 indicated varying degrees of dependence that Ben placed on an adult. Zeros were those items that remained unattempted, despite adult assistance.
Reanna reported at the outset of therapy that Ben would not attempt 21 of 22 tasks when offered assistance - aka - a zero.
As of yesterday, upon completion of therapy, I was responsible for the assessment. Despite issues of interrater reliability, which I expect to get a pass on, Ben had attempted all 22 activities, scoring at least a 1.5 in all areas. In 13 of 22 categories, he scored a 3 or better, indicating that on more than half of the activities, Ben acted with varying degrees of independence. Truly impressive!
That's all for today! Happy Humpday!
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