Nudge on my shoulder

I have lapsed in my skills as a physiotherapist. I remember a time when I would do some physio every day with Zack, until life and another child got in the way. 

Don't get me wrong, I would at least do something once a week or even little bits here and there but not every day. I noticed that during a period of illness Zack had got very tense. He hadn't been to his conductive sessions for at least six weeks. Last week he returned. When I collected him, he was a different child, very relaxed, loose and not at all, tense. I mean, granted he could be in a state of shock having been put through the equivalent of a DVD session with Davina, but it did him the world of good.

And this nudge on my shoulder prompted me to instigate an after school regime. 

So now every day, after he comes home from school we get the mat out and do 15 - 20 minutes of physiotherapy. This includes stretching, tummy lying and sitting up. 

It also includes an assistant coach called Scarlett. More like an extra in a fitness DVD she sits by the side of us, stretches her arms up, and does splits with her legs. All, whilst watching Curious George. 

Zack seems to be enjoying after school physio. The other day he sat unsupported for six seconds and managed to pass six trumps too. Nice. 

It goes to show that if we want to we can fit things in to our busy schedules.

Oh yeah, if that's true, then why can't I fit in twenty minutes of exercise? Seems I am more motivated toward my son than I am at being fat free at forty.

Rip the band aid off

Well it's a week of firsts.


Summer is over, not that we had a summer. Feels like a perpetual Autumn. And with September in place Zack was back to his conductive education. I was dreading taking him back as it had been six weeks without any hardcore classes. I was expecting much crying, shouting and general I hate this commotion. Not one to stick to the plan, Zack spent his first session, smiling and having a great time. Even with his arm splints on he didn't mind. I was a very proud mummy. 


Oh and I took Scarly Bum with me as both sets of Grandparents were away on holiday's abroad. Yes, how dare they book their holidays at the same time, do they not understand planning? It's okay, I can say all this knowing full well they read this blog. Think on next time. (P.S Hope you are having/had a nice time.)


Scarlett was very well behaved. She had a great time rolling along all the mats and even joined in on the sit down say hello to everyone session. Torture school is now known as Boot Camp. We went again today. We are now going twice a week. Zack wasn't as happy during this session, but only cried a little, for the majority of it he worked really hard. I think the twice a week approach will do him some good. 


This week, Zack also started nursery. It's a special needs nursery in Warrington and it's fantastic. He has his own red school bag. It's nearly the same size as him, but I'm sure he'll grow into it. He went for an hour and a half session and I left him their for an hour on his own. I was only in the staff room having a coffee and chatting but he apparently enjoyed himself. Even went outside to play.  I take him tomorrow for his first full three hours. My plan is to leave him there on his own for the full session. You know, rip the band aid off in one painless tug. That's the plan, whether I go through with it is another matter. 


So now The Pants has a busy weekly schedule. Tuesday and Thursday nursery, Wednesday and Friday Boot Camp, Monday day of rest. What a lot of changes but all for the best. I think this will do him the world of good and also be good for me too. Plus I get to spend some one to one time with Scarly Bum who in the space of a couple of weeks has cut her first tooth, moved on to chunky food, enjoys finger foods, particularly biscuits and can almost sit on her own. Amazing. But lets not forget about the first born who now laughs nearly every day and is becoming more vocal. He really is a little star. Busy but good times.

Class sizes were good

We checked out another school for Zack. This one we had heard mixed reports about so I wasn't holding out much hope, neither was Dan.


Well, well, well very pleasantly surprised. It was really nice, not too big, not too small. They answered all my questions and gave an answer to everything that I asked. Alleviating my fears and worries. Class sizes were good, they viewed communication as really important to all children. And they are updating parts of the school to help accommodate children with visual impairments. 


Even Zack liked it. It felt right. So now we have two schools to choose from and just one more to look at. The decision on where he goes is still tough and I have to consider mainstream school. But come September, he's off to nursery, I'll get through that first. I am sure there will be tears. Mine probably, not his.


Small Update


Zack continues with his conductive education. Continues to dislike it but did do some pushing through his legs when standing and when in a crawl position moved his hand forward and then his knee. Small steps but progress none-the-less.


His seizures are coming down a little with the increase in medication. As we were increasing the dosage I did notice a slight change in Zack. He just didn't seem himself I couldn't quite put my finger on it but he wasn't right. Mind you he had also been ill on and off with a cold or cough or vomity virus thing. He seems back on track now so perhaps the sudden increase just threw him out of kilter a bit. 


Sleeping. Well, sleeping is errrrm here and there. We sometimes have a good week of reasonable bed times and then we have a series of bad nights. The doctor said that if we have three bad nights in a row to give him some chloral hydrate which is a sedative. So this is what we have done tonight and bingo fast asleep. We are hoping that this will give him a good nights sleep, he will feel better in the morning and we can get him back into his rhythm again. That's the plan. 


Having Scarlett has lead me to approach feeding Zack again. I am weaning Scazzzah we are currently trying apple, bananna and baby rice. Whilst she is sat in her high chair I pop Zack in his sunbeam chair. Whatever she tries he tries. And do you know what? He is having a good go. The other day he had pureed apple and ate about four spoonfuls. I just think if he has a go he has a go if he doesn't want to or it causes him distress then no bother we stop. No stress.


And that's were we are all up to. Think I need another holiday.

oh yeah, you're all b@£%^*!s

Our second trip to Rainbow House and Zack was back in the classroom for his conductive education lesson.


This time he decided to pull out the big guns and moan throughout the whole process. At one point he was the only child moaning. He hated it. I think it is now known to him as Torture School. (It's not actually that bad he's just a bit of a whinger sometimes).


This time we decided to try some arm splints on Zack as he tends to keep his bent (arms that is, not splints). The splints wrap around his arm and keep them in a nice straight position. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Cue extra moaning. 
On top of the crying he tried to go to sleep (another trick he uses to get out of things). Nope, wasn't getting out of it that easily, we did some crawling at that point, this woke him up. Again not happy.


When he was sat on his little chair at the table (very cute, reminds me of baby bear waiting for his porridge), he moaned, stopped and looked round at everyone. I think he was plotting how he could murder each one of us. Having forgotten he was crying, he started again as if to say, oh yes, I was protesting about something, what was it now, oh yeah, you're all b@£%^*!s.


Tell you what though, on the way home, not a peep from him. He sat with his arms straight all the way back (no splints, God I'm not that bad), didn't look at me once. I got him out of the car and he would not speak to me. Had his lunch and then went to sleep. 


Later, when he was back talking to everyone, he was really switched on, relaxed and as if to show off he kept his arms straight. Dan then got worried that he couldn't bend them any more. He can, Dan was just being ridiculous.


We have the splints to use at home so he gets used to them. I tried them today. He didn't mind, in fact when he has them on and is lying down his arms go up and out to the sides of him. You can do his overhead stretches very easily. I think he is getting a lot of sensory feedback from wearing them which is in turn making him realise where his arms are in relation to his body. 


Dan came in and saw them on him. Initial reaction was aaaaaah little man. Then it was, well, they are doing him some good aren't they? That's what we need, tough daddy.

There was lots of singing

We went back to Legacy Rainbow House last week for some one to one therapy. 


Zack and I went for an assessment last year in the hope of joining their conductive education sessions. Unfortunately there were no places but his name was placed on a waiting list.


For the interim we were given an hours one on one session. Zack loved it. He got shown how to take his sock off, put it in his shoe and put his shoes on the floor. There was lots of singing and rolling and at one point he was sitting on his own crossed legged on the floor. 


Then he got tired which equals crying so we called it a day. Other good news was that there may be a space for him in one of the sessions. I am really pleased about this as I think that the conductive education will help to push him in areas that aren't covered by any of the other therapies we do.


Here's hoping that he will get a place soon so we can crack on.

He was fine, didn't even cry

Short update.


Zack has been to Rainbow Legacy House. It's in Chorley and they do Conductive Education sessions as well as run a fantastic nursery that caters for disabled and non-disabled children. 


The Pants went for an assessment there and whilst he moaned a bit at first by the end of the session he was smiling away. The conductor said that she thinks he would benefit from the sessions, unfortunately there isn't any space at the moment. So we wait.


We also took a look at the nursery which did look good so may be thinking of sending him there for a couple of days so that he can have his conductive education sessions in the morning and afternoons in the nursery. But I don't think this would be until next year and even then very part-time. 


Physiotherapy


He had a good physio session on Monday. Was quite smiley throughout and did a lot of work. The physio then checked him out in his standing frame and adjusted the height. (Must be his new diet making him grow). She also made the frame more upright so that he is having to work harder. Zack didn't mind at all and the physio was impressed at how good he is in his frame. She mentioned that he is holding his neck better which is a good thing. He gets a gold star for that day.


Finally, today his daddy took him for his MMR jab and booster. I am still a wimp when it comes to needles. I was expecting him to come back upset and moaning but no apparently he was fine, didn't even cry. Dan said he smiled after the first injection. That's my boy, tough little cookie. (Am surprised though, as sometimes he can be a right drama queen).

Zack was so peeved he started crying

Zack and I went to school the other day to a lovely little primary in Winsford.

I have been wanting to take Zack to some conductive education classes for some time now. Pause for brief interlude to explain:

It is a form of education that works toward rehabilitating children with motor problems to help overcome some of their difficulties and to lead more independent lives. More can be read about this at http://www.conductive-ed.org.uk/

Scope run something called school for parents which utilises a form of conductive education in the classroom. The idea is that you and your child go along to classes and both join in the activities, so I found one in Winsford and we went to take a look.

The teachers showed us the early years classrooms and the conductive education class. There are four children in the class and Zack will be the only baby. I say will be as we start school for one morning a week in January. They do stretching to music, sing songs and basically have a nice fun time. I think I was more excited than Zack who seemed to dribble a lot and stare at a glass box that had some creature in it. I am not sure what it was, I didn't fancy looking any closer in case it was some large spider thing.

As we were leaving we went in through another class and there was a group of children gathered around the teacher. Some of them saw Zack which was a signal for lots of ahhhing and ooohing followed by a little girl who wanted to know his name. His name then got repeated by everyone and we all waved at each other. The children were so lovely. some were in wheelchairs, some were not, some were more able-bodied than others, some were more vocal, but what came across was how happy they were. How much fun they were having and if for me that is a glimpse of Zack's future than I am a very happy mummy. I think he will like school....as long as he doesn't try to make everyone his bitch.

Today we went to a fabulous place in Bolton called Vision Aid, (link on the left). This is a charity originally set up by a parent who had a visually impaired baby. Its aim is to support and help parents of visually impaired children. The charities home is a large Victorian House and they offer information and advice as well as loaning out equipment.

We went along and were taken into a large room full to the brim of colourful, noisy toys. Zack didn't stop staring at the shelves, he particularly liked the rainmaker toy. It made him smile....then he went back to serious mode.

The best part of the visit was being taken into a room full of home-made instruments to encourage visual stimulation. There was a huge box on the floor covered in space blankets (the tin foil things that marathon runners get wrapped up in) we popped Zack in the box and then went for a cup of tea.....only kidding. We put him there and then switched on a projector that spun round a bright colourful wheel that made the box sparkle. Zack absolutely loved it. He went really quiet, moved his head to look in different places where the lights fell, it was fantastic. We switched it off to go and look at something else and Zack was so peeved he started crying. I picked him up for a cuddle and we put the projector on a sparkly piece of material, he immediately stopped crying. Hmmmmm, first time he has reacted by crying in order for something to continue.

The charity have loaned me our very own projector. So now project A is to find a huge, gigantic box and cover it in space blankets, then lie the Pants in the box, switch on the projector and have a nice cup of tea.

I have to say, I think we are very fortunate to have access to such a wonderful charity, I hope that many more local children can benefit from it's existence.

Steroid Update

Zack is doing okay on the steroids only noticed three little seizures all day to day. But it is definitely making his stomach upset. He is okay for most of the day but was really irritable this afternoon and very grumpy before bed. His Dad was out at a works do so I am being a single parent and looking after him. This means no messing about and I just popped him in bed at 8.45pm crying or no crying. He was soon asleep and I carried on with the thousand other things I have to do with my life.

Looking forward to Christmas and cannot believe this year is nearly over and what a tough and yet wonderful year it has been.