Camp Snap shot of our Camp day * Picture Packed*

Thank you for everyone that made a comment to let me know you are out there. I really enjoy blogging about James and his journey post SDR and just our life frankly but figured that I if no one was reading it I would just go back to my diary or the personal family blog. BUT since there are those that do check and read my ramblings I will continue :-)

I especially love hearing that there are other Mom's of kiddos with CP. And for those of you considering the SDR please feel free to send me an email with any questions maryellen@lighthouselifeinpictures.com It was the BEST decision we ever made for James and we would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

Now on to bigger and better topics like WE CAME HOME....for the weekend! It was so good to see my house, bed, recliner, and dog! I missed that lab sooooo badly! Haven't seen hubby yet but he will top the list once I do :-) It also feels good to be in front of a computer instead of blogging on my phone in the RMHouse.

People have been asking about the Adeli suit and and the program that we are in, so I thought I would post some close up shots and talk a little bit about the program. Children's Hospital in Birmingham one of the very few places that are certified and trained to use the Adeli suit. I researched a few other programs but I liked Birmingham because they also incorporated los of other PT practices into the program and it is a very well rounded program . They use traditional PT with a little Conductive Education as well as the Adeli program. And I like that!  This picture below is James getting all suited up. The suit is very tight and gives a lot of sustained pressure which James doesn't always deal very with. You can see all the bungees that go every direction. They are specially placed just for James and his physical needs. For example James' left foot turns inward and so they place tighter  bungees on that leg to make his leg straight. The goals is to align the body perfectly and do repetitive PT to retrain the brain to the correct movements

 James is NOT a happy boy right here. The first 10 min in the suit for James is really rough. His PT tells me that kids react one way or the other. Either they love the pressure or they hate it. James hates it! I knew he would because he never likes harnesses and belts that are placed on him. To help him with that they use Vital Sounds integrated listening. You can see the headphones here. These are special modulated music CDs that provide a calming sensory input, and James responds well to it.

 See :-) This is after that first 10 mins when James is able to work thru the sensory issues that he has and focus on PT. Not sure if you can tell here but there are bungees at the ends of James toes that pull his heel cord these really made a big difference in his steps.

The other aspects of the camp are more traditional PT exercises just done in an intensive way. James has 3 solid hours of PT and 1 hour of OT everyday. The program is very intensive and by the end of the day James is exhausted. Here is a typical schedule of event for one day of camp

8:30-9:00-  Heat Pads, Stretching and Massage time

9:00- 10:00 - Strengthening and Core Activities and Big Ball Exercises

 10:00- 10:15 Snack
10:15- 11:15- Adeli Suit, Treadmill and Cage work or walking

11:15-11:30 Cool down and Walking to OT department
11:30- 12:30 OT Hour

12:30 End of Camp day!

Time to REST and gear up for the next day