Well I'll keep the posts going. My wife and I have 3 kids. My daughter is 4. She deosn't walk, talk or self feed. SHe has been givin a diagnosis of CP although all tests have come back fine except for the MRI. My son is 2 and seems to be fine. We have a new born with Pierre Robin sequence which includes a cleft palatte. OUr daughter is happy and loves music and basic interactions like clapping and tickeling. She has started going to school twice a week for half days and is doing well. She has also been doing well in her stander with her braces... Looking forward to connecting with others. I like the format of this site.

Just wanted to say Welcome. I haven't posted that much....yet....I have been enjoying looking and reading everything here.

Glad to see that some people are getting use out of this forum. Thanks for the compliments and keep the posts coming! I put a lot of inital work into this site and am very glad to see that my efforts are helping others with CP.

-Mike
Admin

Hello! I hope you get great use out of connecting with others here. Have you tried to get a gait trainer for your daughter? (since you said she doesn't walk). My daughter cannot walk, but in a gait trainer she can! She goes everywhere and since she's been using it, her fine motor skills have improved a bit.

Thanks for the advice. We do have a gait trainer. She does well in a stander but once she is in there she just sits down in the saddle. We've tried everything we can think of but she is pretty clever about resting. She does take some steps when holding her hand we'll just keep at it.

jlweissmi wrote:Thanks for the advice. We do have a gait trainer. She does well in a stander but once she is in there she just sits down in the saddle. We've tried everything we can think of but she is pretty clever about resting. She does take some steps when holding her hand we'll just keep at it.

lol! My DD was the same way. Does she have any favorite toys or anything else that she likes to play with? If so, put her in the gait trainer and put that toy on a coffee table a few inches away from her. This way she will have to take a few steps to get to the toy. Then next time put her a few more inches away and so on. When my DD first got her gait trainer I would also hold her hand and show her all the different things she can do at home (like opening drawers in the kitchen). These were things she never attempted before but after showing her a few times all the different things she can do, it clicked that she can explore on her own. Give your daughter a little more time but try to be interactive with her in the gait trainer, and she'll soon understand that it'll give her independance to get around (don't worry, it took my daughter almost 9 months to finally get the grasp of everything!). Good luck to you!

Those are great ideas thanks a lot. We usually put her toy right in front of her we'll try putting some distance there and I like the thought of holding her hands. Duh never thought of that. My son is 2 so maybe she'll try to follow him around of course his favorite thing is to push her around so we'll see how that goes. Thanks agai

jlweissmi wrote:Those are great ideas thanks a lot. We usually put her toy right in front of her we'll try putting some distance there and I like the thought of holding her hands. Duh never thought of that. My son is 2 so maybe she'll try to follow him around of course his favorite thing is to push her around so we'll see how that goes. Thanks agai

Oh yeah, little boys think its a car. I have a nephew who's one year older than Sarah. When he comes to visit he pushes her around and makes car noises. Sarah thinks it so funny. Holding her hand is great. When I take Sarah to school, she goes in her gait trainer. She's learned that she is not allowed to move in the gait trainer until I hold her hand (while we are in the parking lot). As soon as we get up on the sidewalk, she rushes to the front door. Really it takes a while for children to understand this new freedom. But be careful..Sarah has now broken two blinds (by pulling on the string too hard) and I've found countless plants that have leaves completely ripped right out of them.

I'll take those trade offs