Therapy Update

Justin is doing even better than we could have thought and so I wanted to share some of his accomplishments:

Speech:  He said the word "ball" last week!  He has said it before, but he usually has to "warm up", meaning he babbles a string of random consonants before he gets to the point and says the word.  But now Miss Sarah asked him what a ball is and he said "bal bal" eight away!  (I use one "l" because the end of the word is less pronounced than the beginning.)  He is doing better at making more sounds.  We are working on the sounds animals make and the "vroom" of cars and trucks.  Imitation is the key to this, and he is very willing to imitate.  Still no "mama" though...sigh...

PT:  Justin wowed Miss Penny yesterday when he wanted to play with a balloon on a string and it was swinging and when is came towards him he grabbed it the first pass!  He did it all but a couple of times the whole time they were playing.  They are working on jumping and this is more inconsistent.  Some days he won't bend his legs for her and other days he does great.  They are working on short stairs and he is doing fabulous lowering himself very controlled-like for walking down stairs.  He is getting fit for new orthotics later this month and then we'll get new shoes which should help.  Today at the museum he was trying to stand on a small round mat and it was just soft enough for him to be unsteady as he tried to stand and he took several nose dives trying to straighten up.  But he kept trying, which is the most encouraging.

OT:  Justin got an old K-gun for Christmas.  It is a rubber gun that you squeeze and it shoots ping pong balls.  He and Miss Caroline shoot the balls down the hallway and then Justin gets on the scooter board on his stomach and scoots down the hallway to get them.  He cackles so loud we can hear him out in the waiting area!  He is also doing some sorting:  matching small blocks and plastic bears in egg containers with colored stickers on the bottom.  He actually enjoys this activity and picks it out of the cabinet.  They are working more on cutting and he does awesome cutting on a thick black line.  He doesn't deviate at all!  He is just very strong with his cuts and getting him to release and move the scissors to cut again is a challenge.  And risky for the person holding the paper!  I nearly lost a finger cutting loops off our countdown-to-Christmas chain!