Physical therapy (and some pictures of my cutie)

Tycho's physical therapist (PT) is a member of Maryland's Infant and Toddler Program, a state-sponsored program that provides infants, toddlers, and children and their families with support and services related to physical therapy and other special education programs. It's based on the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and ensures that children with disabilities have the chance to receive a free and appropriate education (FAPE) to support their developmental and learning needs.

We were referred to them after our pediatrician's office noted his tort and brachy. To qualify, we needed to have, I believe it was, a 20% delay in his overall development, be it physical, mental, or otherwise. The state had a PT come out to evaluate him, and they were with him for about two hours while they checked him out from head to toe.

We just managed to qualify partly because of Tycho's tort, and as a result of the same, he's developmentally delayed in his gross and fine motor skills. No biggie, especially since they caught it early, but it's still something else we need to work on.

Our PT is Jen, a really vivacious woman who seriously reminds me of a west coast Florida beach bum somehow plopped in the middle of Maryland. (So that's to say, I can relate. ;)) Tycho took to her pretty immediately, offering smiles and coos until she started manipulating him. To his credit, though, it was 6:45 in the morning!

Jen taught us a number of exercises we can do with him, from side-lying on the affected side to increased tummy time and stretches to tilt his head to the right. We have a feeling he'll be more inclined to do them once we get one of these spinning wand dealies, which kept him plenty distracted and actually stopped his crying in its tracks a few times.



She'll be coming a few more times over the summer, save for weeks when she'll be out of town. After that point, we can decide if we want to switch to PT in Howard County (which means we can have someone visit him at the daycare, but we'll need a new therapist) or if we want to keep these 6:45am appointments. If it continues to go as well as it did today, I might be inclined to keep the latter. Plus, having one therapist work with him without real change would be nice!

I feel so fortunate that we're able to get this service free of charge and at our home. It takes a bit of stress off myself and Matt, and gives Tycho the chance to get better while in the comfort of familiar space. Between this, the chiropractic appointments we have, and the helmet, we're thinking all of this should be resolved by 7 months at the earliest, and best prognosis at a year. I'm stoked!

As a thank you for sticking with me through all these posts, here are some cute pictures. Not that I'm biased or anything. ;)

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] "Tycho Airliiiiiines!"[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Cousin love! <3 (Babe on the left is 6.5 weeks older than Tycho!)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1872" align="aligncenter" width="500"] He may be sick (yay daycare), but he's still all smiles![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1873" align="aligncenter" width="500"] 3 months and LOL-worthy. ;)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1874" align="aligncenter" width="500"] In his Hungry Caterpillar cloth diaper! (That's right, we're starting cloth again!)[/caption]

And mostly for lulz: