Thursday, June 5, 2008

Ugh...

I don't even know where to start with this post.
I posted such a postive post yesterday about the PT, but after careful review--i've come to realize that it was not a positive session.
I wanted to like this new PT, but honestly the entire time she was here I felt like she was doing the EXACT same things we do in OT. I thought that I had mistaken what a PT does and wrote it off. Basically, the PT barely even looked at Leah's leg, she focused 95% of the session on her arm. We already have 2 OT sessions a week--I didn't think we needed to be doing the same things a third time. So, like I wrote yesterday the PT said really wonderful things about Leah's leg and how she barely even saw that it was affected. I knew this wasn't the truth, but because I assumed that she knew what she was doing I believed her. I know Leah's leg isn't nearly as bad as her arm--but to say that it is not affected at all is not true. When I told our therapist about it today, we decided that we need to get a second look. I don't want Leah to suffer and not be getting 100% out of PT. At the end of our PT session, the therapist said, "ok, see you next month", I was the one who had to ask for weekly sessions. I said something along the lines of, uh don't you think she is ready for more sessions, since she is mobile. The Pt was like, oh ok sure. I need someone that is going to give my baby her all and not just come around once a month. Leah doesn't need another person to focus on her arm, she needs help with her leg. I need a therapist that is going to show me what to do to help her, and this therapist didn't do that at all. I'm upset. This was our first EI experience and i'm just not happy with her. Our OT has someone she can bring in to evalute Leah. Ugh, I just want her to have some decent PT. I was feeling bad about "ditching" this PT, but at the end of the day; this is my baby and she deserves the best. If I feel that someone was not doing the best for her, I as her mother need to step up and say something. I guess this post is too be continued, hopefully we will end up working with the right PT for Leah.

1 comments:

Popcorn House said...

First thing, is I totally agree she is your baby and if you aren't seeing the results that you want then find someone else. BUT I will say that they do have to establish a relationship of sorts before they can get them to work. I noticed this especially with our OT. While I loved her personality right from the start, it just felt like she threw some toys down and we watched Sammy play. She now does lots more, but not as much as I would expect, when I see her working with two year olds I see more "typical" therapy, so I do think this baby age is harder. BUT I do see such a big improvement over the past six months of him going. Our PT is more agressive and she is willing to push him a bit more then I ever would. I think that the two personalities really work well together for Sammy.

OK on the leg front. At first our therapist both didn't really see much going on with his leg. Babies do funky things with their toes so it just wasn't noticed. But then we started to see him locking his knee when he was in a standing position and rolling his ankle. The knee locking has STOPPED since starting hands and knees crawling. The toes and ankle still there. Our PT thinks that Sammy will need a SMO or a pollywog. I think he will end up with a SMO first, to help with ankle support but then hopefully move to the pollywog insert. Sammy doesn't have any tone issues in his leg but a little in his toes, which to me is strange. I honestly would just keep helping her crawl. My PT yesterday was listing all the great things that "real" crawling does for them and it really really is great. And I know that he is trusting his left leg more and that is what is helping him not lock that knee. Good luck, I don't know if any of that helped you!