Discouraged about physical therapy

Does anyone else have to do some physical therapy with their twins?

I have to for DD. The PT came yesterday and showed us what exercises to do with her... It seemed simple.. Except that DD just won't have anything to do with it. Every time I put her on my lap to work on it (pretty much work on her leg/heels muscles), she wiggles out. It's so bad I'm worried I'm going to break her foot or something. The therapist only comes every other week so at this rate I'm worried she will never walk

 

:hug: I don't do physical therapy with my twins but I hope it gets easier for you soon. Hopefully the more you do it the easier it will get. :hug:

 

I had to do PT with my ds (but he was younger) and I used to have to put something on TV for him to watch while I did what I had to do. It's hard when they don't cooperate with us and we know they need it. :hug: :hug: Find something that interests her and let her do it while you do the exercises.

 

:hug: :hug:
Hope it gets easier over time.

Dianna

 

We have had PT since the kids were about 7 months old, but it really just consisted of doing different activities with them to encourage them to accomplish different things. (sitting, getting out of sitting position, walking) We have some days that were always harder then others because they have minds of their own and do not always want to do what we want them to do. Some days our PT would leave early because no one would cooperate. I sure would not worry about your little one never walking. Mine were 7 weeks early so they have always been closer to their adjusted age, but DS just started walking this week. The PT also told me that the average age for a child to walk is 14 months so my major advice would be to be patient. It will happen. Took my DS forever but he is doing great now and we are almost done with PT.

 

Don't get discouraged! We didn't start physical therapy with Kevan until he was nearly 18 months, because I didn't realize he needed it -- at that point we saw a geneticist, who pointed out that he had very low tone all over (we thought it was just in his facial muscles).

Anyhow, when the therapist first came, Kevan totally resisted her, and he was NOT going to take a step. No interest whatsoever. But, within four weeks, he was walking.

We didn't have a lot "homework" to do with him, but we just started forcing the issue, and pulled him up to a stand all the time instead of letting him crawl.

Have faith -- your munchkin is still so young! Like a PP said, she hasn't even reached the average age for walking yet.

 

i'm not sure where you live or how it works, but here in cali we have Regional Centers which deal w/IE's and stuff like that. we were referred when we left the nicu and had a great case worker. she told us that kids who get pt like mine are eligible to take outside classes--like gymboree! so, we actually just got finished w/gymboree after 7 whole months. it was compltely free! and it did WONDERS for my kids. admittedly, they were 9 months old when we started (just over 6 adjusted) so it's hard to know for sure they would have done so well even if we didn't go to gymboree. but i can tell you that they LOVED going and they were walking at 10 months adjusted. after having been way behind at 6 months of age.

gl!

 

I can only imagine how tough it must be for you! We didn't have PT but I know that it felt like there was almost no "forcing" the boys to walk. They did it on their own time and that was that. I felt frustrated and a bit worried because it seemed like Jacob was never going to walk (at 14 months)... he resisted any practice we tried to do and it got very frustrating. Then all of a sudden one day he just did it. Obviously your situation is different because your DD has PT services and "homework" that needs to be done... but I understand how frustrating it can be to get a little one to practice something they don't want to. Good luck! :hug:

 

:hug: Can you call your EI coordinator for suggestions on how to make it easier to do the exercises? :hug:

 

We also do PT with both kids. DD has been going since October and DS just started last week actually. Both are going because they have muscle stiffness in one side of their body. DD is worse than DS's, yet neither are really that bad.

Anyway, when DD started, she was just like what you are saying...so stiff that I thought I was going to break her ankle doing the ankle rolls. It was so good for her to get the stretching though. She loosened up much faster than I thought she would and started rolling over (which was why she started PT in the first place) when she was able to loosen her hips and move her legs to each side.

We are going twice a week however. I know the frequency has been really good for Josie and wonder if you might want to bump up the number of times the PT visits (or you can visit him/her). Otherwise, just keep it up mama!