Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> Belinda: Zayla was diagnosed with cerebral palsy affecting her left arm and leg.
The occupational therapist has taught us to start when Zayla wakes up in the morning.
We get up and have breakfast and Zayla has to hold her bowl with her left hand while
eating and to hold the cup with both hands. In the bath we use bubble bath and shaving
cream and sponges for Zayla to squeeze the sponges.
>> Louise: Zayla was initially referred when she was a baby to our centre and the most
obvious thing when she walked in the door that was her left side was very tight, her
arm was right up, her leg was very stiff and she wasn't doing anything. She couldn't
sit she couldn't lift her head if I put her on her tummy.
For Zayla at the beginning of the year we use a checklist and I will be looking at what
skills we really need to develop that she may be missing that may affect her ability
to be in the playground or be in a park or be outdoors doing activities that the rest
of her peer group can do. So today's session we had an obstacle course
set up and we started with a balance beam which today was on the ground. The aim was
for Zayla to walk along, be able to stop, bend down and pick something up, stay on the
beam and then actually use her left hand to put the bean bag into a container. So a few
tasks happening together. Then onto stepping blocks which have been really challenging
for Zayla and it's only been in the last two weeks that we've got her to actually
independently step over those blocks. A few weeks ago she was telling me how scary it
was and 'no no no no no, this is too scary'.
The children love getting in the ball pit,
it's a lot of fun but it's actually quite hard work trying to get your way through the
ball pit. So again using some resistance challenging all those motor skills to get across to the
other side. Today we're gonna use Coco today, okay?
Remember what does Coco do? Does that mean you can use this hand? No, it means you can't
use this hand because you use which hand? Today we used Coco in our cognitive fine motor
area where I had Zayla wearing Coco on her right hand and encouraging use of the left hand.
We needed to make a mit for Zayla to wear. We raided the local target store and
found some stockings, which we've cut and I've made up a plastic insert that sits
on Zayla's hand. The first day this glove was here presented
to her and the little bird is on it and Zayla just said "Oh, this is my Coco!" and started
to pat it. Sessions when she's with me are, they're
hard work it's not easy because it's really one on one and I'm pushing her and so when
Coco goes on she knows, she knows we mean business.
I've never met a child quite like Zayla. She has a love of life that is probably bigger
than life itself. I actually wouldn't like to know what Zayla would be like if she hadn't
been to early intervention because if she had stayed the way she was at that point life
was gonna look pretty tough. So I'm not sure what she'd really be like
and do you know what I don't really want to know because I think a classic example
of why children need to be coming to early intervention and why we need the support of
everyone to ensure that this service is maintained and built upon.