Physical Therapy Evaluation

It is amazing to think back to this fall when Max was hardly able to walk, sit up or crawl without shaking or tremors and now to see all the progress that he has made is truly a miracle.    After all of his testing we re-evaluated all of the goals that he has been working on with both physical therapists that he sees regularly both at home and at Children's Hospital.

Here are a few of the goals that we made last fall and where he is at:
1. Walk and run around home falling less than 5 times per day - goal progressing still has a ways to go.
2. Max will go up stairs with alternating feet using railing or wall for support - goal met
3. Mas will go down stairs with a step-to pattern - still working on but Max has the ability to do this if he has a verbal or tactile cue to remind him.
4. Max will demonstrate the ability to move from lying on his back to sitting without using hands or rotating his body - still working on - lots of ab and core work
5. Max will kick a ball forward 8- 10 feet - still working on - now up to 2-3 feet without falling.
6. Max will demonstrate the ability to jump up off the floor 1-2 inches independently - still working on - getting close.
7. Max will demonstrate the ability to jump forward  2-3 inches - almost there - still working on

New goals - We will continue to work on previous goals and add the following ones:

1. Max will demonstrate improved balance by standing on an unsteady surface independently while performing a fine motor task for 5 minutes
2. Max will demonstrate improved balance by walking forward 3 steps on a 4 inch line or curb
3. Max will demonstrate improved balance by stepping over 3-5 inch toys or objects on the floor independently.

According to his therapists Max continues to present with deficits in balance, strength, and coordination related to his diagnosis of OMS and his balance and stability can change from week to week depending on where he is at with his medication.

We will begin videotaping him weekly doing the same tasks to watch for changes in symptoms.  We are also supposed to start counting all the times Max falls or just tips over during the day.  This becomes difficult to watch since we usually lose count before breakfast, but we are going to start playing games with the kids to try to make it a fun thing to keep track of your falls. The other major emphasis we are going to focus on is safety.  Trying to keep him as safe as possible in his surroundings by giving him tools to use when his body is feeling out of control. One of the side effects to his medication is decreased bone strength and it can make bones very brittle.  Not a good thing for an active little boy with balance issues to have to deal with. So far God has protected all his little bones and we haven't had any major accidents. Given all the times he falls - this is a true answer to prayer.