ECI - occupational therapy visit

Kira saw her occupational therapist, Laurie, today. We started with Laurie when Kira was 2 months old and have always seen her once a month. When Kira was small, Laurie and Chris, Kira's physical therapist, both focused on many of the same things - head control, trunk control, etc. We saw each of them once a month - so that meant that Kira was seen roughly every two weeks. It was a nice fit for us. We now see Chris quarterly.

Today's report:

What's New/Progress: Put on shorts yesterday, beginning 2 word phrases, puts trash in trash can independently.

Goals/Outcomes Addressed:

1. taking on/taking off simple clothing with minimum assistance


2. open/close zippers with assistance


3. string beads (3)


4. imitates drawing a circle and horizontal line

Routines (summary, observation, assessment, plan): Shirt off if loose, completing a dressing activity if Mom starts. Beginning to pretend play with baby dolls, showing empathy to brother. Working on opening ziploc bags and using zippers - pulls ribbon on zipper pull if hands are placed, opens and removes toy or food, etc.

Recommendations: continue strategies

I think it was a good visit. Last month, Laurie recommended tying a small piece of ribbon in a loop to the zipper pull of a small change purse. Kira can hook her finger through the loop to open and close the zipper, until she builds up enough hand strength to grasp the pull itself. She's doing pretty well with this task. We have to place her hands in the correct spot, but she's doing a good job with the pulling.

The switching hands concept is also something we are working on with the stringing beads. Kira understands to put the wooden needle in the hole and pushes it all the way through. We're working on the next steps of switching the bead to the other hand , then grasping the needle and pulling it the rest of the way through, and finally, pulling the bead on down the thread.

"Showing empathy to brother" - On this one, I have to say how lucky Jackson is to have Kira for a sister. He'll get upset with me and go storming off mad and crying. Kira will go to him and pat his back. She'll say "urt?" (hurt) or "ad?" (sad). She'll give him great big hugs and try to cheer him up. Every now and then, he'll be sitting in time-out because of something he's done to her. And she'll be sitting right there next him, consoling him. All is forgiven in about 2 seconds.

The trash can mention is one of those things that I appreciate Kira doing, that I never took the time to notice when Jackson started doing it. I realized the other day that she's gone from throwing random things into the trash can to actually throwing trash in it. I think one of the positive things of parenting a child with Ds is getting to appreciate those small accomplishments and to recognize how those seemingly tiny things add up to really big deal things, like the hope for independent, successful living later on.

Laurie also mentioned a really cool idea that she saw at a daycare the other day. We're past the baby food stage, but maybe someone else can use this tip. At the daycare, they were using this type of baby food container:

to make blocks with. They would glue little toys inside and then glue the lids on. What a great, thrifty idea for see-through blocks! All I ever thought to do with those was to re-use them for cheerios, etc. in the diaper bag.