Well we have finished week 2, I cannot believe we are about to head into our third and final week! Thanks to all for the prayers, thoughts, and good vibes you have sent our way- we definitely have felt them, especially when we needed them most!
I’d like to give you a quick run down of all of Blaise’s sessions each day and what is happening during them-
Session #1: Blaise starts the day with speech therapy- and speech therapy for him just looks a lot like playing and supplementing the play with word repetition and also using his “talker”. His “talker” is a device that has a program that Blaise can use to help communicate. His therapist here has gone above and beyond programming the device for us and utilizing it during his sessions. Blaise usually says the first syllable of a word- if that- so sometimes it is hard to know what he is saying and therefore he gets frustrated at times trying to communicate. With continued use and learning- Blaise will be able to use the talker to help communicate when his verbal language is lacking. It is also a nice tool because most times Blaise repeats the word after the talker says it- and that is amazing for his development!!!
Session#2: Blaise’s next session is called DMI- or Dynamic Movement Intervention. During these sessions Blaise is not wearing his AFOs (his leg braces) or any other supportive equipment. This is the hardest session for most of the kids-and Blaise is no exception- because the exercises change every. single. day. He never does the same exercise twice in this session- which is pretty remarkable given he has 15 days x 1 hour sessions. As they say- practice makes perfect- and you can imagine the frustration you might feel if you were told you needed to master a movement, but only got 3-5 repetitions in a row to do so. I was thrilled to get a few more videos during this session this week so you can see the amazing work these therapists do with him each day.
Sessions #3 & 4: Blaise’s final two sessions each day are in the NeuroSuit- which you have probably noticed as the cool outfit in some of the videos. The NeuroSuit frames the body and provides support and resistance simultaneously. This is supposed to help facilitate proper movement and provide additional weight bearing distributed strategically throughout the body. Now in these two sessions the therapists work together and find movements they will work on in these sessions. Each therapist sticks to the same exercises each day. This is great for Blaise because unlike the unique challenges DMI brings, during these sessions he can actually feel more confident and stronger as he improves in these movements each day. Not that he never throws a tantrum- but he seems more agreeable overall 🙂
Now about Week 2- Blaise started off Week 2 very strong- having the weekend to rest and recover did him a world of good! I was able to get a lot of videos of Day 6 and Day 7 because he was happy, cooperative, and looking very strong! I know in Week 1 I was not able to post a lot of pictures of DMI or Dynamic Movement Intervention. As I mentioned this is his hardest session, and usually I am not able to video during it as I am showing him videos or playing music to distract him. Here are some links to a few videos- but check out the channel for more!
https://youtube.com/shorts/dPFHVkDofaQ
https://youtube.com/shorts/Ku_0lEcUQGY
https://youtube.com/shorts/qISvEKHUcPs
https://youtube.com/shorts/pPhcsWH7lv0
However- Wednesday and the beginning of Thursday were very difficult. Blaise was quickly getting frustrated during exercises, Mama was running out of tricks to try and distract him, and he seemed to be turning to me as a “crutch”. What I mean by that is he would scream and cry my name and want to be held. And the instant I held him he stopped crying and smiled- but then the instant I put him back on the ground for an exercise, he was screaming and crying again. On Wednesday I had to leave the room for about 1.5 of his sessions because my presence was not really helpful. I certainly felt a little defeated that I couldn’t help make the sessions easier, and that I couldn’t be fully present to watch and learn from the therapists.
Luckily for us- we had Nana to the rescue!!! Nana had very graciously already planned to come to Boston to stay with us for a few days during this intensive- and it has made all of the difference in the world! On Wednesday evening we picked Nana up from the airport, and she was at the sessions on Thursday and Friday with us. When Blaise was starting the “crutch” behavior on Thursday, I left the room and Nana stayed with Blaise and the therapist. That change of pace definitely helped, because Blaise did amazing with her.
I think having Nana here really turned things around for Blaise for the end of Week 2. Because the second half of Thursday and all day Friday- Blaise made amazing strides. But you will have to wait and see that amazing progress in the Part 2 post (because I’ve apparently reached the YouTube upload limit for now- lol).