PT / OT Update

(Physical Therapy / Occupational Therapy)

So this past Wednesday morning, the wife and I took Annabelle in for her first PT / OT eval. For those of you who are unclear on the difference between the two, I have learned that Physical Therapy basically deals with the the big body movements (Arms, Legs, Trunk etc) while Occupational Therapy basically deals with finer body movements (Head, eyes, hands etc).

To make a long story short, the two therapists (Wendy = PT / Crystal = OT) sat on the padded floor with Annie and observed her with their checklists in hand. Starting from the top and working down, here is what they commented on:

- Annabelle has almost lost the infant head-bob and is holding her head nice and steady
- Annie is not having any troubles moving her head one way or another
- Both Therapists believe Annie is very social as she clearly focused on each of the Therapists and responded to them with smiles and coos
- Arm movement checks out fine
- When placed on her stomach, Annie can prop herself up and lift her head about 45 degrees
- Annie has also started wiggling forward on her stomach - not really crawling so much as wiggling with purpose - I call her the "wiggle worm"
- The PT remarked that she could feel Annie using her abdominal muscles as she wiggled and that she appeared to have a very strong trunk
- The PT was unable to determine if Annie was using her hip muscles
- Annbelle still has not moved her legs although she does wiggle her toes a little (especially on her right foot)

All in all, they said that Annabelle meets or exceeds all the benchmarks so far (with the exception of the legs). They gave us a list of exercises to do with her but we will probably hold off on that for now as we think that the orthopedic doc will be casting both her legs when we go in on November 3rd.

For now, the therapists plan on seeing us in December.

It was a great experience and it is such a relief as a first-time parent to take your child in and get the official "thumbs-up" on all her development.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!