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This idea came to me when I realized Jimbo was always playing on the floor and Emily was only on the floor when I was with her. My mind began to conjure up thoughts of what it would be like if Emily did not have cerebral palsy. Rather than let such thought make me sad, I decided we would make a way for the kids to play on the floor near each other. At this time, the only piece of adaptive equipment we had was the Feeder Seat so that was my starting point. The crate was something I had picked up years before at a garage sale and used it to keep the blankets and couch pillows in. I used a piece of Velcro to secure the Feeder Seat to the crate. This worker rather well since I could pull or carry Emily to a different location. |
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Someone once told me that Emily would have to learn that there are things
that she will not be able to do and accept that she will sometimes have to
just watch. Although this is likely to be true, I rarely accept this
approach. Emily wanted to play at the toy box and couldn't reach very
many toys from sitting next to the toy box in her Corner Chair. She
did great with me helping her to stand while she reached in and picked up
toys, however, I couldn't get Jimbo's room cleaned while I was helping Emily
stand. I thought, "Do I sacrafice getting the bedroom cleaned, or do
I make Emily sacrafice the wonder of the toy box?" Neither choice was
acceptable to me. So we adapted to the situation by setting Emily IN
the toy box.
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Tractor Trailor Tire Intertube
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Since Emily couldn't walk, crawl, or even sit with out assistance, she
was extremely dependent on me. She would cry violently when ever I
sat her down. Although it sounded a bit strange when the Physical Therapist
first suggested setting Emily inside a tractor trailor tire intertube, this
was one of the first experiences Emily had with being able to sit and play
independent from Mom.
The intertube works anywhere -- inside or outside. When using the intertube outside, I often spread out an old blanket first so I wouldn't have to worry about Emily putting dirt, leaves, sticks, bugs, etc. in her mouth. If we were outside and I was not busy with chores, though, I would set her in the intertube without the blanket underneath so that she could play with the grass or dirt while I was there to supervise. When Emily wasn't in the intertube, Jimbo climbed on it and bounced. He also dragged his favorite blankets out from his bedroom and made a "nest" in the center, often falling asleep in it while watching cartoons. |
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I highly doubt that any professional would recommend strapping your child
to a kitchen chair like this, and I never left Emily unattended when she
was standing on the chair -- the Velcro could slip off! But this worked
very well at the time to allow mother and daughter to work together in the
kitchen.
My heart filled with joy when I first discovered this. I had not realized the loss that I felt by not having my little girl at my side making cooking, washing dishes, or cleaning the floor. When I came up with this, it just felt so RIGHT to have my girl at my side doing "girl things". When Emily gets a bit older, I expect we will be making modifications to our kitchen so that we can make some wonderful "kitchen memories". Also, I expect Emily to learn how to be as independent as possible and this will require many lessons in the kitchen. |
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This photo was taken at the cosmetology class of a local vocational training
school. Emily's Special Education Preschool class periodically took
field trips for hair cuts, trims, and they could even get their nails painted.
Before the trip we got a permission slip to fill out what we wanted
done. The trip just before Christmas resulted in Emily getting her
hair cut and her fingernails painted -- she even had a different Christmas
sticker on each nail!
Here you can see Emily sitting on the stool in the barber chair with her one-on-one Aide assisting Emily in maintaining her positon while the student prepared to cut her hair. Reports home from school indicate that Emily did a wonderful job at sitting up, and fairly still, while receiving all this attention. |
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