Today was Madison’s last day at school. All the parents were invited for a holiday party. We decorated gingerbread houses, sang Christmas songs and had a visit with Santa. Madison was very brave to sit with Santa and was happy once he gave her a teddy bear. Her teachers did an excellent job gathering crafts to bring home and organizing a special gift for the parents. Madison made a mug painted for warm winter drinks. It was a great way to start Christmas vacation!
Later in the day Madison had a therapy session with Stephanie at Variety Village. It was a very special and exciting session! Shortly after Madison was diagnosed at 13 months we had heard of a method some therapists use with children learning to stand and walk – using ski boots! Janine and Suzanne found some very tiny ski boots and gave them to Madison. Madison had been too small and not strong enough to try them… until today. We brought her boots to her session and she tried them on for the first time. They were fabulous! She was able to stand independantly for over 20 seconds for the first time! We were all in shock and so thrilled to see her standing. She even tried to walk with them. The boots work well for Madison as they act like anchors to hold her feet to the ground and support her ankles so she can focus on engaging her leg and core muscles to learn the balance needs for standing without holding onto something. If Madison can learn to stand strongly in the boots and start to do activities and walk with them on they may be the way that she learns to stand independently or walk stronger with a walker. She was so proud of herself!
Madi Moves 