UVA Constraint Therapy ~ Day 9

Another great day ends week three and we're 75% done.  We started our day with a trip to Great Harvest Bread Company to get a little treat as a thank you to Ms. Ruth.  This was her last week with us since she will be on vacation next week.  Then we took a trip to a new playground that we found about two miles from our hotel.  We had a great time there and were able to work on several strengthening activities.

It is very difficult for Reagan to hold onto something with her left hand and lean out with her right.  Although she has gotten much better at holding on, it is very difficult if her weight is on it.  As you can see in this picture, this playground had little platforms and you had to jump from one to the next and hold onto the vertical poles.  Reagan had to really stretch to reach from one to the next.  Her default position is to keep her left elbow bent.  It took several times across the lily pads to get a good stretch in her left arm and allow it to extend, but she did it!  We are definitely going back there next week!


Reagan and I left the park to go to therapy at 1pm and Emily stayed with Cole so he could play in the splash pad in his bathing suit.  I was VERY impressed that Reagan left willingly.  She knew she was going to therapy and he was staying for the water park.  This really speaks volumes if you ask me.  It shows that either she is enjoying therapy this time around, or perhaps she is recognizing how much progress she is making while she is there.  Either way, we are seeing progress.  You can see her pushing the phone button here - not something she could do last week.  She still can't keep her finger straight and it still collapses, but she is able to get it working!!  She also built that Wild West covered wagon one piece at a time.  Each styrofoam pipe, every magnetic ball connector and every clip for the fabric.  And not only put it together, but put it all away one by one!

Ruth was also very exited to show me a new trick Reagan learned today.  She had to use a card board tube to pick up a marble buried in rice with her left hand.  The trick is that she has to rotate her wrist one way to pick up the marble and rotate her wrist the other direction to allow the marble to slide into the jar of marbles.  Although very challenging, she worked very hard and we are looking forward to more new challenges next week!