Linked-in. Are you??? Should you???

A couple of weeks ago one of my clients suggested to me to join Linked-in. She explained to me that the is a professional network and unlike Facebook connects people professional without viewing pictures of their last camping trip.

I know this is old news to some but I so far I found it most fascinating. Not really for the fact that I made a lot of contacts (which I haven’t) but more for the discussions that are going on. I joined a couple of groups like “Neurorehabilitation” and Cerebral Palsy groups and been getting email updates about different discussions on a daily basis. Something tells me that those are the discussions we (as in the conductive community) should take part in. Getting out there and let everyone know that we have a voice and a view. And we can get out of our professional hiding-place. There is right now a discussion about Neuroplasticity, rehabilitation and Stroke. We should be in there, shouldn’t we?

Funny that those discussion look a lot like some that have been going on in the boundaries of the CE world. But maybe we still have to decide what our view is. A few of us came to the conclusion not too long ago on Andrew Sutton's facebook wall. Is that true? Quite possible, but who know without real widespread discussion.

Through Linked-in I have made a quite interesting acquaintance with a professional working in Toronto. His name is Nathan Gendelman. I commented on one of his blogs and pointed out some similarities in our thinking about learning and functional application of daily life skills. He replied to me (and allowed me kindly to quote him) “The LIFE concept does have certain common points with Peto, but it does have a lot of differences, which does not mean we can work together under one roof. [Literally as conductors do work for his company] I think if we can benefit to kids and adults with disorders - this is the greatest thing we can do. All the rest can and have to be worked out, so there is one path and all in one treatment.” After some negative experience in the past I have made with different professional, I am very excited to come across some who are looking for the exchange of views. I always knew that they are out there (as I met a couple in the past) and lately I am happy to report there have been more positive experience then negative ones. After a couple of email exchanges with Natan Gendelman, I have been asked to write about CE on the enablekids blog. That is the first time I have been asked such a thing and feel quite honored, who wouldn’t? I said I will give it a go and hope I will be able to come up with something useful.

Anyway, I am in the middle of spring camp and therefore pretty busy just being a conductor working with children and their parents - full time. I think it created a lot of learning for all (of course it includes my learning, too) and that right now reserves most of my attention.

I do hope in the future to be more out there. Discussing, writing and learning.

Notes:

http://www.linkedin.com

http://www.facebook.com/#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=152911594770591&id=1540593482

http://www.enabledkids.ca/

Walking – more then just a physical skill…

About two weeks ago I started working with a new client. This young man underwent a SDR (selective dorsal rhizotomy) about three month ago. Before the operation he was able to walk with a rolator under supervision but he scissored his legs a lot and his parents felt that he would never be independent. That’s why they opted for the operation.

When I meet him two weeks ago he had a hard time sitting up straight as his core was very weak. This is why his parents decided to hire me in the first place. They explained to me that he had extensive physiotherapy since the operation and that the therapist was working on walking. In fact she tried to have him walking with his legs in perfect alignment with the help of equipment and facilitation. The parents were told that they should avoid walking until he mastered this skill. In order to support his progress, they carried him. His way of moving around was someone carrying him, which meant he had no idea how to problem solve involving his body. Further this meant he had little opportunity to get to know his new body, as it now reacts in very different way then before the operation.
Consequently he had little confidence using his body and was very scared standing on his legs. We tried a couple of steps and he looked and felt more stronger then I expected. However he needed a lot of physical support because he tended to collapsed ( a common side effect of SDR) and felt very insecure about it. He also crossed his feet a lot, which made him collapse even more.

I talked with the parents about that the skills of sitting and walking as well as problem-solving, self-esteem and confidence are very much interlink and that to get the one stronger the other need to be worked on. We also talked about that its important for their and their childs physical and emotional health to stop carrying him. And that walking in perfect alignment is also my goal but that I think he needs the chance to learn to fix his feet so he does not panic in case they do cross.

I explained to them that all rehabilitation processes I have been involved in with children who had the SDR done, it was vital that they stood on their legs as often as they could to build up strength and stamina. They told me they would like to do more with him but its hard with four other children in the house, they simply have no time.. I discussed that it is important for him to be able to move more as part of his daily routine as this is more important then exercising. So instead of carrying they should walk with him, for the short distances in the house.When he has to sit himself up on the sofa I showed him how to help him, so he can get stronger and eventually do it himself. Instead of lifting him up they should help to stand up so he has an active part in it. The family has been involved with CE before my time and it made straight away sense to them.

I suggested to get their physiotherapist to contact me so we could discuss if keeping him of his feet was really necessary for his rehabilitation. A couple of days later I had a very nice email exchange with that Physiotherapist and she was very open to my suggestions. In fact she thought they were are good ideas and she agreed with everything I said (that was definitely very refreshing to the usual professional encounters I had). So, the family stopped carrying him and felt less torn between two professional opinions. I worked with him for a bit to build up his confidence as well as getting to know his body. We explored what he could do and how to move his legs in different positions. While we were playing games he was building up his strength. We practiced to reach in and out of his gravity point. He was scared to try and I ensured him he could do it and I would be there if something goes wrong, so he was safe to try. That helped him to get over his fear. Within a short time he was able to do more and more. And with everything new he could do, his confidence level rose.

During our last session he was able to take 44 steps with his rolator with me having my hands on his hips in case he collapsed. We learned that the only times he did collapse was when his feet weren’t in alignment or he stepped on his toes. With me giving him some small verbal guidance from time to time he could fix his feet position by himself. I shared this with his parents and recommended that they start using his rolator to walk short distances.

I think the important changes that happened were that he and his family had more confidence to try and stopped being scared of moving around. It’s going to be very exciting to watch where he goes from here.