Enora A.’s progress from 20 months to 3 years old
EnoraJuly 2013 – April 2014: from diagnosis to acceptance
It took us a while to find our pace and, above all, the right professionals, but our schedule is now running smoothly!
- 1 hour of Medek every day
- a weekly Bobath physiotherapy session, mainly based on mobilisations, awareness of support points and weight transfers
- a weekly physiotherapy session, mainly based on back and shoulder massages (to a lesser extent, the upper limbs are also affected by spasticity)
- a weekly equine therapy session
- arnica massages after bath time
- a weekly speech therapy session, as we noticed a language delay
Scroll through the timeline to see the path we followed to discover and practise all these alternative approaches.
March 2014: a Medek week in Le Havre
Record broken for this exercise!
Note that the therapist does not throw Enora off balance. On the contrary, she compensates for or catches Enora’s losses of balance, because Enora cannot yet stand still without support.
January 2014: second 3-week Medek stay in Canada
Learning to stand up is harder than it looks!
April 2014 – August 2014: a few months in Toronto
A 4-month break in Toronto to focus entirely on Enora’s progress. The pace is intense but still playful!
- 2 Medek sessions a day (except at weekends)
- Swimming pool (twice a week) in water heated to 33°C
- 20 minutes of walking every day (holding Enora by one hand only)
- Tomatis method
- arnica massages after bath time
- Fine motor skills work with the iPad
- Social skills: 2 mornings a week in an English-speaking school! (Enora loves it)
The progress is there! The timeline opposite sums up the main milestones. Scroll through it!
- Mid-June 2014: standing on her own! Something clicked: last week Enora could not stand for more than 6 seconds, and now she managed to stand still for 50 seconds! (No, she is not hypnotised, she is watching a cartoon…)
- June 2014: two steps! Those two steps will need a lot more work to consolidate, but what joy!
- End of May 2014: I can pedal on my own! What a joy to taste independence! Of course it is easier on a smooth gym floor, but it is only the beginning!
May 2014: Ester & Enora, the dream team is back together!
Off to new Medek challenges!
This exercise is difficult because it shifts the centre of gravity. Enora has to adapt her posture (and therefore her balance) continuously.
September 2014: school!
Enora A. has started nursery school (petite section)! It would be a lie to say it was easy, because she had no school support assistant (AVS). A reminder of the law to the education authority solved the situation.
Her individual assistant helps her move around and with all everyday tasks. The two of them get on brilliantly!
The change of pace compared with Toronto, where she had 2 Medek sessions a day, together with a growth spurt (muscle spasticity increases and makes her stiffer), made her regress in terms of motor skills. Not easy to combine everything with school! So we reduced the Medek sessions to make more room for stretching, which has proved essential.
To give you an idea of her week, here is her schedule:
- mornings at school (she only attends in the morning for now)
- lunch and afternoons at the childminder’s
- every evening, alternating: 1 hour of Medek exercises or 1 hour of massage and stretching
- Thursdays at lunchtime: speech therapy session
- Fridays at lunchtime: physiotherapy session to massage her back, shoulders and legs
- Friday evenings: hydrotherapy session
Getting started with the walker
How do you get a little Enora (Enora A., the 3-year-old) with stubborn Breton roots to accept a walker?
The answer in pictures: by stirring her curiosity!
Even though she is not yet independent with it, we are proud of this first victory!
