Get Your Motor Running

This morning Charlotte was assessed by Children's Clinic (physical therapy) in Roseville, MN for her gross motor delay.  Kind of weird being the consumer and not the provider in these assessments, and watch this parallel world where things play exactly like a language/speech/fluency evaluation, only for motor skills instead.

The physical therapist that assessed Charlotte was awesome and we are now on the waiting list for their services.  Back in my private practice days I referred kids to the Roseville clinic about five times a year so it was kind of a no-brainer in terms of where I wanted to go once Emily and I decided to pursue private physical therapy.

The assessment went really well and Charlotte did a great job in a new environment with a new person as the PT poked, prodded, and assessed.  The bottom line is Charlotte is kind of loosey goosey (hypotonia) with her muscles, including her ankles, legs, and trunk.  This gives her a lot of range of motion at all the joints as well as a lot of instability.  This why she uses her whole body to walk and has to sway and use her arms for balance the way a cat or monkey uses its tail.  She can't just stablelize herself at the calves and ankles like most of us do.

Also she pronates significantly.  So at the end of the assessment we came up with the plan to have orthotics made for Charlotte to help correct the pronation and we are on the waiting list at the Roseville Children's Clinic for physical therapy.  We could look elsewhere but I'd rather wait and go to the clinic I trust the most.

After all that I took Charlotte to the Children's Museum and for awhile we had Habitot to ourselves.  Then a few other kids her age came in and it is always kind of fun to watch them quasi-interact as they climb, slide, and explore.  But then the Waltons and the Von Traps all showed up at once and there was like 18392 siblings running aroud and Charlotte had enough and went to the "resource room" to chill out.

She is clearly her mother's daughter.