6 month goals

Yesterday we met with A's team of therapists from the Centre for Cerebral Palsy. She hasn't seen them much over the last few months which has been a shame as things were let go.
Every 6 months we have a team meeting to make goals and see what we will be working on.
My focus for the next 6 months is to prepare her for school and work on safety!
Some of the problems we will be addressing are:

• eating neatly and keeping food in her mouth, keeping her face clean
• awareness of danger around her and the danger of running away
• sorting our her sleep issues
• preparing for school

Myself I struggle everyday with the safety issues. We have talked about personal safety, and self awareness. ie not taking clothes off in public and not touching other people. Yet we still haven't found a way to explain physical danger. Most 4 year olds are becoming aware of abstract ides like getting hurt if a car hits you or getting lost if you run away. A doesn't yet understand these facts.
She thinks it's funny to hide from me and be quiet. She doesn't worry if cars are near her. She has little awareness of other objects near her when walking.
She will often walk into poles and objects as she is focused on one thing. It is like tunnel vision. Like a horse with blinkers!



It can be so frustrating but it also leads to other problems. If she gets upset because she is hurt or she gets angry that she hit something. Often she takes it out on me.
Her spatial awareness is also an issue:Spatial awareness is an organised knowledge of objects including oneself, in a given space. Spatial awareness also involves understanding the relationships of these objects when there is a change of position
She hasn't yet worked out where she is in her space. What is near and what is far. For an adult it is such a difficult thing to comprehend. I heard someone say once it's like walking drunk. You think something is right in front of your face but no it's off to the side. Or you think you can walk a straight, safe path but really you need to look down and see the hole in the path.
Kids usually learn it themselves but some need more help even kids without disabilities.

A also has problems with depth perception:
Depth perception is the visual ability to perceive the world in three dimensions (3D) and the distance of an object. Depth sensation is the ability to move accurately, or to respond consistently, based on the distances of objects in an environment.
A does see the world in 3D as far as we know but has difficulty judging the distance of an object. Walking up and down stairs took nearly 6 months to learn around the age of 2. She couldn't figure out where to place her feet and how big the gap between two stairs was. combine that with the difficulty of being off balance as each foot has to lift off the stair meant a long time training her to get it right. Even now she prefers to hold a rail or my hand as she walks up and down stairs. no wonder she aims for the lift everytime!

So even though I love it when people say you wouldn't know she had CP at all I see it. I see how she struggles through things and I see the aftermath when things fail. It is only due to her determination to do things independently that we have come this far. She is stubborn, determined and curios- a good combination for a child who has to catch up to everyone else.

Determination...my brother is up there so I will get there. In my sandals, by myself!
....and she did :)