Sadie's new PT

We saw a new PT today, at the recommendation of a friend who also sees her. She. Is. Wonderful. I don't think I could say enough good things about this woman!! My idea of PT has been totally turned around, and I think Sadie is going to show some great progress with Tami.

First of all, Tami operates out of a mobile facility. So, her and her partner rent space in a church parking lot and do PT out of this trailer attached to the back of a truck. I had called them previously to see if they'd come to my home, but they told me they don't come this far south. I did have to drive about a half hour north to get to her, but it was worth it.

One of the first things she said to me was that she thought the evaluation from Bob the PT was a little ridiculous. It said, and I quote, "Sadie did not cooperate with the therapist. She was crying constantly and throwing a tantrum during positional activities. She refused to play with toys and she demonstrated significant sensorty seeking issues which have resulted into behavioral problems." I call B.S. on Bob!! 6-month-old babies DO NOT know how to throw tantrums, and she is not old enough to have "behavioral problems." We also discussed at the end that we both thought Bob's goals for Sadie were vague and unambitious. So, we set some new ones, ones that were more suited toward Sadie's personality, and ones that make more sense for her age-wise.


There are so many things I like about Tami, but my favorite (if I had to pick one) is that she sang to Sadie almost the whole time we were there. Tami understood what babies like, and she respected Sadie's communication to her, she understood when Sadie didn't want to do something as opposed to something hurting her or making her uncomfortable. The first time Sadie started crying, Tami picked her up and started rubbing her feed on things that felt different, like the carpet, the mat, etc. And she said, "feel that with your feet? That's the carpet!" Sadie calmed right down. She felt a new sensation and she was interested in what was going on.


Tami had me take Sadie's dress off so she could see her muscles working in different positions. She had her roll VERY slowly and stop at different points in the roll so that she could see what Sadie's muscles do, and so that Sadie could feel what each position feels like. She was very positive and noted that Sadie is very strong, it's just learning to control her muscles that's going to take some practice. I also mentioned that Sadie can roll, she just doesn't have a reason to since she's not really aware or stuff and doesn't know how to reach for stuff. Tami was pretty impressed with what Sadie can do.


Then we worked on sitting. Sadie did really well with sitting. Actually Tami said she's SO CLOSE to getting it. We just need to work on sitting on her "sit bones" and bending from the hips for balance. She would push on different parts of Sadie's back to kind of show her how it felt to have gravity working different directions. Then she pushed some on Sadie's thighs to help Sadie realize she needed to push those hips into the floor in order to sit.


When Sadie would fuss, Tami would stop singing and make a raspberry noise. Sadie LOVED this noise. She would stop crying every time. I love this picture above. I think it was at this point she realized it was Tami that was making that noise and that she loves her.

Overall it was a very positive experience. Tami has been doing PT with kids for over 20 years, and she knows just about EVERY person we've worked with. She knows our pediatrician, our eye doctor, she has even met Bob the PT. She had a lot of good things to say about Sadie and really feels like she's going to make progress quickly. She also picked up that Sadie is good at communicating and felt like respecting her and what she wants to do was the most important. She also felt like Sadie is very determined (as evidenced by the fact that she's still alive!) and that once she decides it's time to crawl, there will be no stopping her, the same with walking (now if we could just convince her to want to sleep!!). She told me we can promote awareness of those hands by putting pressure on her palms when she's on her tummy, and opening them up and touching EVERYTHING, especially her own body.

I am so glad we've found a good PT and that I'm actually EXCITED to go back! Next time she wants to videotape Sadie so that once we start seeing progress we can compare her to where she used to be. Very cool.

I'll leave you with some more cute pictures from PT.