6 Month Physical Therapy Update

Yes, 2 posts in one day! I have a lot to say today!

As many of you know, Marino receives physical therapy through the Early Intervention Infants and Toddlers Program. This program is funded by the state and, in Maryland, run by the school system. Its designed to assist babies and pre-school age children with developmental issues as early as possible to circumvent issues in later years. Its really been a blessing for us in a number of ways, and I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has about it.

We have a really wonderful therapist named Melody (and I'm not just saying that because she reads this blog; she really is great). Marino loves her and she provides me with a lot of good feedback and ideas on how to motivate Marino. We went through a very long period where it felt like we were getting no where (from sitting up to commando crawling was a long 3 months with no changes) and Melody helped keep me sane by pointing out more subtle fine motor skills Marino was developing that I might not have otherwise noticed.

Marino has been in the program for 6 months now, so she gave me his 6 month progress report this week. I am very proud to share that he is now at the 9 month developmental range for most areas (cognitive, social/emotional and gross motor). He is only behind in expressive language skills (he mainly uses "ahh" as his form of expressive language) but at the 9 month range in receptive language. He is also in the 12 month range for fine motor skills! Maybe he will become an artist? Check out these painting skills:

He actually started pointing at things today in therapy.

Today in our physical therapy session, we had an extra therapist sit in. We all talked about ways to motivate babies to crawl and I wanted to introduce a wonderful tool in motivating baby movement...the Italian Greyhound!

Perhaps all therapist should bring Italian Greyhounds with them to therapy sessions - they really make a baby want to move!