Like many other kids whose hearing loss is associated with LVAS, Lucas has had gross motor delays since birth. He couldn't hold his head up until 6 months, he didn't sit on his own until almost 12 months, was unable to crawl with his belly off the floor until 12 months, and didn't walk until 21 months. He's doing remarkably well right now, although he's still a bit behind. I attribute his most recent gains to a unique opportunity he has had: aquatic therapy.
Our area is very lucky to be served by a premiere children's rehabilitation facility, the Schreiber Pediatric Rehab Center. Through this wonderful organization, Lucas receives both weekly speech therapy and biweekly physical therapy at home through Early Intervention. His PT recommended last August that we pursue aquatic therapy at the center to improve Lucas's balance deficiencies, and he has had weekly sessions since mid-September. His balance has improved and his comfort level in the water has increased immensely. The pool is designed for children, so the shallow end is only 1 foot deep. This means that Lucas can stand and walk there! Oma has been the one to accompany him to therapy, but I've gotten to go with him twice when we've had off school.
His therapist just adores him, and she keeps mentioning that he's ready for swim lessons. He always wants to put his face in the water, he doesn't want her to be constantly spotting him, and he just has no fear! So, we're looking into private swim lessons in that pool because of the depth, and I think it will be a much richer experience for him if he can HEAR. So, I'm heeding some advice that I got from cicircle over the summer, and I'm going to rig his processor so he can wear it in the water, using an Aloksak bag and a Lycra swim cap. I'm excited to try it out, and nervous at the same time. We'll see! I predict it will be well worth it!
I've pieced together some video clips from therapy that capture his incredibly contagious laugh, his complete lack of fear for the water and his ability to stand in the pool. Enjoy!
Brian "Damage" Rockatansky
Fuerte, muy fuerte, con esa fuerza de mogólico vieron? Brian es la única esperanza de los sobrevivientes del holocausto nuclear.
Es lo que había.
Algunos datos, es fanático de los pandas y su sueño es tener un panda.
Would you believe?
On New Year's Eve, one of Lucas's processors just stopped working. I was wondering why he kept trying to adjust it, and then I noticed that the light had stopped blinking. I tried to trouble shoot in various ways, but I had no success getting it to turn on again. Luckily, he has a back-up processor, so it wasn't really that big of a deal.
So, I called Cochlear today, since today is the first business day since it stopped working. Last time I called (over the summer), they found his name in a jiffy. Tonight the rep kept asking me further questions, like which implant center he uses. She then explained that there is someone else with the same name in our state! Who would have imagined! I mean, there are only 188,000 cochlear implants in the world. But someone very close to home shares the same first and last name as Lucas AND also has a Cochlear brand cochlear implant. Somehow I think that's pretty unbelievable.
I guess I didn't do a good enough job of giving him a less common name... hehehe! Wouldn't it be fun for Lucas to meet this person someday?
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