Physical Therapy issues

[AmyP]

Sarah's been making a lot of progress in gross motor skills, so my issue isn't with the therapy she's getting. Her therapist is wonderful and is giving us stuff to do at home and we're doing it. I think Sarah will be crawling shortly, and I think walking will follow soon afterwards.

The problem we're having is that Sarah has been having major temper tantrums during her therapy sessions. I've been right there with her the whole time, so I know the therapist isn't doing anything mean or hurting her or anything. Sarah just really seems to hate it. She's had four sessions now. The first one she didn't like, but that's to be expected. She loved her second session, but has hated the two afterwards. She had several tantrums at this morning's session. She's supposed to get 45-minute sessions, but she spends so much time wigging out that we always cut them short.

The second session is the only one that didn't occur at home. We met the PT at a nearby branch of the library for story time since she was working with another child that day at story time. Sarah was really happy during that session and even snuggled up to the therapist.

She's been somewhat tired during all the sessions (her naps are really weird right now since she's between one and two naps at the moment), so that may be a factor.

The PT is willing to do her sessions other places - like a play area at a nearby mall, story time at a library in the area, etc. The problem is the ONLY branch of our library that does it once a week does it on a day that we can't have therapy because I work that day and the PT has that day off every week. Most libraries in the area do it once or twice a month. There's one that does it most weeks, but Sarah was terrified of the librarian that did it one time I brought her there. Other times she has been okay. They don't generally have a playtime afterwards at this branch (although I may call and ask if there's a time that they do since this branch offers it two times in one morning per week), which is also a problem because that's when we can do a lot of the work.

Do you think the problem is more likely that Sarah just isn't liking the PT coming to our house or is it that we're consistently catching her at bad times?

If we do go out of the house, should we try the other nearby library and see if things have improved? Any other thoughts?

[JustJen]

Austin did PT as a little guy at our house, the PT office and at his early intervention group play session each week.
There were several occasions that he had a fit. Mainly when it was something that challenged his body and what he was able to do. He had hypotonia (low muscle tone) and some of the most minor things were a challenge for him. Twisting at the trunk from a sitting position was the biggest problem. He HATED it.
Once he got used to the activities he adjusted.
I never noticed it being at one specific location although he always seemed distracted at our house and at his group sessions. The other kids, our cat, toys, all were more enticing.
My best advice would be to test it out. Try staggering the times and locations and see how it pans out. Are they giving you homework for her PT?
Maybe trying those exercises out with her at different times and keeping track of her reactions would help?

[Dennis]

Since the one session she liked was the one you didn't do at home, it can't hurt to try doing another one someplace else. Another thought is to try leaving her alone with the therapist, which would probably be easier if you don't do it at home. Joe and Frances are less likely to have tantrums and such when they are alone with other people.

Dennis

[AmyP]

I talked to my mom and she said we can do it at her house if she wants. I'm going to suggest that to the therapist if she throws another fit at her next session. I might check out the branch of the library again next week where she had problems. It was only the one time and it was a while ago so things may have changed.

[Brooke]

I work for an OT in Arnold (near Annapolis). The little kids that come in often have a tough time for the first few weeks or months, even with the parents there.

[MrsPeacefrog]

I haven't had PT for my kids, but I Aiden does go to Speech Therapy, and I know when I used to be in the room he would always play up and not concentrate, so once I started letting him go into the room with out me he has been great!

She could be feeling uncomfortable doing the exersises and knowing you are there could be causing her to call out for you to make it stop :dunno:

[Shannon]

Hugs !!!
Parker had this issue with his PT. For us, we changed our PT. We found that for some reason Parker just would not respond to her. Once we did, everything was fine. This one had a different personality (much calmer, not as loud) and that seemed to do the trick. Part of it to is probably that it is painful to some extent and it really is hard work to do and she just does not want to do it :) For me it was all about comfort, my comfort level and Parker's comfort level. There was one point when I took a break for a couple of weeks because I could not stand the crying anymore (from me or him). That was when we talked to EI and they suggested a new therapist.

[AmyP]

Well, she had another session this morning. She was pretty ticked throughout a lot of it, but once she saw I wasn't going to let her get out of it she relaxed a little. She is making some good progress now and hopefully will be crawling really soon. The PT and I agreed we'll just keep doing the sessions at home since we don't think having it elsewhere would make a difference.