Hard At Work

Since Ellie was by herself in class on Tuesday, I was finally able to snap a few pictures!  'Course, after 10 minutes, my memory card was full, but, hey, I tried.

So, here's a glimpse into Ellie's new routine of workin' her tushy off!  These pictures capture some of the standing work she does every day at her conductive education sessions.  These are very difficult moves for her, so any "ooo"ing and "ahh"ing is warranted.

Ellie's ability to stand straight is one of the gross motor functions that has been most affected by the SDR surgery.  She lost a lot of strength in her thighs, and those are the muscles most used during standing.  So, we're working hard to pump them up!  Ellie continues to amaze me with her spirit; continuing on with a task that is so difficult.  That's my girl!

Ellie practicing her high kneeling.  Again, this is a movement that is very difficult for her, because of her weak upper leg muscles.  Of course, that means that the sweet girl gets to practice LOTS of high kneeling!

Part of our therapy is helping Ellie regain some confidence in her physical abilities.  She is very uneasy about her "new legs", so little by little, we are pushing her to do things that stretch her.  Here, you can see that she is very nervous about Gabby letting go of her legs and standing all by herself at the ladder.  BUT, she did it!

Working on squating down, keeping that position for 30 seconds, then pulling back up to a stand on the ladder.  That's definitely hard work...YOU try doing that! :-)

Lastly, here is a short video of Ellie doing some of these exercises.  Gabby, her conductor/instructor is from Hungary and was running out of English songs to sing to Ellie.  She asked Ellie if she wanted to hear a Hungarian song and Ellie was quite thrilled.  So, I guess we can add language training to the therapy mix!