Therapy, therapy, therapy! I love to see Jack getting the help he needs, and he, of course, adores the attention. He started speech therapy last week at the hospital with our awesome speech therapist, Karen, who also sees him at the preemie clinic. She blew bubbles in his face and he loved it! She also uses a massager on his tongue because she thinks maybe he has lost some sensation in it due to the fact that he was intubated for so long. Karen thinks we have a lot of ground to cover in the next six weeks, but she's hoping there will be a big improvement at his next appointment because of his surgery last week.
Next, its over to Therapy Time. The occupational therapist and physical therapist were both very happy with the progress Jackson has made since he has come home and are stunned at how well he is doing in spite of his extreme prematurity. OT wants us to focus on shoulder strength, clapping, banging toys together, and putting objects inside a container. PT wants us to focus on "keeping him right with the world" which means sitting him on an exercise ball and rolling him side to side, making sure that he uses his abdominal muscles to keep his head and shoulders parallel to the floor, which will work the muscles he needs to be able to stand on his own and eventually walk. His PT doesn't think walking is very far off. YAY! It was great to get such encouraging news from everyone. We're excited to see how he benefits from the therapy.
