Re: bathing etc.

February 7, 2004

****I was wondering

> if anyone out there has any suggestions for finding walkers or any

> other things for older children who cannot walk, sit up etc. for

> toddlers. ****

My son Reese is 2 1/2 and he uses a gait trainer called a Meywalk Mini for

walking and he has a Columbia Medical Bath Seat for bathing him. Both items

were covered in full under our insurance plan. Here are pictures of both...

http://www.adaptivemall.com/miniwalksize1.html

http://www.adaptivemall.com/smalwrapbats.html

Ask your child's physical therapist for help in these matters. There are

many products that are available on the market for many different ability

levels. There is a picture of Reese in the albums section using his gait

trainer at the park.

-Meredith (Mom to Reese 2 1/2 with PMG, Di Syndrome, Tetralogy of

Fallot w/pa, non-verbal, Hypotonia and left sided weakness)

February 8, 2004

Hi, thanks for the info. Can he do any walking without it?

Dianna

Re: bathing etc.

****I was wondering

> if anyone out there has any suggestions for finding walkers or any

> other things for older children who cannot walk, sit up etc. for

> toddlers. ****

My son Reese is 2 1/2 and he uses a gait trainer called a Meywalk Mini

for

walking and he has a Columbia Medical Bath Seat for bathing him. Both

items

were covered in full under our insurance plan. Here are pictures of

both...

http://www.adaptivemall.com/miniwalksize1.html

http://www.adaptivemall.com/smalwrapbats.html

Ask your child's physical therapist for help in these matters. There

are

many products that are available on the market for many different

ability

levels. There is a picture of Reese in the albums section using his

gait

trainer at the park.

-Meredith (Mom to Reese 2 1/2 with PMG, Di Syndrome, Tetralogy of

Fallot w/pa, non-verbal, Hypotonia and left sided weakness)

_____

February 8, 2004

Grant is 20 months old, he fits fine in his regular stroller and

> probably will for the next two years, so I am not worried about that.

Dianna,

What you need to consider is how does his current stroller position him. My

son can fit in regular strollers to but we still use the medical kind

because the positioning promotes better muscle tone. When we bought his

first medical stroller/wheelchair (when he was around 10 months old) we

noticed a big difference in his torso strength within a few weeks time. Now

that he is 2 1/2 he can sit up unassisted, walk on his knees and pull up to

standing. Positioning is still a huge deal to his therapists. They even

provided a chair for the house that promotes good posture as well.

Again, talk to your physical therapist just to be sure that your son

wouldn't really benefit from these products. You might be surprised how

much of a difference they can make.

Best wishes,

Meredith

February 9, 2004

Dianna and Meredith,

I know that Dianna is only interested in positioning in the bathtub,

but I wanted to share this with you all.

My name is Kate and we do not post very often, but I thought I could

give one quick bit of inexpensive advice about positioning in a

stroller rather than switching to a wheelchair. We just bought our

20-month-old son with PMG and arthrogryposis a kidsert ($61.00) for

his stroller that gives him some lateral support in his regular

stroller. He tended to slouch to the left. You can read about the

kidsert and see pictures at www.kidsert.com. We had to order it

from Abilitations because the company who makes the kidsert is in

Canada. Hope this helps.

Kate (mom to with PMG and AMC)

February 9, 2004

Thanks Kate, it looks pretty helpful to me.