Day #16

Highlight of the day: Daddy

Daddy came to visit. Whitney was so excited. All three kids we at the parallel bars and they were to stand up from sitting on thier stool. Whitney refused to do it and faught me as I tried to hold her up. Her daddy walks in and I said, "Whitney, lets show daddy how you stand so tall." She stood. Daddy should come every day!

The day went very well. She initiated standing for the first time this morning and followed direction fairly well. We worked on crawling and she is doing much better with bringing her alternate foot up when I shift her weight for her. Slowly but surely we are making progress.

We had a parent conference after the morning session. It was good to hear their suggestions. They recommend that we have follow up sessions in the next 8 weeks once or twice a week. In December, they would like us to come to another parent and child class for 3 weeks. We would begin transitioning her to be there without me there. I think this means I could take a Starbucks break for an hour or so!

Whitney turns 2 in January, and they would like to her to attend treatment without me 5 mornings a week from January through the beginning of June and then from September through the following June. We were not surprised by this recommendation because they had laid out this schedule in the past. But now we have to make the decision. There are many factors at play including whether we can obtain financial assistance from either the local intermediate school district under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or from our health insurer. We are also concerned about Whitney spending this much time away from our family at such a young age, that Whitney will not be able to attend the children's program at Bible Study Fellowship because of conductive learning, and the likely delaying effect that conductive learning will have on our plans to move to Zeeland. On the plus side, we have seen significant strides by Whitney in controlling her bladder and bowel functions and moving her legs. Weekly one-hour physical therapy visits with the physical therapist, while helpful, cannot begin to replicate the gains we have already seen from conductive learning. Please pray with us as we desperately want to make the right decisions for all involved and to use our time and finances wisely.