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Sam andHippotherapyAt the Fall Carnival held by the PTA of our older children's elementary school last year (2007) Sam experienced his first pony ride!
We did not have an easy time getting him off the pony when the ride was over. I had toyed with the idea of hippotherapy before, but then and there, I decided we had to make it happen. Maybe this would be the breakthrough to get Sam speaking. He communicates real well, just does not say the words. We've only had three sessions but already I have noticed a difference. Sam just loves the riding and its a great workout for him too. As far as the speech goes, well he doesn't seem to say much during the sessions yet, but afterwards, he is just full of it. He has even learned to enunciate the word "no" (isn't that every child's first word?) very clearly and is trying others more successfully.See how and why hippotherapy works here March 2008 Sam loves his therapy sessions these days! At first he did not vocalize much, but he does so well now! I am happy to report the hippotherapy seems to be doing his apeech issues some good! He is trying much harder to imitate the words we say (when we ask him to). He really tries hard and does a pretty good job with some words. Most people would not understand him if he said something, but we know his speech and it is improving. He will repeat two word sentences after us. A few times he has come to me and said that "Daddy be mean". Same thing about his brothers. At first I thought it was a fluke, but he's said the same thing four or five times on separate occasions when someone did not let him have his way. I was ecstatic!!! Our next step is to complete the palate repair for his cleft palate. That seems like a scary undertaking, but he (we) got through it the first time so we'll make it again! **************************************************************** Updates to follow!
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