August 30: Physical Therapy Update

Isla hasn't really learned any new skills in the past two weeks since our last physical therapy appointment, but she showed some improvement in our session today.  She pulled up much better than she did last time with Shannon.   She also showed Shannon how she can climb stairs by herself, though she does not do it with proper technique.  So that's another thing to work on for us!  Shannon and I talked a lot about Isla and her progress (or lack thereof) today, and here are a few bits from our conversation.

Shannon considers 12-15 months normal for learning how to walk.  Isla turns 15 months tomorrow, so she has 30 more days until she is out of the normal range and considered a "delayed walker."

Shannon doesn't think Isla is going to crawl ever.  (Well, maybe someday she will, but not at any point in the near future). 

Shannon said her next step with kids who are struggling is to test for vision problems or problems with depth perception.  She was telling me this as we were watching Isla show off her impressive tower building skills with some blocks.  Isla was consistently building towers that were seven blocks high, which showed that vision and depth perception are not at all a problem for her.  Isla's fine motor skills are really good.  She is great with her hands...just not with her legs and feet!

Shannon said she didn't see any other developmental delays with Isla (besides the obvious difficulties with crawling, pulling up and walking).  With Isla's early problems with torticollis and moving her head/neck, Shannon said it is common to see those problems continue into toddlerhood.  She doesn't see any signs that those problems exist anymore with Isla.  So that's good to hear.

In the end, Shannon said Isla is a mystery.  And a stubborn one, too!  When she watches her cruise around, she says Isla is so steady and sure on her feet.  It's surprising that she is taking so long to walk.  Except that maybe her leg muscles are a little weak due to her scooting.  And her confidence may be a little low due to her uncertainty about pulling herself up and sitting herself back down (she is getting much better at sitting down by herself though).

Isla is not struggling enough to necessitate more physical therapy, so we're just going to keep on doing what we are doing. We will keep working with her at home (which is getting harder as she is getting tired of all our usual tricks), go back again in two weeks and discuss all of this again!  I'm trying to write all of this with a smile on my face, but I'm growing impatient.  I know she will start walking one of these days, and I will look back at these posts and laugh at myself for worrying about it so much.