Benefits of Therapy

When he was just two days old in the NICU, Liam received his first therapy session. The therapist worked very carefully on his tiny, yet exceptionally tight, hands and arms while teaching my husband and me the importance of spending 5 minutes several times a day giving his arms and hands very gentle therapy. She instructed us that it was best to perform these little sessions during feedings so that he was distracted from any discomfort he may experience. He could not move his own arms and shoulders at all. His fingers did not open from their tight fist position. When we tried stretching his arms at the shoulder joint, they would barely lift more than 15 degrees away from his body. Because of therapy, both through our efforts and through the efforts of professional therapists, Liam has come a long way in these 6 months.

Routine therapy has taught Liam how to play independently and has taught us as his parents how to play with him so that his joints may continue to loosen. In my last post, I uploaded a short video of Liam playing with a spoon. None of my family, even my husband, had seen him do that before I posted it to this blog. That is an example of the multitude of daily victories we are rewarded through persistence. Liam is so motivated by his therapy sessions that he spends the rest of the day trying to accomplish a new obstacle he was shown. We reward him by cheering him on, showing him how thrilled we are with each new development. He is an amazing child.