Ari has completed her training with her power wheelchair therapist, Gail, from Southwest Human Development. While Ari still isn’t quite to the point of being ready to pass the evaluation for her own power chair (she must *safely* operate the chair at all times in order to pass), she has made extraordinary progress. I could’ve only hoped that she would get this far in a year, and I’m so proud of all that she’s accomplished in this time. But even though our power chair trainer has to leave us, she has not left us empty handed. Gail let us try out a power cart; which when Ari rides it, she is eye-level to the other kids when they are on their trikes and scooters. It still uses the same button drive system that her chair did, so it’s great practice for the real thing and she is so motivated to move in it! Ari is about 75% to mastery in her directionality and safety stopping, so it won’t be long before I make an evaluation announcement. Now, the only question is whether we should buy her one of these in the meantime (about $2,000 investment), as this one we will need to return before the week’s end.
Jake gets Ari moving by offering her a chance to play music on his phone. She gets to press the ‘Play’ button and make me dance like a wild woman. A triple threat in her mind: technology, music, and sillyness.
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