As I watched the occupational therapist spend an hour or more in helping this child to sit and hold the ball, it dawned on me that that there are many things which work against children who have increased tone in the muscles. Every movement becomes effortful and most children cannot accomplish what they set out to do as the movement would increase the tone of the muscles.
It is one instance where a child cannot condition the body to do a task. So the therapist helps such children by moving in such a way that the gravity does not act on the muscles to increase the tone. So with slow and sustained action and the proximal joint well supported, the movements are tried.
When this child realised that he could actually reach and touch the ball, he suddenly got motivated to move in spite of the tone interfering it. For all of us watching this, it was a delight and surprise to see him accomplish this!
So much time spent to help a child accomplish a small step! In fact, Mother Teresa used to say, ‘let us do little things with great love’!
When a stranger carried my bag that I was struggling to lift from the car park to my office, I experienced the meaning of that saying!
M.C.Mathew(text and pjhoto)
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