This Pacer was made for walkin' and that's just what it'll do. One of these days this Pacer is gonna walk right up to you!
Sammie B's PURPLE Pacer gait trainer was delivered to our door today. I am so, so excited. We'd talked about it coming and she was so excited! The second it arrived (a tech delivered it), she said, "ME IN!" and we put her in (after a few adjustments) and she started swinging her hips and dancing! I (of course) cried. Happy tears.
Years ago, if I'd seen a kiddo walking in something like this, I might have seen it as a medical "contraption," I might have wondered why the kid needed it, I might have felt pity. But today? Today I see this "contraption" as something magic. This little Pacer holds so very much promise, potential, possibility . . . all wonderful things. I am so, so excited about what this little piece of equipment can offer my girl. It is sitting right smack in the middle of our formal-living-room-turned-playroom right now, and every time I've walked past it tonight, I've smiled. Thinking about the possibility that it holds.
Now for a practical question - for the moms of kids who use (or have used) gait trainers. This thing moves MUCH faster than the one we've used in therapy. My guess is the one in therapy, although the same model, is just older. In the new one, Sam barely has to move her weight/body and it goes, kind of before she has time for her legs to catch up with her. It kind of scared her a little (so we didn't work on walking in it much today - just dancing!). She's used a kidwalk at her old school, and it didn't do that, but it is a much heavier piece of equipment (and after trialing what felt like 8 zillion gait trainers, including the kidwalk, we decided on this one). I'm sure this is just a learning curve thing, and we have to get her feeling comfortable and confident in it before we push too hard on the walking. We have a few extra supports that we usually don't use in therapy (like the seat, because the little stinker just sits right down on it) so maybe I'll add those during this warming up period, and of course, I'll talk to our PT about it on Friday when we go, but I'm open to suggestions! Give me your advice!
My girls got style. And a purple gait trainer to go with it.
8 comments:
Go, Sammie, go! She's rocking now! :)
Awesome! Go, Sammie!
Joe was just the opposite -- we really had to nudge him to get him going. Once he got some momentum, though, it was on!
Great things ahead -- I'm so excited for the updates to come!
I love this! She looks SO excited. This is going to be such a great piece of equipment for her. I'm so excited for her (and you)! Go Sammie B!
Awesome! I'm positive this will be the beginning of huge strides for Sam! We have wood floors and had the same problem with speed. We took the walker to the park and stuck it in the grass for some resistance. We had to give her a little push to get it going, but once in motion it was fine. Good luck! -jen
Go Sammie! D has a reverse walker so a little different, but we mostly used it on carpeted surfaces and on mats (at PT) in the beginning since the hardwoods were too fast. We did everything we could to slow it down too - locked the front wheels so it didn't spin out from under him and locked the rear wheels so it didn't roll backwards. Now it's fully unlocked and he's moving everywhere, but we made the changes slowly.
I looked on the rifton site and it looks like in the product manual(page 7) there's an option to add wheel drag to provide extra resistance.
Wheel drag (C) provides resistance for
stronger users who may move too fast or
too suddenly. To engage wheel drag:
1. Rotate dial (C) from the rabbit (fast) to
the turtle (slow) for desired resistance.
2. To disengage wheel drag, rotate dial
back to the rabbit.
Awesome! Tell Sammie B I'm jealous! All I got way back in the day when I was learning to walk was a helmet to keep me from smashing my head. Nothing as cool and helpful as a purple gait trainer! I can't wait to see her in action!
She looks great! Price's is actually at PT for now and they work in it there. I can't wait until he's ready for it at home!
Go, Sammie! Go! I demand video! ;) Love that girl! :)
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