Daniel’s Motor Skills: A Journey from Texas to Illinois
Daniel, an energetic 9-year-old, has traveled all the way from Texas on three occasions since the fall of 2006 to meet with Cara Lindell. Daniel has gross and fine motor skill delays in addition to a lack of saccadic movement in his eyes (A rapid irregular movement of the eye as it changes focus moving from one point to another, for example, while reading). After being in eye therapy for a little more than year there hadn’t been any improvements for four months, so his occupational therapist suggested a trip to Illinois for the Kinetic Konnections program.
[image url=”https://thebridginginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/daniel.jpg” alignment=”left” margin_left=”0″ margin_right=”10″ margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”10″ width=”200″ height=”250″]Daniel’s mother, Stephanie, heard about Cara through his occupational therapist, Gayle Ainsworth (Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, TX). Gayle learned about Kinetic Konnections from Dr. Zelinsky. Gayle was very impressed with Cara’s work with the body and coordination and felt Daniel would be a good candidate for the program.
“Daniel’s eye therapy had come to a plateau.” says Stephanie. “We wanted to explore different avenues. That is when we sought out Cara. We wanted to move forward with both the eye and occupational therapy, but knew we needed improvements in other areas to continue to progress.”
Daniel has come to Park Ridge to meet Cara several times and is improving in all areas of his abilities. “We go to see Cara every month to two months; she provides a service we do not have in Texas.” says Stephanie. While it can get time consuming and expensive to travel, Cara makes it worthwhile. “Cara works very well with long distance clients. She is very good with emails and keeping in touch and she supports you away from her office.”
“His ability to use his body has improved dramatically” Stephanie adds. He had a physical therapy evaluation in school in September where they rate his ability on 25 physical skills such as jumping jacks and hopping. In September he could only do four of the skills and in May he could do 21! “That is a direct result of Cara’s program. It’s the way she looks at the body as well as the diligent practice exercises she gives us to do at home. Daniel learned 17 new physical skills in eight months.” she says with pride.
Overall, Daniel is more comfortable using his body. He used to take swimming lessons but it was too hard for him. After seeing Cara, he has tried again and is swimming a lot better than in previous lessons. “I think Daniel’s improvements are a direct result of working with Cara. We are very hopeful that he will continue to progress with Cara and I am so happy we have had the opportunity to work with her.” Stephanie beams.