GAIT

My husband and i have a strong philosophy when it comes to looking at alternative help for Walker.  We are all for it, as long as it does not cause him pain and that the methods are to give  him a better quality of life, not just search for answers.

Have I mentioned how great our social worker is??? She is fantastic and was able to find money for Walker to go to an alternative therapy center right around the corner from us.  Its called GAIT.  the idea is that while riding horses, children with special needs are able to learn confidence, work on their strength and also work one on one with a speech therapist. 

Our first appointment  to meet the director and tour the farm was wonderful.  I knew it was the right place for us, when the director came up to me while I was feeding Walker in the car, saw that I had two children, and said we could talk right there without having to get everyone out of the car.  I thought "boy, these people get it!" Martha was very detailed about explaining how everything works, reassuring me that the horses that are used are the gentlest. We set up our next appointment and I was very excited.  (Did I mention how great our social worker is?)

His first session went pretty well considering it was at 3:30pm, and I had to wake him up from nap in order to get there on time.  There were three people, two on each side of him and one leading the horse.  Peter, the horse, was very mellow and looked like he knew the drill.  Equipped with a helmet, they put Walker on Peter backwards lying down.   It is a lot of work with the helmet on for Walker to keep his head up, so he rested it on the rump of the horse.  He seemed to like to feel of the movement and the horse's hair.  A few times they stopped and had him sit up and ride a little, but they did not push him, instead just listened to his cues.

I am very excited for this opportunity to see how Walker does, its great sensory stimulation too!