Walk It Out - Little Man's Feet

Little Man had a very late IEP this year due to some scheduling issues - ours and the school's. He should've been evaluated and seen in March, but that's when he had his seizure, and after several back and forth calls we finally got in to see his team in late May.

Most of the IEP was fairly routine, but his physical therapist pulled me aside with some concerns. She only sees Little Man once a month because the county feels his progress with PT is maxed out (don't even get me started), but she works with his class regularly in swim therapy. She wanted to let me know she saw that he is having more and more trouble walking, and has some serious issues with balance and his feet.

I had to agree with her. We'd seen some issues ourselves, and now that he's been home on break we've seen even more. Circulation was my biggest worry because in the morning his one foot can look a little blue-ish and the muscles are clenched so tightly his toes curl under. We took him to the doctor for at the start of school and they didn't see anything alarming back in September. Things have definitely gotten worse since then though. His limp is more pronounced than ever, and he doesn't walk on the soles of his feet at all. He uses the inside of his left foot, curled under, and propels his right foot forward and walks on his toes. It's super hard to describe, I'll have to take a video of it at some point. But he's lost a lot of mobility and it makes walking distances extremely difficult now. And with Little Man being a tall and gangly nearly nine year old, he's outgrown any stroller we can buy commercially. We're looking at spending upwards of $400 on a stroller that would accommodate his size and weight for a good length of time. *Sigh* For now, if Little Man adventures with us we just move very slowly. Not ideal, but we take big trips so infrequently that we always seem to put that expense on the back burner and focus on his immediate and daily needs.

Little Man at the dentist last week - no cavities, just bruises for Mommy as she held him in place for the teeth cleaning.

But the stroller might not be something we can put off for too much longer, because his PT suggested that to correct the foot and gait issues we will need to go to an orthopedist for a full leg cast. We've tried orthotics with him in the past, and they haven't been successful, so she thinks this is the next step. I'm dreading the idea but we have an appointment next week with an orthopedist that specializes in special kids. If he's cast it would be about 4-6 weeks. And then he could need further casts depending on how he needs to be adjusted.

I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. But this could be a very intense summer for Little Man.