Tuesday, March 22, 2011

IMOT green party!

Ok, so while we are in the St. Paddy's Day mood, let me tell you about work that day! First off, you may or may not know that we have a special program at MMPT called IMOT, or Intense Model of Therapy. It is super intensive and typically for someone who has suffered a neurologic insult. We use lots and lots of repetition and intense treatment of 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, for three weeks. For this IMOT session, we had Miss Anniston...
from Madison, Mississippi. Her mom, Lindsey, is a MoJoy reader! Hey Lindsey!!
Anyway, this is the Neurosuit. It gives the body lots of feedback about where it is at each joint, so we can facilitate normal movement patterns for the child and they get a double whammy in their body regarding good or normal movements in hopes they can reproduce them outside the suit.


And this is Sam. Oh, and this is his dad, Dan! Ellie and Dan hit it off right away. He just thought she was a "trip". She'll talk to a wall if she thinks it will talk back!
Anniston's primary goal of this round of IMOT is to walk independently.
And I'd say she is getting close!
Even little bitties can suffer strokes. Pray for Miss Anniston's right side. May it work and work WELL!!
She is a happy camper! (as long as she can get to a stash of goldfish or puffs!! I swear we are going to make onesies that say, "Will work for Food!!").
How good looking is Sam!?

I usually don't work with the visiting little peeps for IMOT. But this round, I had the priviledge of working with both Sam and Anniston!
Here, Anniston is bonding with Sam! And all the parents are all smiles about it.

Oh, look. A friendship was formed!
And all the while, a few knuckleheads were having a field day on the slide.
There were some friends visiting from Mississippi. This is Jaden. Her brother used to do therapy with us, and now her dad is in medical school, so they had to leave us. :(
Gabbi Girl got the HOOK UP on ruffle bottom pants! I have a buddy who is making them for me now, and I went HOG WILD on fabric! How cute are these?! Thanks, Tania!
ANd here is Gabrielle. This is Jaden's brother, also brother to Josh and Evan. You'll see them in a minute.
AHa! There's our little buddy, Josh. He spent three days a week with us for years! We tend to get pretty close when that is the case! We really miss their whole family!
ANd here is the VILLAIN who took them away from us! DAVID!! The daddy! I cannot fathom four babies like this! I made them take me to the van to show me how they manage... and add a stroller and a wheelchair! Lotta love in this family!!
We decided to make this party green themed also! Jessica bought green fruit and made a green dip.
Lindsay made us some shamrock cookies to celebrate Sam's IMOT graduation!
I don't know how but I failed to take a picture of my contribution... bell peppers, broccoli, celery sticks all in little cups of ranch dressing. People stood in AWE as I cut up vegetables!
Above is Jessica, my PTA who works closely with me to serve the local school system for PT. We have lots of little children we love.
And below is Tyler. Any eligible females out there?! I need to get Ty- Dawg hooked up. He hopefully will be starting PT school this year. We are rooting for him!
I joke with Tyler, because he is of a dying breed of men who still carry a pocket knife. I told him , when I want to know who the real man in a crowd is, I say, "Does someone have a pocket knife?", and whoever answers is my kind of guy! I think maybe I got that from my dad. He ALWAYS has one (or several).
Bye Bye, Sam. See ya again this summer. Looking forward to it already! You were a JOY!
Mo

9 comments:

Amy K said...

It must be bittersweet to watch these precious little ones graduate...incredibly hard to say goodbye, while celebrating their progress and success.
MMPT looks like such an amazing place, where everyone becomes family!
Congrats on your remarkable work.

Tonya said...

looks like a very rewarding place to work, and fun too!! enjoyed making gabbi girls pants, she looks so cute in them.

tricia said...

I can see that the rewards from your job are monumental!

Martha from NC said...

How rewarding it must be to work with such precious children and know that you are helping them in their journey to get better. I commend you and your wonderful staff for all that you do. You are truly sent from God to make these little ones a little happier/healthier and I thank you. MMPT is awesome!

Nora said...

Sam and Anniston are precious! This is a great post! The close up of Sam is beautiful, he is such a sweet boy!

kimybeee said...

you just must be in the wrong area for pocket knives mo - if you ask here in wv, it would be stranger for somebody not to have one in their pocket!!!

looks like you have a bunch of adorable patients to work with - it is very obvious that you love what you do and who you do it with (sounds naughty)!! you are a shining example of what i tell my kids as they are approaching career choice age - something that makes money is great, but something that you love doing every day is far more important than the number of zeros on the paycheck!!!

Legally Challenged said...

This single girl in Atlanta lives a tad too far away!

Beth E. said...

Tell Tyler to think good thoughts about my future daughter-in-law, Tabitha...she's hoping to start PT school, too!

My hubby carries a pocket knife!

Cute, cute pics of everyone. I always enjoy reading about your work!

Hugs...

lindsey said...

Thank you for sharing this, Melanie! Appreciate prayers :). And, we so very much appreciate all you guys have done for our little girl. Yes, Sam is I think the most handsome boy I have ever seen with just the sweetest heart. Much love!