Emily had a truly wonderful week in therapy culminated by her walking over 200 feet - across the gym, out to the nurses station, down the hall, in the back door of the gym, the length of the gym, and back across to her chair - all with her hemi-cane without a rest. She still needs someone holding her gait belt in case she loses her balance, but she did all of her cane movement and placement on her own. All this after spending 1/2 hour walking in the parallel bars without grabbing the left bar.

In speech she continues to do the exercise faster and more accurately. Lots of good indications that her speed of processing is really coming along. Her voice is sounding more normal, but we still need to follow up with the doctor at CU-Health Sciences. Suzanne suggested she may have voice therapists on staff that could work with Em, perhaps over the summer. Suzanne even mentioned that since Emily is doing so well with her reading and reading comprehension, she may not need to work on that with her any longer.

Emily went Christmas shopping with her Rec Therapist and a group of other patients on Wednesday. She had a really wonderful time - they shopped and went to lunch and I met them back at Craig about 3:00. I think she really enjoyed the independence.

Emily and her homebound teacher are getting along great. They work on math for an hour in the morning. They're using an Australian on-line math curriculum that was developed for kids living in the outback. It's a great way for Emily to review where she was at before the accident so that she can develop the confidence to tackle her unfinished assignments and get ready for her Junior year. In the afternoon they spend 1-1/2 hour working on literature and composition. Mrs. Queen's been using questions from the PSAT as exercises, which is good news since typically the PSAT is taken by Juniors as prep for the SAT.

Emily is religious about keeping up with her home exercise program. She's consistently riding 30-40 minutes on her recumbent bike every day she's not at Craig and she continues to do mat classes for strengthening on Mondays and Wednesdays at Craig. She rode for almost 5 miles last Tuesday.

We're starting to get some more positive news out of DPS. I have a meeting on Tuesday with the Manager of Special Education and the Manager of Nursing Services. It looks like they will be recommending that Emily re-enroll at DSA so that her homebound teacher can coordinate with her DSA teachers. If they follow through, this is the best Christmas gift any of us could have gotten. Emily's speech therapist has written a note urging them to reconsider allowing Emily to attend Writing and Philosophy Club - she feels very strongly that attendance at the clubs is important to Emily's recovery and reintegration. It's been so difficult working with DPS that I'm afraid to get my hopes up too high, but I'm cautiously optimistic.