My Favorite Therapy

My old PT and Me at school

People who have CP usually have to do some type of therapy, some do A LOT and others not as much. I am one of those A LOT people. I do traditional therapies at school like physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), speech therapy, and vision therapy. Outside of school I get to do some other treatments/therapies as well, some people call them "alternative" because they are not "mainstream".

My Marcy!

One method that I have been doing since I was only 9 months old is the Anat Baniel Method. My mom is actually a trained practitioner- but she only works on me. I love my ABM practitioners and miss my Marcy- but will see her next weekend in NYC! We found a new practitioner close to Boston, so sometimes we go up there to work with Matty.






 Another method I do is the Masgutova Method. I have gone to two, 9 day camps that consisted of 5 hours of treatment each day. It was intense. At the camps, the practitioners taught my parents how to do the exercises to integrate my reflexes and my mom does them in the morning before school (on most days). Mom says we might go to another 4 day camp in Orlando, FL in January. 

Art Therapy at camp

Last treatment of the day at camp

I also go to the chiropractor every week and have even done acupuncture and acupressure!

BUT my most FAVORITE therapy of all, is therapeutic horseback riding. When I lived in California I rode a horse named Cinnamon- she was a nice, slow horse. Now I ride at the Cranberry Sunset Farm in Marstons Mills and my horse's name is Capricious. I love this farm because we get to ride on the trails and there are all sorts of games and sounds. On Windchime Way I get to ride under the chimes and they make noise as we hit them, then there is a path that has noddles (like the ones for pools) hanging across the path and we ride through them. There are also pipes that we roll balls through. My brother and sister like to come to the farm too. When I am riding they usually collect eggs from the chickens, or pet the cows Rosebud and Daisy, or walk tot he obstacle course in the woods. One of the best parts of riding here is that I get to sit with someone on the horse. Sometimes my mom rides with me, or Leslie my teacher, or Allison a volunteer. Peter and Bernardo also help make sure the horse knows what to do.

During this riding I am working on having better trunk control and being able to hold myself up. I also have a chance to have my legs spread wide apart (which is really good for my hips which need some work), and Capricious is a big horse!