Putting some wheels into the Running Festival

There was much publicity and talk about the local village holding it's inaugural Running Festival. Missy had been talking about the Kids Cup Running race for months and that she was going in it along with H-Ho.
So with anything the planning started, checked with organiser about Missy participating - they were excited about her joining in, checked the course - should be accessible. Unfortunately one thing I forgot to check was if I(mum) could run the 1.8klm length of the race with her, we looked confident as Missy took off at the start in 4th gear on the new powerchair, we got to half way and mum was fading. Dad and H-Ho were in front of us and it didn't matter to Missy that she was at the back , she stayed focused on her driving and came home to great applause.
Great effort from my girls.

How persuasive are your writing skills?

Missy's class have been participating in weekly pre2 Video Conference sessions with another class from a nearby school. This was aimed at improving the students persuasive writing skills through public speaking. Each week six students from each class would present a persuasive exposition on a topic of their choice. One person was chosen as the round winner and sent through to the finals.

Well Missy was chosen as a round winner by her peers and the other school and was very excited and a little nervous about the next round.
Missy's persuasive talk was about "Teachers should let kids dance everyday at school" she outlined the wonderful benefits of it by presenting her speech using her Dynavox V-Max accompanied by wonderful hand and arm actions to enforce her message.
As the morning arrived that Missy was to travel to the other school, she was signing she had butterflies and couldn't eat all her breakfast. She never looked back though and faced her nerves head on, she has actually scheduled to go first and presented her speech beautifully.

Missy was very pleased with herself and so she should be , it takes some courage getting up in front of people you don't know and present a speech on a communication device that others may not be familiar with.

The Artshow

Missy's love of drawing and painting would consume every minute of every day if I let it but there is homework to do amongst other things.
Recently Missy's determination and passion for drawing was rewarded when her pastel landscape was selected to represent the school at a combined school Art Show.
Missy is proudly pictured at the Art Show in front of her picture.

I'm back

Apologies it been a while since I blogged.
My computer crashed and was away for a while getting fixed, luckily all my information was saved.
We have had numerous appointments at home with the wheelchair technician to finalised Missy's new powerchair and it's still not finished. It will be great when it's finished and as we finalising the infrared, bluetooth capabilities and a few other bits and pieces, at least she is driving it and it is now going to school.
The kids think it's great how it goes up and down and the colour is very cool. So far we have the infrared control working the TV operated by the joystick and once we get a bluetooth adaptor for the Dynavox, the wheelchair joystick can control the Dynavox also.
Stayed tuned I still need to blog about the school excursion, the Carcoar Cup, Persuasive talk competition and a few other events.

Busy Times

The new Glide Centro Powerchair has arrived and after a couple of hours adjusting and going over it with the technician and OT, it is nearly complete. Just waiting on a few parts to be sent out and some programming still needs doing. It goes on and goes but anyway we are getting there. Missy has headed off on her excursion today and she couldn't get on the bus quick enough while we packed all her stuff into the bus trailer. I'm sure she will have a great time doing canoeing, archery and grass skiing, there is not much she won't have a go at. Photos will follow soon.

Power Wheelchair delayed

We are unfortunately still waiting for Missy's Wheelchair, we had another fitting of the new chair and it wasn't right with still a number of things that need changing. That was three weeks ago and we are still not sure when he will be back. Missy's old chair plays up every day and in the holidays the right motor had issues which we were very luckily a local technician came straight out and fixed. The electrics continue to play up daily and it now only two weeks until Missy's excursion, so I doubt the new chair will arrive before then, i just hope the old chair makes it thru the excursion for her. When you are so close to finally getting the new chair, I really have run out of patience and just want it now.

Home from a long day at the CP Clinic

We travelled to Sydney for our yearly check up at the CP Clinic recently. Missy's hip x-rays we good and there has been no real change in them for the last three years, which is great. We caught up with the Physio, OT, Physchologist and Rehab Doctor all in one long day 9.30-4.30 in appointments and then it took 4.5 hours to drive home. As we have most projects under control or in action locally, the allied therapists just check up with us and take video of Kirrily's progress, which her walking seems more controlled and her writing at school is really improving. Writing and drawing is an area that Missy is very passionate about, she can spend hours practicing and over the years she has never given up on achieving the skill of writing. The Doctor has requested some blood tests and we asked what else we can do to assist Missy's physical development besides our ABR Therapy . We discussed Stem cell Therapy and Deep Brain Stimulation and have a referral to another group of movement disorder specialists.

It's all happening

Well we have lots of projects on the go at the moment.
Last week we had the first fitting of Missy's new powerhcair, it looks great and hopefully will be worth the wait. It needed a bit more customisation so it had to go back with the supplier, but it will be back next week to stay. Just in the time actually as Missy old powerchair decided it had enough and the controller packed it in, thankfully I have been able to borrow a controller for a short period to hopefully get us through.

Soon we attend a CP Clinic in Sydney for our yearly check ups and X-Rays.

Missy has been doing swim school for two weeks now and is having a great time.

Missy's school excursion is approaching fast and her teacher and myself recently travelled to the camp venue to check out accessibility and plan for activities that everyone can enjoy. So with grass skiing and canoeing and sleeping in a room with another 8 girls, there is sure to be plenty of fun had.

I continue to struggle to find time to do ABR and keep upto date with Missy technology needs. Missy recently got an I-Pad which has been lots of fun for Missy and H-HO. We are hoping it will be a great reading tool, rather then Missy having difficultly turning the pages. There is so much more we can do with the I-Pad, once I get my head around it.

A dog for Missy

Back in June we filled in an application for Missy to get a Pets as Therapy Dog from the Guide Dogs NSW.
Last week we had the interview at our house with a representative from the Guide Dogs NSW where we talked over the most suitable dog for Missy. So now Missy is official on the waiting list for a Labrador or Labrador/Retriever which could still take up to 12 months. We decided to go with a bigger dog that Missy could independently pat from her wheelchair and it would be easier to see while she drives around the house and outdoors. It will be lovely to see Missy have a pet that she can interact with independently.
It is a wonderful program the Guide Dogs NSW offer to people who can benefit from a real companion pet that is matched/trained to their need. Guide Dogs that don't quite suit the life of a guide dog are offered in the Pets as Therapy program where they can still offer so much companionship.
So we are very excited to be given the approval and now wait patiently for a dog to be matched to us.