Meet Tony

Tony is a second grader in his local public school. That may not be a big deal for most seven year old boys. But for Tony, it is a really big deal. He is a young man with a medical diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. His speech is a little difficult to understand, initially, but he is right on grade level for both receptive and expressive speech. What makes Tony’s journey to the second grade so remarkable is how he gets to and around school. He is a power wheelchair user. He wows the other kids with his speed and skill when driving his chair, but most importantly he can go where he wants, when he wants (with a hall pass!), without needing assistance from anyone else for his mobility – just like all the other kids in his class.

Tony always did want to “motor” by himself. He was initially seen by a therapy team in an Early Intervention (EI) Program when he was about 2 years old. At that time, he verbalized his desire to walk and move around his environment. The EI team ordered Ankle Foot Orthoses - AFO’s (foot braces) due to his consistent pattern of standing on his toes ,with poor alignment of his knees and ankles. The AFOs provided better support to his feet and improved his lower extremity alignment. The EI team then tried a standing frame in the classroom for upright activities; he liked it, but wanted to be more mobile.

When he was about 3 years old, attending the same program, Tony learned (by himself) that if he flipped over a cube chair (small square chair), pulled to stand, he could go across the room, turn around, and “walk” with his friends by and pushing the little chair along the carpet.

Following Tony’s lead, the EI team tried a gait trainer, (like the Rifton Pacer or Mulholland Walkabout or Snug Seat Pony and others listed at http://www.usatechguide.org) which he loved and mostly pushed backwards to go somewhere quickly. He would go forward with much prompting and made this into a game with the therapists or teachers, quickly reverting to pushing backward with much giggling.