Please note, I would never ask a therapist, teacher, ESP or doctor/nurse work during this unprecedented pandemic.  However something is happening to families whose child has special needs and we have to talk about it.  This will be a continuing series as we navigate how to parent a child with significant special needs.

****

I am not a licensed Physical Therapist.

I am very lucky to have friends like Leah.  Leah was Bridget’s first ever physical therapist. She taught me how to have alligator arms to encourage Bridget to take her first steps.  Last week she taught me a way to teach Bridget her letters and do some physical therapy.

Bridget has been having physical therapy 2-3 times a week since she was about 5 months old.  She does both “land” PT and “pool”. She loves physical therapy. She knows that Miss Lynn and Tiffany (Pool) are Mondays and “land” is on Thursday (she has a new PT so that therapy does not have a name yet!).

Bridget has no understanding why if today is Monday she is not seeing Miss Lynn and Miss Tiffany.  As many know, Bridget loves the pool. Add PT and it is her favorite day of the week. When we were in Florida we would do the spider-man around the pool, working in PT.

The YMCA is closed, too. No adaptive swim and no opportunity for us to do on our own.

Land PT we are trying.  Every day we walk to the end of the road, trying to build stamina. We have our scooters for around the kitchen and stairs to practice up and down stairs.

We have no clue if we are doing it correctly and just hoping we are not teaching bad habits.

This pandemic is effecting every aspect of Bridget’s life. I know it has affected all of us, around the world. We have lockdowns in Italy, quarantines in Provincetown and every country.  With a child like Bridget it is more than just keeping social distance.

It is not just keeping Bridget’s routine. It is keeping her therapies going that have allowed her to walk, jump and conquer mountains.

And the very real fear that insurance companies (and schools) will say that they no longer have to provide these services because we did okay without them.