I thought it was time I shared one of my confessions of being a special needs mom--
After everything else we were trying to find answers to here comes an adaptive brace recommendation; initially it came from his second physical therapist before he started going to Easter Seals, when we had home sessions. She recommended them to support his ability to attempt with standing correctly and obtaining proper balance.
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Stomp the Yard!
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That also came with a helmet recommendation since he was banging his head (which he still does), however he surpassed that requirement.
The braces was again recommended from his new physical therapist once he started at Easter Seals, which this time around we actually went through with an evaluation, fitting, insurance clearence and actually revieving the first pair {SMO SureSteps} in June 2013. And recently received a second pair in September 2014 {AFO}. The struggle has been even harder purchasing shoes to fit correctly, asthese have a bit more of a heel. It requires a size up, removing the shoe padding and most importantly putting some thick socks, preferably dry fit as they cause his feet to sweet ridiculously. And unfortunally Ive notices it also keeps his feet peely if there not moistened enough. Luckily after some research and personal experience New Balance has alwaya been the best choice of shoe for his braces, with Adidas also being a great pick. There are some shoes Ive been able to purchase from different labels/stores that fit well too; such as Target, Old Navy, Gap, Childrens Place, H&M, Crocs, & Sperrys. But even after finding them I always have to try them on and have him walk around to confirm there good.
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| I need to find a repurpose project with the shoepads! |
The most important part is assuring the shoes has actual shoe strings and not them stretchy strings, making sure the shoe is capible if being bent up for wigglying his foot in, picking wide for width if possible and that the pad can be removed without completely ruining the shoe.
Today was a shoe-tastic finding day because I found two pairs in target for $12.99 (awesome bargain right) with one of them being a pair of winter boots as I wasnt able to find some before, our experience with timberlands last year was very dufficult and timly putting one. And as I mentioned the current brace has a stepper heal.
Needless to say both of the shoes purchased today fits swell!
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| Shoe Take 2! |
So do know My Little Forest Gump will be stepping and stomping in his new kicks next week; unfortunately shoes dont last long before crunch times sinks in which is my reason for buying more then a few at one time to give him options.
In ending this post do know this was not a post of complaining because while this is sometimes a bit overwhelming to me, there are other special need parent(s) that have more worries then finding shoes to properly fit a brace. This was just one of My Confessions of our journey.....trust, there will be more.
"As you begin to realize that every different type of music, everybody's individual music, has its own rhythm, life, language and heritage, you realize how life changes, and you learn how to be more open and adaptive to what is around us."
