Adventures with Rio: Therapy

Liz+Hacker%2C+junior%2C+shares+her+experiences+with+handicap+accessibility.

Liz Hacker, junior, shares her experiences with handicap accessibility.

Therapy is like going to the gym, but you have your parent in your session . Also, you do fun activities to help your body become stronger.

I have had some amazing therapists. My first physical therapist was awesome at giving advice to my parents to help me succeed  in the future. I truly believe that I would have needed surgeries if it weren’t for her. All my therapists made me work hard on building endurance in my body .

At the end of each physical therapy session, I got to do a fun activity. My favorite fun activity was the zip line- I loved the feeling of going fast across the room. I thought it was fun, but my therapists called it vestibular stimulation.

Stretching is my least favorite part of my therapy session. It is very painful for my body, but also very necessary for my muscles.

I went to two different therapy places, one in New Berlin and the other in Ozaukee. The New Berlin clinic had a gym that was a huge room with a trampoline and an enclosed structure to play in. Speech therapy was fun because I tried many different foods. A couple foods I loved were cheeto puffs, popcorn, chocolate pudding and chicken in a biscuit cracker. The thing that I loved about New Berlin therapy was it felt like a community. We met people there who we still talk to on a weekly basis. We had acquaintances there who we chatted with in the waiting room.

Ozaukee therapy was awesome because they had a ramp to do many activities on. They also had jungle gym that we used in physical therapy. I would climb up a ladder and do exercises in the loft. Sometimes, I would do activities with other kids. It was kind of awkward because we had different abilities.

Mom and I had an analogy with each type of therapist and what they wore; speech therapists dressed up, physical therapists wore tennis shoes, and occupational therapists wore jeans. The analogy is so true of all therapists.

Therapists came up with ideas for how to help me that were a little odd, but they worked.  

Therapy has been a constant learning curve for me, but I really enjoy working on strengthening my body.,