Therapy doesn't have to be expensive

With our insurance limitations and us having to spread out our therapy visits, I've had to come up with creative ways to do therapy activities at home. Meghan and Jan give me exercises and things to work on at home and I do my best to make them work.

For instance, Jan wanted LJ to sit on a large ball to work on his balance and strengthen his ab muscles. Exercise balls and therapy balls are a bit pricey but we'd purchased a play ball that is just slightly smaller than an exercise ball for just a couple bucks. It's the perfect size for LJ. When he sits down, his knees are bent at a 90 degree angle and his feet touch the ground.

Another activity is writing on a slant board. The school's OT (Mrs. Ricci) had suggested this. I promptly searched the internet for a slant board and was shocked to see the price of them. It's just a clipboard that's set at an angle. They were $50 and even $75! Nope, that wouldn't work for us. I bought a $1 clipboard and had dad cut two triangles from wood (think super sized door stops). I attached the triangles to the bottom of the clipboard and there you have it...a slantboard for $1. Dad had scraps of wood laying around, but even if you had to buy a piece of wood, it would've been less than $5.

I'd expressed concern about LJ not being able to write letters very well. I brought up Handwriting Without Tears to Meghan and we talked a bit about it. The clinic had the program so I peeked at the stuff to see what it was all about. It is a very good program. It makes perfect sense the way they explain the make up of letters. I was impressed. However; I was not impressed with the price. So, working with a limited budget, I headed to Hobby Lobby. At first I was thinking I would get 1/4" plywood and cut the letters out. This would've been fairly cheap (especially if I could get a scrap cut of the wood) but I wanted something I could do myself instead of having to wait for Dad to help me out. I thought about cardboard or foam core board (both would bend with lots of use though) and I thought about felt or fabric (not sturdy enough). I came across plastic canvas. AHA. I went with that. It's easy to cut, flexible but won't crease and tear, and is cheap! It took two sheets of it and at .69/each I was under $2 for the HWT letter pieces. Meghan told me how many of each large and small curve and large and small lines to cut. It works great. I'm still hoping to get the wooden ones cut out, but for now this works.

I need to get some pictures up to go along with the descriptions and I'll make that part of my weekend to do list. I'll add them soon.

I'll have to keep thinking thrifty as I put together LJ's therapy room. Since I'm seiwng and embroidering to raise the money for the room it's going to be a slow process unless the orders come flying in like crazy (which would be fantastic!). And I'm planning to be as thrifty as possible to make the most out of the money I am able to raise.