Oliver's Happy Dance

Oliver is a little star- he works so hard in therapy for an hour every day, often with a huge grin on his face. He has made incredible progress in the past year- learning to use his arms to move objects and his legs and body to move about the room.

Oliver responds so well to encouragement and praise, which is clearly down to the wonderful care and love he receives in his foster family. Oliver knows when he's done something good- managing to un-stack the cups, or putting hoops onto a tower, and will look round to soak up the praise!

Sometimes, when Oliver's really pleased about what he's just managed, he will stop and do his 'happy dance'.  He lies on the floor and rolls, giggles, wiggles and shakes with happiness!  He is such a joy to work with- I often want to join in the happy dance too; wouldn't you?

You may have heard that Oliver recently turned two.  He didn't quite seem to realize the significance of the event, and was happy to continue therapy as normal, but we all did. Oliver will start preschool soon and follow in the footsteps of his foster brother, Joel, who he collects from school each day.

Starting school means that Oliver needs a special chair to sit in (he slips off standard chairs) with a table high enough to help him use his hands to play and eat. When Oliver sat in one of the chairs he first ate a piece of candy (all by himself) and then did his 'happy dance', it was adorable- I think he's now ready to start preschool!

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This post was written by our Occupational Therapist, Jenny