One of the biggest obstacles we currently face in Solly’s journey to walking is motivation. Solly CAN walk in his gait trainer – in fact, he walks quite quickly if he sees something he wants – but he has to have a solid reason to walk. That reason changes quickly. Lately, his motivation has been helium balloons, golf clapping and cheering, and high fives, however, we struggle to constantly come up with things that excite him enough to walk.

So, instead of finding novel objects or cheers to motivate him, Nanny Jen discovered that taking him new places might be the trick. Last week, before his weekly OT appointment, she popped his Rifton Pacer in the trunk of her car and carted Solly over to Target where she plopped him, in his gait trainer, at the entrance of the store. There were new sights and sounds to motivate, not to mention people to impress. Solly spent a full hour walking and exploring the store. He still needed some cheering to get him going (a few shoppers stopped to root him on), but little things like the dollar section and a table with folded t-shirts piqued his interest enough to move his gait trainer along.

Just yesterday, we took another field trip over to our local park, where there is a paved pathway that’s perfect for walking. With his hat on backwards and Nanny Catherine cheering him on, he easily strolled around the park.

Our motivation issue has been solved, for now!