Whilst on my paediatric placement, i have been visiting a sixteen year old girl with CP. I've been visiting her twice weekly for the last three weeks and implimenting her exercise program as well as adding other exercises into our session.
By my second session with her I realised she would need some serious motivation to do her exercises at home. I found out that she loves watching TV, and quite often would spend all evening doing just that. She also told me that her main goal was to be able to stand at her yr 12 ball. Currently, she stands with 1xA but due to her knee flx contractures can't maintain any balance in standing. She is on a waitlist for surgery and needs to be building her strength pro op so that she doesn't lose the progress she's made thus far.
I have been asking her to do her exercises at home two times weekly and to stand in her standing frame for at least 10 mins every night whilst watching home and away. By my second week with her she had been in the frame once and hadn't done any exercises because she forgets.
I talked to my supervisor who knows her quite well, and she told me that the parents are also very relaxed about the exercises, although their main goal for her is her physio management. I realise that as a sixteen yr old girl she should be responsible, but I also think that as a parent they need to be supporting her and perhaps giving her a gentle reminder to do her exercises and standing frame. Her parents and her are aware of the importance of the exercise in order for her to reach her goals.
I've implimented some hopefully motivational techniques to help her remember:
1 - she is sent a text message reminding her to do exercises
2 - I've designed her a new exercise chart - it has her in a ball dress standing next to Loenardo Di Caprio (her ultimete partner!) and a count down of the months left until the ball. She puts stars next to each month when she does exercise at home, and if she reaches a certain number of stars in each month she will receive a reward.
I have two visits left with her and after that she will only receive a visit from the physio once monthly. I've become frustrated because I really want her to do well, but I can only do so much and I'm worried that once I leave, she won't have the support or encouragement as often an she needs. I realise that a the end of the day, I've done all that I can and that her and her family needs to start taking responsability. Anyone have any ideas of other things that may possibly help to motivate her?
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Hey, by what you have said I believe there is absolutely nothing more you could do and should do. You have put in all the extra effort of doing the things you mentioned and if they are still ignoring your advice then it is their own problem. They are the ones wanting PT but they simply want passive treatment to ultimately fix their childs problem and that is not what we are about so if they dont understand that after being explained it several times then so be it - it is there own fault.
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