Has anyone heard of this?? My sons physio mentioned it to me and I purchased one online. It is actually designed to give back support to adults who sit at the computer a lot. But my son is only three and we have adjusted it.
It's not actually a chair but a padding that goes around your lower back and attached to that are straps that loop around both feet so the child can sit straight with legs out front to stretch the hamstrings. My son loves it and it really works. The straps have a lot of room for growth so it would fit up to approx 10 -12 yo. It's hard to describe (or I'm just bad at it) but I'm sure if anyone is interested you can check it out. They are made in Australia but mail worldwide.
It's a great therapy tool if they are sitting quietly with a video or to practise side playing with crossing arms.
I don't normally promote things but have found this great to avoid w sitting and I used it after botox to limber him up.

Thanks for the info Karimsmum, I have passed this info onto my physios to see if it would work for my son (I was bunglemc but had to change my avatar name due to restrictions, almost too scared to post anything anymore!!)

Thanks KarimsMum, I have a 21 month ols son Timothy who is spastic diplegic. I ordered the nada chair, the Kiddy-up version of their website and it arrived yesterday. I had a go with it myself last night to see how it works and it sure does stretch muscles! Today I sent it down to our neurodevelopmental therapist to have a look at and to get some kind of program in place to use it without overdoing it. We'll see what happens but it looks like it will be useful, so... thanks!
Donna

Glad I could help, I also use it in conjunction with leg braces which I got from Karims specialist team. He uses it to do side playing. A great excercise is to put a box of cars on one side of his legs then an empty box on the other side and get him to transfer from one to the other. Space the boxes from his legs as far as he can reach without tipping over. Good luck with everything!

And also did you notice how handy it is to zip it all into its own carry bag. If your child attends kindy you can even take it there to use when they are sitting in group time.

I'll try out your suggestion for play, it is quite appropriate as I am forever trying to encourage Timothy to load and unload things. Timothys therapist was quite impressed with the Nada chair, hadn't seen it before and is showing it around the other therapists. We also went for a consult for botox and serial casts and showed it to the surgeon we saw. It will be very useful for working on Timothys hamstrings while he is in casts for 6 weeks after the botox. So thanks again! A very useful recommendation.
Donna

I'll try out your suggestion for play, it is quite appropriate as I am forever trying to encourage Timothy to load and unload things. Timothys therapist was quite impressed with the Nada chair, hadn't seen it before and is showing it around the other therapists. We also went for a consult for botox and serial casts and showed it to the surgeon we saw. It will be very useful for working on Timothys hamstrings while he is in casts for 6 weeks after the botox. So thanks again! A very useful recommendation.
Donna


Hi Donna

What part of NZ are you from??? We are in Wellington.

Cheers

Batty

Hi 'Batty' I am in Rotorua. I'd be interested to know more about your son and the services you have access to in Wellington. We have good early intervention and Timothy goes to hippotherapy twice a week and music therapy once a week. We had to travel to auckland on wednesday to see a paed opthalmologist as there isn't one in Rotorua and travel to Tauranga for the orthopod appointments and that is where we will go when we get an appointment for botox.
Cheers
Donna

Hi Donna

Services for Early INtervention ie preschool are great (common around NZ) - it all drops off at school though and you really have to find ways to get the help you need - a full time job!! My son goes to Conductive Education as part of a mainstream school which I cant recommend highly enough, depending on the needs of your child - there is CE in Hamilton too I think. May be worth looking into. Any type of other therapy is "extra" and only if you organise it yourself eg swimming, music therapy etc.

Cheers
Batty

Hi Batty,
I have found the best primary school for my son...I'm so excited!! Even though he doesn't start prep til 2009 I'm going to put my older daughter in there next year. It's a public school that is a cluster school for physically impaired children. They have ramps into every classroom, lots of disabled toilets, modified desks and seating. They also have a se unit that does physio as well as dealing with any learning problems. The staff are fantastic and they even deal with kids that are not toilet trained. Although most kids that go there are able children, they fully cater for pi children and understand the difficulties that go along with it. It's so nice to feel something really positive for the future. I am really struggling with the toileting issue. He doesn't tell me when he has done something so I don't know if developmentally he is not ready or if it is sensory. He is happy to sit on the toilet, which is good. I can't really time his poo as it is all over the place, there is no set time. Hope your son is doing well.

Fantastic Karimsmum!!! I am so pleased for you. We started out at a mainstream school and had such a horrible experience, and we are now at a school that sounds just like the one you are looking into and it has changed our lives! Yes, the toileting issue is a hard one, we have the number 2's under control now, and our little ratbag wears undies at school without usually any problem as they take him every 1 or 2 hours and once he is on the loo he knows he can do wees and poos. It is school hols here at the mo, but with his twin and slightly older sister I am running around and dont have time to do the same amount of putting on and off the toilet....we will eventually get there I think.!!
As for the Nada chair, there is another teenager at my sons school that has one, which we are going to eventually get round to trying with my son, havent tried as yet, do they come in one size fits all???

Cheers
Batty

Yes, it's one size fits all. The straps are adjustable, my son is only 3 so if there is a teen that has it then it would fit anyone in that age range. They are around $50 to purchase so equipment-wise it's a cheap one. Karim also has leg braces that I sometimes put on with it. It gives extra stability.
Can I ask, how did you get your son to do wees on the toilet and how old was he? I'm not sure if I should just keep the nappies on and put him on every couple hours or to put undies on and deal with the inevitable mess.

every child is different w.r.t toilet training. I actually have let the school do a toliet training program with my son, as they have the time and dedication to do it (as part of his IEP plan too) every hour. We initially got him to the stage where we would put him on the toilet at home and he could produce the goodies while reading stories etc (he almost lived on the toilet) and "get a lolly". I think we started about the age of 3 or 4. He is now 6 and wears undies at school as they found he would be dry for most of the day and they stretch it out to taking him every 11/2 to 2 hours. Of course this all turns to custard in the holidays as I cant keep it up with the other kids to look after and out and about etc etc so we have pullups in the holidays. I am not sure what exactly worked, I know rewards helped, and maybe even books we got from the library on potty training etc. Also, we used and have just stopped using a step up toilet seat that fits sort of over the toilet with a step to rest his feet on and handles to hold on to (we now have moved to just a step).
It is a LOOOONNNGG slow process but I think we are now getting there so worth it in the end. Hope this helps

As for the Nada chair - we tried it quickly this week but found my son could just bend his legs and kick out of it (I can see why you use leg braces too) - I think a corner seat we may go for again (I see they use these post SDR as well and we have used them before)

Cheers
Batty

Yes I can see it will be a long process. I have told the kindy to put him on the toilet after his meals, ie morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. A for home I have been putting him in undies the last couple days but no success yet on the toilet. He poos and wees in the undies and won't neccessarily tell me when he has done something. I'm going to persevere for a while though. It's school holidays so I have more time on my hand. I think I need to buy more pairs though, I've sure went through a few.
Do you get the pullups subsidised for you? I know that when Karim reaches age 5 I can get them free of charge.

pullups! Thats ANOTHER story! All different depending where you live here. IN Wellington (only 15mins away they have been funded from the age of 4 ) Here in the Hutt ugly blue nappies funded from age of 4 and a friend and I have just had a year long battle to get a better grade of nappy funded, and pullups for us only in the last month (didnt cost them any more because they funded less of these for us as I said we would have to go through as many) Everything here a battle!
Whereabouts in Aus are you?
Do you find services good?
A friend and I are looking at moving to Brisbane long term. We have a FANTASTIC schooling here at the moment due to Conductive Education which I know isnt in Brisbane so that would be a loss. But other services...always a fight!

Hi you guys - I'm Battys friend, and yes we are all thinking of moving to Brisbane.

We have only just started the toilet training - my son has started this at school, but so far, its just somewhere for him to sit. We have tried it at home over the holidays, and it still just somewhere to sit - maybe he will get the hang of it all. In relation to the nappies and pullups - we had a year long battle with our hospital board, but it finally came through, and the nappies that we are now using are wayyyyy better than the expensive rubbish that they provided. We would love to move to brisbane and am wondering what support groups etc there are, and what the schooling etc is like.

Good luck with your TT - patience is a virtual I think ;) and a sense of humour is a must! :jester:

There is one in Brisbane called xaviers college, search the name. When I called nz to do research on conductive ed they didn't seem too impressed with it over there but I haven't actually contacted them here as I found another school on the gold coast that offers a therapy programme. The pullups they provide here are the huggies pullups. I only know that because Karims carer had a family that donated some to me as they didn't need them any longer. But they are fully subsidised at age 5. I am not sure what Brisbane offers because I'm on the gold coast but each centre has it's own set of therapists. The hardest thing over here is to get funding for things like wheelchairs and walkers. I got partial funding for the crocodile walker but cannot get funding for the chair as Karim doesn't need it in the home. I have approached a couple charities hoping to get a grant.
I'm not sure about the schooling as My eldest just started prep this year so I haven't had much experience with it, but from what I can see it seems good. I think with schooling it really depends on the teachers you get. We are moving my eldest to another school as this new one will be better for Karim when he starts in 2009. They have great access ramps and several diasabled toilets and teachers that know how to handle pi children. If you do move here either check out xaviers or search for a school that has a pi unit.

what is a "pi" unit? Cant for the life of me work out what it stands for? physical something??

Physically Impaired