Skip to main content

AFOs: The Fitting

A few weeks after casting Ben's AFOs, we visited Steve again for a fitting. The AFOs are completed, but still need adjustments.

A small boot was fitted over Ben's special long socks. The top of the boot was softer than the ones he had in the past. It was rubbery. The rest of it was a hard plastic. A very soft tongue was glued inside of the boot to make sure that nothing hard rubbed against Ben's foot. This was new for us. Typically, we had the tongue, but it was detached and we were forever losing them and yelling for someone to find a pringle for Ben's brace - that's what we call the tongues, "pringles".












The extra length on the orthotic is trimmed off by Steve on site.
After the boot, a hard plastic orthotic was put on. This held the straps that keep the AFO in place. This time, Steve decreased the straps from three to two. 

The change in strap number and glued in tongue made putting on AFOs faster and easier. As you can see in the photos, taking them off was easier too.







Boot

Boot

Outer Orthotic

Boot inside Orthotic

Go Panthers!








Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Parenting an Adult Child with Disabilities

  "Parenting an Adult Child with Disabilities" is a series on eSpeciallyBen. As Ben approached 18, it was clear our role changed as parents. We needed to help Ben transition into adulthood. These stories are meant to assist other families who face, or will face, some of the same challenges. Talking About the Future Guest Post - Matt Wilson Legal Guardianship, Medicaid and SSI Researching Group Homes Questions to Ask at a Group Home Visit Referral Packet for Group Homes Getting Assistance from a Care Manager From Group Home Placement to Discharge Reaching for Independence

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

After my post, Brotherly Love , I received an email from a reader who reminded me of this song. I knew the song, but had never really thought about the words and the meaning behind them. I looked it up and thought others might see the lyrics in a new light.   He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother The road is long With many a winding turn That leads us to who knows where Who knows when But I'm strong Strong enough to carry him He ain't heavy, he's my brother. So on we go His welfare is of my concern No burden is he to bear We'll get there For I know He would not encumber me If I'm laden at all I'm laden with sadness That everyone's heart Isn't filled with the gladness Of love for one another. It's a long, long road From which there is no return While we're on the way to there Why not share And the load Doesn't weigh me down at all He ain't heavy, he's my brother. He's my brother He ain't h

ABC's of ABA

A few weeks ago I attended a workshop presented by a behavior therapist. As it turned out, I went to a conference on the same topic over a year ago. I will describe what I have taken away from these methods in my own words - but please take a look at the links I have provided below. After I learned about this, life with children made a lot more sense to me. Not that this is earth shattering material, but it helped me to better understand the hows, whats and whys of behavior in children, and occasionally husbands. I am in no way an expert in this - just a parent who wants to share a behavior strategy that has worked in our home. I hope to inspire others to explore it further.  Any errors in information comes from me and cannot be blamed on the presenters. Also, you may have seen ABA - Applied Behavior Analysis - connected most often with Autism - please do not let this deter you if your child is not autistic. I use these methods with all my children, none of which are labeled au