Orthotics and Squeaker Shoes

The orthotics have arrived. Dylan's little ankles fall in (pronate) and make it more difficult for him to walk, so his therapist recommended that we get him in these orthotics to help give him more stability and support. This may be caused from a hereditary problem with pronating on Justin's side (Justin has bad knees as a result of not catching this problem when he was young). Here is a pic I found from Team One Verse that illustrates what is happening:

Obviously, walking on a pronating ankle is not good for the ankles (or the knees or the hips). So we are hoping that these orthotics will help Dylan feel more stable and have more of a desire to learn to walk.

So far, he has tolerated them better than I had expected him to, since he is not a big fan of wearing shoes. We try to keep them on his feet all of the time that he is awake. He seems to feel more comfortable on his feet with more support. He is more willing to walk with help and will totally let go of everything and try to stand on his own, which is definitely new.

As you can see, he has learned how to scale the stairs! Now we are working very hard to teach him how to come down.

These orthotics are a bit bulky to fit into many shoes, even if they are a couple of sizes too big. We found some of Brandon's old toddler shoes that they fit into, but the rubber soles were so heavy, Dylan looked like he was dragging around 10 pound weights with the orthotics and shoes on his feet! Luckily we were able to get some "squeaker shoes" when we got these orthotics. They are made for these kinds of things and really make it easier to get shoes over the orthotics and they are very light weight. They have the name that they do because there is a squeaker built into the shoes right under the heel to help kids who are trying to learn to walk with orthotics to be motivated to try taking steps. And yes, they do in fact squeak every time Dylan takes a step. I think once he figures out that walking is so fun, he will attempt it more and more.

Here he is with his new squeaks!

Watch out world! This boy is going places!