Meet Raylan: Patient Success Story

Despite difficulty with moving his body due to a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, Raylan had an active mind and was ready to cause trouble, just like other toddlers! He needed help learning mobility skills (to be able to get into all of that trouble), which is where Chele entered the picture. She is Raylan’s physical therapist and was able to see all of his potential upon meeting him, and they quickly got to work! Raylan was able to roll and army crawl using his arms, but he struggled with sitting, hands/knees position for crawling, and transitions between different positions, which limited his ability to interact with toys and family, explore his environment, or participate in daily routines.

Chele began teaching Raylan how to use his body against gravity, where his body was in space, and how to activate his trunk, and once he caught on, he took off! Developing sitting skills was first on their list, and Raylan loved to surprise everyone with his new tricks. When he first learned to transition into sitting, his mom turned away for a moment while Raylan was playing, and when she turned back around – SURPRISE – Raylan was sitting! The excitement of Raylan’s progress had his family on board with Chele’s home program, completing anything that was asked of them to support their little warrior.  Raylan’s parents are the foundational part of the equation for Raylan’s success, and their son takes after them with his work ethic – Raylan has never met a therapy challenge he could not conquer. Therapy isn’t easy, so there were times that Raylan struggled, and while that was hard for his parents to watch, they continued to provide encouragement and consistency to help him reach his potential.

Sitting was just the beginning – he quickly began crawling on hands/knees, pulling to stand at support surfaces, and cruising on anything he could hold on to! However, Chele and Raylan’s work together is not finished, and they are now working on independent standing and walking with a posterior walker. In true Raylan fashion, it only took one therapy session for him to figure out the walker! This newfound mobility has made it possible for him to sneak into Chele’s therapy bag when she isn’t looking, and his new favorite thing is to raid the snack cabinet – here comes TROUBLE!