Care Team Report

Sam has now been in Rehabilitation programs for one-year. The progress she has made in this time-period is astounding. There is simply no comparison to where she was a year ago at Mount Sinai to where she is now. It has been three months since she has transitioned to the Northeast Center for Special Care and we had our monthly review yesterday afternoon. I received a great report on Sam. The report measured her progress from the month before and on all counts Sam has improved. Most importantly, all the therapists have noticed that she is now able to advocate for herself. It is just a start, but she will at times have strong opinions on various topics; "NO, I do not want to go to therapy today" - the therapists listen to her when she says no; "I need a break" she says in her speech class. These are very good signs. Also, Sam seems to have taken control of her peseveration issues; i.e. her repeating of words and ideas has lessened. She is more in control and is speaking outloud more instead of just mouthing words. Her attention span has also increased- in speech therapy Meghan had been only able to work with her for about 10 minutes at a time and then take a long break, now however, just in the last month, that has increased to 30 minutes at a time. This is very good. In occupational therapy, they have changed her therapist to someone who will solely work with her a few times a day on what is called ADL's- or activities of daily living....putting clothes on, washing your hands/face, eating, etc. They think at this moment that this change will be the most effective for Sam. Her eating still is problematic but they say it is a function of her cognitive levels...when she is more aware she will eat well and recognize the food as food, but when she is less aware, the food is not really identifiable as food, so Sam she will spit it out or be unclear as to what purpose it serves. She loves her mighty shakes, and those keep her weight on, so they are not concerned about her erratic eating behaviors. Also, Sam now attends a "body and mind" class a few days a week, which focuses on breathing exercises and Tai Chi. I was thrilled to hear this since Sam had been taking Tai Chi classes in Chinatown on her own, back when she was well. They will try to work into her scheudle some more painting classes as well as trying out a printmaking and jewerly making class. Overall, the director of the program said that by all reports Sam was making great progress and they were very pleased.