My Daughter, A Student

That's right, little Miss Rayleigh Bug is officially a student!!


She is part of the 3 year old program, Head Start and goes to an elementary school in the special needs 3 year old class.

We were fortunate enough to tour the school and meet her teacher before we started the enrollment process and I must say, everything just felt right. You know, that mommy feeling that just gives you peace that this will be a good thing! A week before her first day of school we got to meet with the teacher, teacher's aid, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, and vision specialist for a sit-down evaluation. Bug's OT from SoonerStart also attended this meeting to help give the team an outside perspective of what it is like working with Bug.

Buggie has now been in school for a full month and she is doing FANTASTIC at school!!

Bug with her first school project! She did hand-over-hand to decorate her Easter basket!

Her Easter basket came home with eggs filled with marshmallow candies that she loved!

I must admit, I was a little nervous at first. More excited for Bug, but still nervous at the same time. All moms, probably all parents in general, have that initial pang of nerves when it comes to putting your child in someone else's care but I think there's a whole new level to that when your child requires special care. Especially when they need as much care as Rayleigh. She is the only student in her afternoon class that needs her wheelchair. She is the only one that cannot sit, stand or walk independently but she is not the first student that the teacher and team have had in her situation. I feel confident that Rayleigh is in more than qualified, able hands when I drop her off at school. They have really come to know Rayleigh Bug and I think she's really meshing well there!

My most favorite part is dropping her off and picking her up - she has other kids around her almost every time excited to see her and to help push her chair in or out of the school doors (along with a member of her school team of course!).

Oh, my other most favorite part (hehe!) is hearing her daily report at the end of her day when I pick her up. Her teacher even shows pictures of Bug and what she did that day occasionally. These few minutes at the end of each day are so important to me because I don't get that moment that other parents get, that moment where you ask your child "How was school today?" or "Did you do anything fun at school?" or anything like that. It warms my heart that her teacher or any member of the team that brings her out takes that time to tell me how Rayleigh did!

Bug on her first day of school!

She is thriving and I couldn't be more proud of my little Bug!!

Bug in Theratogs

Well, while we are anxiously awaiting the test I will fill my time by writing a little blog about Bug's new TheraTogs. Bug has been wearing them for about a month now. Once on her, they look like some sort of spandex bodysuit. The TheraTogs catch-phrase is "Therapy You Wear". Bug's physical therapist at Jim Thorpe Rehab recommended them for Rayleigh Bug. She said it would help with Bug's low muscle tone and her sensory issues.

Here are some lines from around the TheraTogs website:

For patients with biomechanical or neuromotor issues

TheraTogs work by allowing the clinician to set the patient’s body in proper functional alignment, and letting them re-train their body through the ‘practice’ of daily activities. By applying prolonged, gentle forces during activity, TheraTogs can actually change the muscle and connective tissue – and for infants and young children, bone and joint development as well – in favor of better function and better alignment.

For patients with sensory and sensorimotor issues

TheraTogs work by applying consistent, gentle compression and proprioceptive input across the entire trunk, and by offering stability and support in a dynamic system that moves with the patient.

For sensory integration/sensory processing applications...A snugly-fit TheraTogs system provides the wearer with gentle, consistent proprioceptive and deep pressure input - a 'wearable hug' worn discreetly under clothing.

Here's there prochure with some more great bullet-points and information about TheraTogs for children http://theratogs.com/Doc/pdfs/TheraTogs_Corporate_Brochure.pdf

And if you're interested in the Research and Studies that have been done on Theratogs you can visit http://theratogs.com/Research.aspx.


In a nutshell, for Bug, Theratogs are meant to help support her low muscle tone because they wrap around tightly and hold her snug and give her deep input. Like it says above, they provide a wearable hug. They release the same feel-good hormones as a long hug or petting an animal which helps with her sensory issues.

She wears them every day, all day, and takes them off for sleeping. They are hand-washable, and I wash them about every other day. They stretch out but after washing them they form back to their shape.

These are all the pieces that wrap around her to form the TheraTogs

This is how they go together - it's a puzzle

The inside, that touches her skin, is like a soft leathery foam

This is what the basic suit looks like:

The white tabs are plastic and have velcro-like teeth on one side that adhere to the gold fabric

Here they are under her clothes

And then we've added this back strap which helps tremendously with her back arching:

And we just recently added these 3 straps across the belly, one straight across and the other 2 form an "x" across her tummy. These are supposed to help her stay forward in the sitting position but I haven't seen much difference between adding the back strap and then adding these.

At first, when it was just the suit, I didn't think these would be something we would need to stick with for long because we weren't seeing effects but after adding the strappings we can all tell that they help!


This is something new I'll be including at the end of each blog, Rayleigh's Stats:

Medicine: Ketogenic Diet, 4:1 ratio; Clobazam, 1 10mg pill 3 times a day; Vimpat, 50mg pill 1 in morning & 1 1/2 at night; Lamictal, 1 5mg pill twice a day.

Seizure Control: This week she has only been having 1-2 seizures a day. They are lasting about 10-25 seconds. She locks up, labored breathing, eyes look left and then she relaxes and breaths normal and goes back to sleep - they have all been during sleep as of this week.