One of the things I am most looking forward to doing with Ella when the Hudson Valley fully reopens is bring her back to see her Medek therapist, Mara Gordon. To say I have missed our weekly visits with her is an understatement.

We heard about Mara from a friend I knew in high school whose daughter was facing some struggles of her own. She posted a video of her in a session with Mara and I reached out for more information, wondering if she might be able to help Ella as well. As luck would have it, she did think Medek therapy would be a good fit for Ella.

Medek therapy is a very specific therapy that only a select few have been trained and certified to practice. Up until we had seen Mara, most of Ella’s therapy sessions consisted mostly of positioning and using equipment to initiate movement. Repetitive motions were also used to try and get her to independently move from lying on her back to a sitting position.

Mara doesn’t mess around and watching her with Ella during therapy sessions is not for the faint of heart. I have never seen anyone push her as hard as Mara does, and because of that we have seen great results during sessions. Mara has Ella standing the entire hour we are with her and always facilities some type of extreme movement with her. She assists her in lifting her leg over bars or stands her independently while moving a bar under her to keep her balance. This gives Ella a nice sense of what moving feels like.

It’s just as amazing watching Mara as it is watching Ella. Based on her hand positioning she can feel what parts of the body Ella is activating to complete tasks being asked of her. The entire time she is also focusing on a specific part of her back, can tell when Ella is losing balance, and modifies what she is doing with her to keep her momentum going should she see her struggling. It truly is remarkable to watch.

Have no fear. There is always a spotter in front to catch her should her legs give out. I have to be honest, Ella hates her therapy with Mara. She is mean mugging the entire session and when Mara pushes her to a point where she feels uncomfortable, Ella will strike back. One time she grabbed Mara’s nose so hard, and somehow got her finger up nostril, causing Mara to bleed. Without skipping a beat, Mara continued on. She does not mess around.

When Ella first started physical therapy at home, she screamed almost the entire time. It was hard to watch at first, but with our permission her EI therapist pushed her through. After about three sessions the screaming stopped. It was clear Ella was trying to use negative behavior to get out of doing therapy. We heard about the same behaviors when she started pre-k and kindergarten, and encouraged those therapists to let Ella scream or cry it out. She needed to know her meltdowns weren’t going to affect the outcome of the therapy. They began to see a change after a few sessions.

Your natural instinct as a parent is to comfort your child when you see them upset, and encourage others to do the same. Ella is smart. She knows how to manipulate people. Thankfully we able to figure that out quickly and squash it. We came to find out that some days at school were better than others and there were times where she flat out refused to do what was asked of her. I can only hope that were as quick on their feet as Mara. She is always adapting what she does to fit Ella’s moods.

Mara recently moved her office from Somers to Highland and I am so excited to see the new office and get Ella back to some sort of consistent therapy. I am going to leave Mara’s website at the bottom of this post incase anyone is interested in reading more about what she does, and how Medek therapy works. I promise to post some videos and pictures once we are back so you can see my girl in action.

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Check Mara out and learn all about Medek therapy at:

https://www.metamorphosispediatricphysicaltherapy.com/aboutcme