DESCRIBER: A title: ÒLiam: Movement.Ó
SANDY: LiamÉin very familiar areas, such as his home or church or Grandma and GrandpaÕs house, he canÉlike I said, my houseÑhe knows the whole house. He can go to his room, to find my room, find his brotherÕs room, find the kitchen. He literally can run circles through our house. He gets around our house great. Grandma and PapaÕs houseÑhe knows it well, but thereÕs a lot moreÉyou know, just different angles. So he knows when, for example, like a corner is coming, so heÕll slow down. HeÕs got those landmarks made. And same with churchÑheÕs just been there, running up and down the hallways. He just the other day told me he wanted to go to the bathroom by himself and that I should stay up in the front of the church, and I was like, ÒFine, go,Ó although I secretly tailed him. But he went all the way from the front of the church to the back of the church and found the bathroomÑwent and did his thing by himself. And so he gets around really well in areas that heÕs familiar with. And so when heÕs introduced to areas that are not as familiarÑsay, his new classroom at school this yearÑhis TVI and his intervener, we met at school before school started, and his TVI took him around the whole perimeter of the classroom. And they tried to make it where there were specific walkways that he could go. They had his deskÉa clear shot from the door to his desk to some of the things he needed to do. But Liam before then was able to at least get just the full feel of the perimeter of the room. Same with when he first was at this school and he started kindergarten, they did the same thing. They took him down the main trailsÉpathways that heÕd be taking from his workroom to the classroom to the office, from the back door to the front door to the gym, all of those things. And he also does use, in the hallways, he does use a cane. HeÕs been working with his cane. He started out with one of theÑI donÕt know the technical nameÑbut the canes that have the big balls at the end of them. And then now heÕs graduated to one that just has a little bit of a smaller one that at first kept getting stuck in cracks, but now heÕs pretty good at using that cane.
DESCRIBER: Liam walks down a quiet residential street with his cane. He reaches toward Sandy, who is filming, and after briefly clasping her hand continues to walk.
SANDY: We use the cane in school; weÕll bring it when we go to stores that are unfamiliar places to him. When we go to the park, heÕll use it walking down the walkway, using his cane. And then when we play on the equipment, someone usually has to be right there with him, unless itÕs a playground that he knows well. Then we can beÉhe doesnÕt have to be holding onto us or us holding his hand. He can be a little more independent then.
DESCRIBER: Liam climbs a play structure and goes down the slide.