HAPPY NEW YEAR!

a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all, we're here to ring in 2013 with news of my dad's continued progress.

the music therapy study through Harvard University has recently ended; my mom and Etty accompanied my dad to Boston in mid-December for one last session of testing, study evaluation, and a final MRI scan.  it was an amazing study that truly facilitated my dad's speech and communication progress, he benefited from a GREAT team of doctors and therapists, and although his time with the program is over, he hopes to continue to periodically get in touch with the Harvard team to check continued progress.  although the official study period has ended, my dad continues to use music therapy in daily conversation (with all of us!) in order to work on continued improvement in speech skills and to keep the strategies learned in the program (sentence structure, word pronunciation, etc.) a constant part of his communication.  he will also begin some one-on-one music therapy practice with an instructor in town to continue working on speech skills.

we also have a new arm exerciser in the house!  my dad has decided to put more work into his arm, hand, and finer finger movements.  the machine works on bilateral movement in which both arms move for a certain number of repetitions, eventually increasing the limited movement of his right arm.  he's also able to lift 10-pound weights with his right arm, and he also does various boxing exercises to continue upper-arm strength.

the cold weather has limited my dad's desire to go out for long walks, so he's renewed his gym membership and will continue to work on cardio exercises and leg movement and strengthening with gym equipment.

my dad just finished with an audio listening program that he would listen to approximately 15 minutes a day in order to help strengthen the listening pathways in the brain through various music and nature sound recordings.

in his down time, he enjoys keeping up on global news, both online and by reading TIME Magazine.

X-Mas Photo 2012!