Daniel & the Aergo PS
Daniel is on board for the second phase of our Aergo PS case studies - joining Hadley in trialling the PS and feeding back his experiences through a series of online questionnaires and visits from our team.
Daniel is our first user of the Aergo PS with profound and multiple learning difficulties so we are relying on his parents to monitor his behaviours, communication and position to let us know how he is enjoying using the Aergo PS.
He is 13 years old and has a dominant mutation of the ACTL6B gene, Daniel communicates via eye pointing, vocalisations and body movements. Daniel also has sensory processing disorder and difficulties with proprioception.
His baseline seating system is a Chunc wheelchair, which he uses throughout the day to travel to and from school and as his home seating system.
It includes lateral support, head support, chest strap, lap strap and foot-straps.
We have replicated the set-up of Daniel’s Aergo PS, without the chest strap as he will not be using the PS for travel.
With the support of an Occupational Therapist, we reviewed Daniel goals for the trial and reviewed his current seating patterns and his parents hopes for his positioning and comfort.
Daniel’s mum commented,
‘Daniel is generally very comfortable in the Chunc for short periods of time. However, we notice that at the weekends or when he gets home from school, he can become quite vocal and agitated. If we move him to his beanbag he is much more calm and settled.
Although he’s obviously more comfy, we know it’s not a healthy position for Daniel to be in as he will sit in a cross-legged position. This is also the position he prefers if his feet aren’t strapped down on the Chunc.
We discussed with Daniel’s mum the key objective for his Aergo PS trial, and it was agreed that we would position and inflate the air cells to try to keep Daniel sitting in a long-legged position without restraint.
Daniel has a tendency to lean slightly so lateral supports are used on his Chunc to keep him in an upright position. However, Daniel prefers to tuck is arms inside the laterals and is so strong he can often move them out of position.
On set-up of the air cells, we noticed that Daniel seemed to enjoy the deep pressure of the lateral air cells so we inflated them to level 4, more support than he needed but to monitor his response. It was interesting to observe that he didn’t try to tuck his arms inside the laterals.
Daniel wore a DMO Orthotics lycra suit for many years, for deep pressure and to help with his sensory processing disorder. His mum reported that his response to the high level of inflation of the lateral air cells was similar to his response to the lycra suit - with a reduction in movements and better eye contact.
Daniel’s individual Aergo PS settings:
Lateral Right and Left air cell are inflated to level 4.
The thigh support is inflated to level 3 to raise his knee higher prevent him from sliding forward in his wheelchair. Keeping him more stable and reduce the cross legged sitting.
Lumbar air cell is not inflated as Daniel doesn’t require support in the lower section.
Pelvic Right and Left air cell are both inflated to level 2 to provide more immersion.
Immediately after setting up the air cells, Daniel laid his legs straight without his leg supports. Since using the Aergo PS, the parent has feedback that Daniel crossed his legs much less in comparison to his prescribed seating, and is seated for longer in a better position and he’s very comfortable.
A 50% reduction in intervention from a carer has been reported so far as Daniel doesn’t need to be repositioned as frequently as before due to discomfort.
We look forward to continuing to update you on Daniel’s progress.
