My name is Allison; I started working at EasyStand eight years ago before I had kids. Now I have two kids, a five year old and two year old. I am always trying to find different activities to keep them busy. This spring, when it was time to start the garden, it was still pretty cold outside. I was thinking of a fun way to get the kids involved with starting the garden inside. The really neat thing is that this entire gardening project can be done on the tray of your child's standing frame, it easy to clean and they're in a better position for planting. Not only will they get a chance to spend time with their loved ones, but will also get the benefit of standing and a wonderful feeling of accomplishment! You will get the benefit of seeing the smiles that this project creates all summer long. From one mother to another mother, take some time to plant a garden with your children!

Start an Indoor Garden

Meet Cayden, a little boy with a form of Muscular Dystrophy (Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type II) who stands every day. We brought the EasyStand Bantam with the supine option to his home. Great things happened when Cayden stood in the Bantam! While eating lunch with Cayden and his family, we noticed that he sat at the dinner table in his wheelchair, at a lower height than everyone else and looked a little bit uncomfortable. So we put him into the Bantam, removed the Shadow Tray, had his mom push him up to the dinner table and lifted him into a slight anterior tilt position. Now Cayden was sitting at the same height, making it easier to interact with his family at the table, and was in a better position to eat independently! Another important thing that the Bantam did for Cayden, was allow him to rest in the supine position. This was a great position for Cayden, because he could relax his muscles and lay back while being supported. We could tell how he really felt by the "Aaaaahhh" he let out and the smile on his face!

Give your community the magic of play! Enter this essay contest and you could win a universal accessible playground in your neighborhood. What a wonderful opportunity to create a place where kids of all abilities can play together and meet new friends! Visit the Together We Play website for more information. Enter your essay and have the chance to win a playground that encourages inclusion and eliminates bias toward kids with disabilities. Good luck!

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"I first met Daniel when he was eight months old. He had his first sit-to-stand stander before he was one. He used it regularly and had very few problems as a result. His spasticity decreased on days when he stood, he had very few urinary tract infections, and his passive range of motion was always good. When Daniel outgrew his last stander, the decision was made to try a glider stander so he could regularly get cardiovascular exercise and strengthen his upper extremities while getting all the benefits of dynamic standing. This would help him accomplish his goals of being able to propel a manual wheelchair more frequently and more independently. He did a trial with the stander and he and his family loved it. They liked the fact that the operation was similar to his previous sit-to-stand standers, and the fact that he could improve his upper-extremity strength while getting dynamic weight bearing through his lower extremities. So the process of obtaining the stander began." This article was written by Lauren Rosen, PT and was published in Advance for Physical Therapy and Rehab Medicine in June.

Read "On His Own"