Skateboard Therapy Helps Whitman Boy Soar

http://media.boston.cbslocal.com/CBSBOS_1006201517272600000AA.mp4 WHITMAN (CBS) – What if illness meant you couldn’t do too much, but once a day, you could soar? For a little boy from Whitman, it’s making all the difference. James Dodge is just six years old and spends most of his time in his wheelchair. “He has Polymicrogyria which means too many little folds in the brain. He has intractable epilepsy, hypotonia, global development delay,” says James’ mother Sarah Dodge. But every chance they get, his family brings him to “The Practice,” an indoor skate park in Whitman, just across the street from their home. “We come almost every single day,” Sarah says. And it’s at The Practice that James becomes a bit of a skateboard dude. James wears a special vest called an Upsee that attaches him to Shawn Kain. Kain and his wife Jill are Special Education teachers who own the skate park and run it nights and weekends. Shawn holds James as he moves the skateboard up and down gentle ramps. Even though James doesn’t speak, there’s no question what he’s feeling as an enormous smile spreads over his face and his eyes light up. “I think it’s probably freeing for him. He loved it. It made him happy. He likes movement. People always say you have the wind in your hair, but when you’re in a chair you don’t feel the wind at your back,” his mother says. James...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Local News Seen On WBZ-TV Syndicated Local Watch Listen James Dodge Paula Ebben Polymicrogyria skateboard The Practice Whitman Source Type: news