On Nov 10, 10:04*am, sweetsurprisesbyteri
wrote:
This prob is the wrong group, but my son was recently diagnosed with a
brain tumor (3 days after his 3rd birthday) and has had surgery and
just last week started his first round of chemo (this will be a long
process). *His brain tumor is medulloblastoma which is a malignant
tumor that affects balance in addition to other areas. *He needs
physical therapy but doesn't work well with the therapists and I would
like to make him what he needs at home. *He needs steps that go up - a
bridge to walk across - and steps that go down again (he needs to pick
up puzzle pieces at one end and put them in the puzzle at the other
end. *The steps in the therapy room are only about 3 inches deep (step
to step) and about one foot of step...and there's 8 up and 8 down.
Not sure if that's that important. *I also need to make him a balance
beam (I think I can do that on my own - they want 80 for one at the
store!).

Thanks for any help that you can give me.

His carepage is atwww.carepages.comand search for johnathondoerr if
you'd like to see it.

Teri

If you DAGS for stair stringer layout or stair stringer plans you'll
get lots of hits for how to calculate the cuts needed for stringers.
After that, you just need to add risers and treads. For the bridge,
look up instructions for framing a deck and take from there. In fact,
DAGS for deck plans and you'll probably find bits and pieces for the
entire project.

You said: "about 3 inches deep (step to step) and about one foot of
step...and there's 8 up and 8 down. Not sure if that's that important.
"

I assume you mean the rise (up and down) is 3" and the run (front to
back) is 12".

Well, it's important that you realize that with 8 up and 8 down
(assuming that number 8 is onto/off of the bridge) that means you've
got a run of 14' for the steps plus the length of the bridge. Have you
got room for a structure that big?

And I'll throw this out, even though you didn't ask. Please take it in
the caring spirit that it is offered:

I know you said he "doesn't work well with the therapists" but
sometimes patients also don't work well with family. Therapists are
(hopefully) trained to be somewhat emotionally detached - meaning that
when the patient starts complaining or gets depressed and wants to
give up, they may know some tactics that will get the patient back on
track - without the emotional baggage associated with not wanting to
get the patient "mad" at them. I may not be saying that correctly, but
what I mean is that the therapist doesn't have to live with the
patient so if things get tense, there's not going to be any guilt or
thoughts like "My son is going to hate me. Let's take the afternoon
off."

There's also something to be said for having to go someplace else for
the therapy. I see it as kind of like trying to work at home. Some
people can't do it because they get distracted by things around the
house (laundry, yardwork, etc) and neglect the work. By having the
structure of appointments with the therapist, you might be less likely
to take a break, let him sleep, shorten a sesion, etc.

Again, please don't be offended. I'm just tossing out some things to
think about, not saying that you shouldn't build the equipment or do
the therapy at home.

Best of luck to both you and your son.