No, I don't think you're pushing it doing that. You need to do whatever will make him lift to step over them. If he's not over-reacting to just the poles any more, then raise them.
And, IMHO, I think the excercise routine she recommended is way over on the conservative side for him. If it was a painful condition or an injury he was recovering from, that much caution would be prudent, but she may have him starting at the very low end and I think you can use your judgment if you think he can do a little more. They can get sore from a lot more cavaletti work because it uses different muscling, but fifteen minutes every day of that (and I'd more correctly still call yours ground poles unless they are raised up a foot on crosses) and I can see value in a nice short trail walk also if you want, either before or after.
That's what I'd think.
HHUUUMMM, maybe I just learned something. She said cavaletti's. Would you have understood that to mean "raised"ones. I thought cavaletti's were just on the ground.
Becky