Loving & living with a special needs child

10.19.2001

occupational therapy was a success. for kids his age, the occupational therapy room is a big playroom and he loved it. he can't skip, but he can run and climb and showed some rather clever problem solving here and there. for example, the therapist did a wheelbarrow with him, where she held his fet and he had to get around on his hands, except she wanted him to hold something in one hand while they did it. taz decided this was too difficult and paused long enough to put the thing in his mouth. hehe. we're to try to use music to soothe him when he gets out of hand and see if that helps, although we may have to test around and see what works to calm him.



we now have a therapy to do at home 3 times a day. in a way, he gets brushed. we do compression on the joints, then about 15 minutes of brushing his arms, legs and back with a special brush, the compressions again. it sounds really odd, but he likes it. we're supposed to do that 3 times a day.. the terapist says it will help with his sleep schedule, possibly even dramatically. it's called deep pressure massage treatment. we also have a list of supplies to get a mile long and hugely expenssive. i am hoping i.r.c. can help us get what we need because there's no way we can do it. (and i am trying to figure out where the heck we're going to put a hammock).



basically taz's o.t. is for sensory integration. he has problems processing sound, touch, etc... for example, sound. when we hea rthings we usually know what to attend to and what can be disregarded. stuff that's disregarded becomes background sounds for us, we don't really hear them. not only does taz hear these background sounds, but the therapist says he probably hears them as loud as the sounds he needs to attend to, like someone talking to him. no wonder the poor kid feels sensory overload sometimes! apparently he has a low (almost non-existent) vestibular system (inner ear stuff: baance, gravity, etc). he probably also has a low gustatory (taste) since he is so fussy about eating.



today was an evaluation for the most part. he goes back next friday for more, and then should have one more evaluation after that. and the therapist says that what we eventually do will help with eating, sleeping and fine motor skills. all good stuff in my book! :)

10.18.2001

I talked to Kristav's teacher yesterday, during a parent-teacher conference. Kristav is currently in 3rd grade, on the Special Ed program. Since this school district is a year round district, that means he would be going 'off-track' next week. However, he's on an 'extended day' program, which means instead of being out of school for a month, he's out for two weeks. Anyway, Kristav is doing well in math, better than average in fact. He is reading at level 4 (if you understand how California does things). Now, compared to a 'normal' 9 year old, this is far below average. But, compared to the rest of his class, he's one of the two best readers there. We take our victories where we can. Behavior-wise, sometimes he's the sweetest kid, and sometimes he's very angry. There's no telling. He takes Concerta 18mg in the morning; Domynoe can give him 5mg of Ritalin at night, if need be, but I haven't heard if she's doing that or not. Last week I had to pick him up at school because he got booted off the bus. Friday, Domy and I (and Saxy too, I think) go with Kristav to his first Occupational Therapy session.

posted by dad on 10:37:58 AM | note me

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