Friday, March 12, 2010

Add OT for SPD and ADHD to my "to do" list....

Today, was quite a day I must say!

Aleq was excited to go and I was ready for some feedback. Ashlie was excited to spend time with her papi.

Well, did things change in two hours. I asked the therapist for her feedback on the evaluation from last week and she responded with "I have not put it all together yet".  She is very nice and really does know her job, however, as a client you really want to know the full picture. Especially if you have already established a diagnosis.

So here are some things that I learned today that I really realized:
1.  I have known something has been wrong with Aleq since the day he was born.
 a.   never would drink a bottle upright, always had the bottle hanging down to drink
 b.   would not sleep (for the first 2 yrs he slept either in my arms or a slightly reclined highchair) if he did is    was only for a short time perhaps 4 hr
 c.  he was always attached to me, didn't feel comfortable with anyone
 d. loves to run and be really rough
 e. very sensitive, hurting his feelings is why he will have a meltdown most of the time
 f.  has to be perfect if not he feels stupid, dumb, loser, a lamer (those are his words)

Now, before we went to the Peid and OT these past several month I had diagnosed him with ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder. They confirmed it.

Therefore, today, I had to make an executive decision, are you ready.... I am going to stop therapy....

Why, you may wonder. Here is the answer, because I can and I said so... no really.
I have read a lot of good books on ADHD and SPD. I have now in my posession "Out of Sync Child has fun", which is about providing therapy at home. SPD is not something to mess around with, not taking the correct measures of therapy could really hurt your child.

Why do I feel I can do it?

I asked the therapist there "what can I do at home to help him". My thinking is it is not benefiting the child to come and do therapy once a week. You need to do therapy everyday. Her answer was that there really isn't much to do at home with him. She would rather him be there to do it. To me that is not beneficial.
Am I right?

As my husband brought out, that is what they do and how they make money. Don't get me wrong, she is good and very nice.

So then I am thinking, I remember when I first started homeschooling it was scary. I had to learn to organize and teach my children. At first Ashlie, then I had it down and it was smooth. Then came Aleq, I freaked out for a while because I thought, now I have two to school. How amd I going to do it?

If I have the resources and dedication I put in to homeschooling, then I can do it for Aleq with SPD.... I have the resources and determination.  We can do this....
I did it this past week byt letting him sit on an exercise ball while we did school time. I brushed him morning, noon and night. Follwed with joint decompression which really does the trick. I brought out my exercise bands and he would use those when he started feeling hyper or when he would start getting upset.

Our routine:
 This is an awesome techinique, it activates the sensory nerves. The brush is like a baby brush. You start at  the arms and with the brush at a rectangle postion (the long sides are the top and bottom) then move up and down the arm and the palms. Then you brush the legs, then the feet. It really relaxes him and helps him focus.
Then we massage the face and ears. With two fingers you start at the forehead and make a circle around his face then start at the nose and massage out. After the face you put your fingertips on the top of the ears and just touch then gentle tug on the lobes.

Just by doing that when he started getting up set made a difference. We started with the nature sounds when he sleeps. I roll him up like a taco or the way the bundle up the newborns.

We bought a chair hammock outside that is supposed to give him that spinning sensation as well as helping him learn to lay back.

So, now do you think I can take this on...

I do!

This weekend I will be trying to create yet another schedule for us.

Perhaps in a year of if I start having issues we may go back . Until then, we will do therapy everyday. I will share my struggles and mishaps while building a therapy center in our yard. lol

You know, I think I felt so overwhelmed at first because this is another thing I am doing. I am a wife, mom, teacher, home planner, cook, event planner, homeschool support group coordinator, transcriptionist, soap and candle maker, nurse, now an OT.... I know I am missing some but that is all I can think of right now.
I thought about the verse I had written on facebook the other day about on the way home:
What i my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should endure? Job 6:11. Lord, help us to endure when we are weary from our day to day responsibilities. When calmity strikes my household, may we trust You with every detail. Give us faith that, like Job's, can weather any storm life blows our way. Help us... to instill that kind of faith in our children... PLEASE... ;)

I did make a final step this week and really talked to Ash about pitching in more then she has been. She now washes dishes for me, folds clothes and helps me with Aleq and I am busy. I know she can do it, she is her mothers daughter. lol

I make it up with bringing her to playdates and doing things for her.

The only issue I is being careful with her playdates. You see, Aleq does not have many play friends. He knows a lot of kids. But none are any he has playdates with. Do you know how it feels to have a child with no friends? He always ask, why doesn't anyone want to play with me. I even has a mom tell me her child does not like to be around Aleq because he gets mad sometimes. So what do you do? I am still trying to figure that one out besides praying.

But you know God is with us and I know we will get thru this. It could always be worse.....

So after a very emotional day today, we went to Walmart to by a ball to help give him more muscle tone. He has low muscle tone. By getting the medicine balls you throw back and forth to build up the muscle tone. Also, we will be doing school on the floor sometimes, it coordinates his hand better. If you have a child that has issues writing the correct size. Have them lay on their belly and have the elbows support them while doing school work. Bought some flowers to replace the ones we lost. Came home washed the car and planted the flowers. Being outside always helps me think better. ;)
Remember as I do , be at peace! God is there to hold the load!

4 comments:

  1. Hi Heather,
    I am an OT, and one thing I repeat often to the parents of the families that I work with is, "I'm here to work myself out of a job". By this I mean that I work with the child to figure out the best techniques for their specific needs, and work with the family to help them figure how to best implement the techniques in a way that works for them and their home, and hope they can them use the new framework to make their lives easier and better. Some children make frequent changes and their program needs to be updated, but if you are comfortable, then go for it!
    I hope it's going well (you posted this in March, it's now July) but stay strong and creative, and follow Aleq's lead with what his body needs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you very much for your input. I appreciate your motivation.

    I have noticed that sometimes he does need change. I have learned when he needs a little more challenge. That is why I created a schedule that I alternate for him. Since working with him, he has improved very much. We still have a few bad days but that are not like in the past.

    I have kept in touch with his original OT and she feels comfortable that we can do this. The OT always emphasizes that she is there if I ever need her.
    I felt he needed more then just one day a week. That is why I went ahead with the journey of working with him.

    Thank you so much for the encouragement.

    Sincerely,
    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm a homeschooling mom and an OT and I just want to encourage you to do as God leads you. I've come across plenty of moms that are excellent therapists to their own kids because they know them better than we do. Moms like that can get way more accomplished at home than in therapy because of the 24/7 attention. I know therapy has a place, and obviously I believe in it strongly, but I also believe in MOMS and think you and your son will do great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much Tracie for that encouragement. Support from others really helps when participating in a challenge. ;)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails