Frustrating Morning, and a plea for help

Speech therapy was very frustrating this morning. Tristan has reached a serious plateau where he is all over the place, running around like a crazy person, not focusing. This has been happening with increasing frequency.

His therapists have had a meeting of the minds and have decided the best course of action is to remove all single, small toys from his play area and replace it with a play structure that offers the ability to climb and jump and get his abundance of energy out. He craves constant movement and small toys are presenting a huge challenge to him advancing in his therapy.

Step2 Clubhouse Climber

The problem with this is play structures are extremely expensive. Between the cost of his therapy (not all of which is covered by insurance) and fuel/transportation costs of getting to therapy which has skyrocketed, we simply cannot afford to provide such a structure for Tristan.

I created a gofundme page in the hopes we can raise enough money to provide this much needed piece of equipment for Tristan. Anyone who knows me knows how much I absolutely abhor asking for help or a handout, but this is my kiddo and he needs this. So I'm stuffing my pride and asking for help. Any help is appreciated more than words could express, even if it's just sharing the link.

Tristan's Go Fund Me

Trains. Oh Trains!

Trains at sensory therapy last week

So...

We've come to realize, and his therapists agree, the trains are really a detriment to Woodchuck right now.

This partially breaks my heart for my beautiful boy, but I kind of knew it already. He does so love his trains though...

The thing is, when he doesn't have them he does fine, he doesn't seek them out, he happily plays with other toys. Sensory therapy today went a MILLION times better than the last two sessions because I didn't let him bring trains. He was mad when we left the house, and cried and struggled with it. But once we were out the door and there were new things to look at he was fine. He didn't ask for his trains. He didn't go looking for them. He engaged better at therapy and played with different toys.

So soon the trains will all be phased out unless it's a book or a puzzle with a train on it. Here's hoping bedtime goes better (that's been a huge pain in the derriere also lately, as he insists on sleeping with them and then I have to be mean mommy and take them away and there's tears and screaming and crying and flailing and I feel like a big ol' jerk). Not to mention if he rolls over and they make noise he wakes up and it's rinse and repeat. I will  not  miss that bit about his trains at all.

Really, I won't miss any of it. For far too long all they seem to do is make him mad in short order and they've overstayed their welcome. Perhaps when we're further into therapy and he can regulate on his own better we can reintroduce them. There was a time before his SPD really took hold he got a lot of enjoyment out of them, but as things have progressed and we've been tossed through so many changes they became both his security blanket and simultaneously his antagonist.

Here's to blue skies sans trains soon!

A new phrase!!

I just have to brag on my Woodchuck for a minute, because this is a very proud Mommy moment right now!

He said THANK YOU!

Or at least his version of it. With his apraxia things can come out pretty garbled, the signals from the brain to the mouth get jumbled and the mouth doesn't know how to imitate sounds well or often.

But this morning, a correct signal got through. At least, more correct than usual. I handed him something and said "there ya go babylove" and he responded, without missing a beat, "tay ya!"

Sure sounds like THANK YOU to me!! My heart is just swelling with pride. My little boy might actually speak sooner than I think. Maybe I should scale it down and not get too excited, but right now that's impossible! I am just so elated! Yay for sensory therapy and speech therapy! And yay for exclamation points!!

Speech Therapy was a success!

Tris got to see his awesome speech therapist Jean this morning. It had been a few weeks so he could get into the swing of things with his sensory therapy.

What a difference a few sensory therapy sessions has made! She said she saw a big change in him already, in terms of playfulness, lack of meltdowns, attention span, etc. I will be so so so so so sad when she has to transfer him to another therapist, we love her and have been with her over a year now. I can't imagine someone else being his speech therapist.

I also told her about the study I found regarding SPD and brain imaging that I posted here. She was very excited about it!

It was a much better morning than yesterday, where Woodchuck had to miss his sensory therapy because I had a scary ultrasound and got stuck in the doctor's office for nearly three hours (which overlapped his sensory appointment). At least we won't miss tomorrow's appointment!

So what better way to celebrate a good speech appointment than to make yourself a little joker-esque? 

Breakthrough Study Reveals Biological Basis for Sensory Processing Disorders in Kids

I stumbled on this last night. It was SO EXCITING to read.

Do you know what this means?

This means finally, FINALLY Woodchuck could have a REAL diagnosis that is recognized by the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,) a REAL ICD-9 code that distinguishes him from having Autism or any Autism Spectrum Disorder because he does not meet the criteria for autism at all!

While he would need a sedated MRI for this diagnosis, I would be okay with that if it means he would truly get the help and attention he needs. Please let this research continue, let it be recognized and respected. Let it help my beautiful, brave boy!

Breakthrough Study Reveals Biological Basis for Sensory Processing Disorders in Kids

Sensory Therapy does have some drawbacks...

Apparently when starting sensory therapy it opens up a lot of curiosity and body exploration. We've gotten a lot of "'Sat?" ("what's that?") while pointing to his body or ours. He slapped his knee and said "knee" the other day too, which was nothing short of shocking.

It unfortunately leads to them feeling a little overwhelmed and leads to them constantly on the move. We've had a lot of climbing, jumping, not listening, misbehaving more than normal, etc etc etc. Rinse and repeat. We were a little at a loss as to what was going on but his OT explained yesterday that it's pretty normal when therapy first starts.

Joy.

At least I have an answer as to why this kid has been going a million miles an hour the last week and a half.

We went to play at Munchkin Playland today and he ran all over for an hour and a half, played with some kids (some kids were nice, some were little kleptos and I finally had to hide his trains in my purse because one kid kept yanking them out of Tristan's hands after shoving him...so I went over and politely jerked them back out of that kid's hand...and of course the mom was who knows where? I took a slightly sick delight in the kid's savage screaming, he was not a nice little boy).

Tomorrow is the pumpkin patch at Lakeview Farms in North Plains.I am super excited for this, we went last year but Tris was just starting to get into trains and wasn't super psyched about the train they have running there. I think he will practically poop his pants (not strange for a toddler I suppose) when he sees it this year. And then Sunday we are carving them and making a big, fun thing out of it!

Here's hoping for a less crazy, out of sorts weekend than the last one!

Oh happy day!

Woodchuck had sensory therapy this morning and it went really well (from what his OT said). They used weighted balls for the session and it kept his attention the whole time. This means I get to sit in on his therapy on Thursday! I am SO excited for this!

We also pared down his toys yet again to where all he has in the front room is his zany zoo, his arts and crafts table with coloring books and some larger reading books, and we brought his sand and water table in, cleaned it out and put rice and lentils in it (and all his trains and matchbox cars went in there too). We've had far less meltdowns without the train tracks being at his disposal, and I managed to get out the door...

...without any trains! 

I used a bit of distraction and made a big show of putting his dinosaurs in his Thomas backpack, and he actually did okay. He unfortunately fell asleep again on the way into therapy which resulted in a super late nap today. I wonder how I'm going to get this kid on any semblance of a schedule with his therapy at such a wonky in-between time of the day. It unfortunately was all they had available and we were lucky enough to get an opening so soon, it was supposed to be months before his therapy would start.

But today at therapy he had an awesome day! He played for an hour with co-attention and no meltdowns with weighted medicine balls. His OT was able to direct his play, and that literally has never happened. He is so rigid in his play and so scared to deviate from the norm so this gives me immense hope. Hope for him. For me, too.

Some days I just am so proud of this little person that I created, that in the face of such challenges he still finds ways to laugh and smile and have fun.