Mutterings Of A Mindless Mommy

Today was…well…long. Long isn’t a negative word, right? Therapy was quite challenging for my son yet again. He refused to do anything at the beginning. The therapist usually starts off with “astronaut training” which is a vestibular protocol that he usually enjoys. He did not want to do it however he ended up making a deal with the therapist. If he could climb the rock wall first then he’d start his therapy session; they shook on it and up the wall he went. He quickly climbed (he has a path memorized) and when he got to the top the therapist said “look, you did it just like a real one” and he said “No, I don’t have a rope.” So she says “I’m your rope.” He looked at her and said “you’re not a rope.” Well, true. LOL The kid is so literal sometime that I can’t help myself but to giggle.

He stayed on-task relatively well until the end of the therapy session neared and it was time to do an infinity walk. Basically you walk in a figure eight while reading letters and numbers off of a printout. This led to a meltdown last week but thankfully only defiance this week. He absolutely refused to do it and I can’t figure out why. We ended therapy without an infinity walk. My husband stayed on while my daughter had her session while I took my son to see the psychologist.

We went to the psychologist’s office and the doctor came out to call us in and my son sat on the couch and didn’t move nor would he look at her. I told him it was our turn and he said “I don’t see anyone.” Nice. I finally coaxed him in and we asked him if he’d like to go color in another room or play with the toys in her room, he chose to sit on the couch and stare out the window nearly oblivious to us. Partway through the meeting he asked if he could go into the other room to color because he wanted to be ‘alone’. So we set him up (with supervision) to color and the continued to talk. About ten minutes later we hear a knock at the door and its Alex with a page full of drawings. Guess what he drew - Star Wars characters…surprise surprise! The boy loves his Star Wars.

By then he was getting impatient so she gave me a bunch of paperwork and setup our follow-up appointments. His IQ testing will be next week. My homework includes the Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Scale (ASDS), the Vineland-II, and the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC-2). Being the anal person that I can be I’ve already completed them all. Now I just get to wait for our next appointment which won’t be until mid-week next week.

Happy Monday!

This week is Spring Break for my kiddos and my husband took the week off so I actually got to sleep in this morning! Evidently my son and I were the only two to sleep as my daughter had a rough night and daddy took care of it so I could sleep; he’s napping now.

Monday is therapy day around our house. We go hang out with the occupational therapist (to address the sensory processing issues, motor planning issues, gross and fine motor delays, etc) for two hours as my daughter has therapy first and then my son follows up. Since they have pretty opposite needs, and are a two years in age apart, there is no combined therapy for us. My daughter absolutely loves therapy, her eyes light up and she has so much fun. She loves experiencing all the sounds, things to touch, etc. My son, on the other hand, isn’t as enthusiastic.

The therapist is really challenging my son and he’s showing her his little stubborn streak. He has some pretty concrete tactile defensive issues and spent ten minutes completely refusing to touch the shaving cream on the mirror. When he accidentally got shaving cream on his hand he quickly wiped it off on his jeans. Today should be interesting as last week was a very difficult time for him as he refused to participate in a few different activities. Hopefully he’s more open to it this week.

After therapy we will be meeting with the psychologist that diagnosed my daughter; but this time the topic of conversation is my son. He’ll be assessed for Asperger’s syndrome as well as have an IQ test administered. Thankfully my husband will be able to take my daughter home so it will just be my son and I at the psychologist’s office. It will be interesting to see if he interacts with her. Our last appointment, with a nutritionist to address his weight loss, didn’t go so well. He sat in the chair, facing the back of his chair, with his face on the chair and refused to talk to her. He’d talk to me and I’d have to relay it. Some people may think that he was being rude but he’s just a shy kid and this was too much for him. The psychologist’s office is much more kid-friendly so he might immediately feel at ease. Guess we’ll find out this afternoon!