Catching up

This page will focus on our work/therapy with Bug. We started Speech Therapy (ST) on July 31st and Occupational Therapy (OT) on August 6th. At Bug's EI assessment, they determined he was at a solid 18 month old level for speech and approximately two years for motor skills. They also indicated that he has sensory issues that may explain why he is so physical (jumping constantly, LOVES roughhousing, chews on things constantly) and potentially could explain why he doesn't talk much (if he has a high threshold for oral sensations, he might not realize how to make the correct sounds, etc.)

Our biggest concern for Bug is that he doesn't engage in typical or common play for his age. He doesn't seem terribly interested in other kids (although he is definitely aware of them) and won't even play with toys with us. Often, we feel like he wants to interact, but is held back by his lack of talking. He also struggles to understand more complex directions, although can follow simple one step directions, sometimes. We discovered that he actually has a decent vocabulary for his age (~100 words) but he is very limited with phrases. Common phrases "Check mail" "Read book please"  "Take bath"

At our first speech session, we worked on finishing tasks. For example, Bug enjoys dumping things out and then taking off for another activity. Instead, we called him back, had him help us put the pieces away. This helps him realize that we finish activities before moving on and gets him to think about natural consequences ("If I take this out, I'm going to have to pick it up") and slow him down a bit too. Kerry encouraged me/us to work on cooperative play (things like he turns pages while I read, etc.) which is a big goal of ours. We also discussed encouraging more 3 word phrases: want ____ please, want more _____ etc.

After this session, Bug mastered "Come with me" (which we had started encouraging before we started ST) and also "Stand up" or "sit up" (it's hard to tell because of his lack of diction). We are also really encouraging the word "Want" and he does sporadically use it correctly! He is becoming a good helper picking up items. He likes to take the condiments out of the fridge and can put them back, sometimes without them being handed to him. We are working on getting him to put books back on shelves.
The first OT session was a little bit less successful because Bug had never met his OT before. (Our speech therapist, Kerry, evaluated him for his assessment, so they had met) The OT and I did a lot of talking about where Bug was at, and where we'd like to go with therapy. She said that his jumping and walking on his toes is how he gets sensory information into his joints. Once Bug is more comfortable, she plans on showing me joint compression techniques to help him get that feedback. We also plan on using a "sensory diet" which is a series of activities throughout the day to help Bug get the sensory input he needs but also allows him to function more "normally" and focus better on regular tasks. I'm still a little unsure of what this will all entail, but we'll get into it more after I fill out a sensory assessment to determine where Bug's needs are.

We also discussed potty training and the OT agreed that we are on the right path. She said that we just need to go s-l-o-w and accept that it will probably take more time that we'd like. However, I'm happy because Bug enjoys sitting on the potty, which is a good first step.

Our final issue we talked about was Bug's chewing. The OT recommended that  I purchase "Chewy Tubes" which were initially designed to help kids strengthen their jaws, but are also a safe thing for sensory kids to chew on to get that input. Hopefully these are coming in the mail tomorrow. Our goal is to get him to chew on his Chewy Tubes rather than constantly putting other (inappropriate) things in his mouth. This would be great, as I really really hate having to constantly tell him no, or having him and Wiggle share chewing toys.

The second ST session, Bug was not so excited to see Kerry, but I think he's realized that things are a-changing and that means a bit more work for him. He did warm up to her eventually though. She encouraged us to vary our phrases "More cheese please" "I want cheese" "Mommy come please" "Come with me" etc. to keep Bug thinking about how phrases are made (IE, it's not just a puzzle, there are varying ways to say things that have the same effect, etc). She also encouraged me to make a little photo book of pictures of people and things we want Bug to have the words for (Mommy, Daddy, Owen, kitchen, etc and verbs like sleeping, crying, etc). I've started this and shown it to him, he's mildly interested. Need to get more pictures in there though!

I also bought a beach ball for us to play with outside. Adam took it out with him and Bug and managed to get Bug to catch it a couple of times. This is great! Usually Bug will just take things away from us if we try to get him to play with them (he also did this). Adam also had a really successful fingerpainting session. I struggle with these because Bug typically just wants to eat the paint so I think it had turned into a negative experience with me constantly saying "Not in the mouth" etc. Adam was more engaged, helped him put his hands and fingers in the paint and smear it, put bowls in it like stamps (Bug tried to do the same, which was awesome!). Best fingerpainting we've had in a long long time. Mommy took lots of mental notes.

I've also started singing typical kid's songs to Bug, especially if there actions involved. He likes "Wheels on the Bus" and can say a few of the words "Shhhh shhhh shhhh" was a great one. He likes having the actions "done" to him, but won't do them on his own yet. He also likes "Itsy Bitsy spider" and can say some of the ABCs too!

Similarly, we are trying to get Bug to tell us/show us where he wants to be tickled. He will sometimes move our hands to the body part (knees, belly, etc) that he wants tickled.

On the pointing note, Bug used to point sometimes, but has long since stopped. We are trying to encourage this again, as it'd be very helpful to know what he wanted/was looking at, etc. Today one Starfall, Bug pointed at the letter "x" twice for me to go to that page, and also moved my hand to a few letters. That's big!!!!