We met today with the OT and the SLP. We spent 2 hours talking with them about how to work on the same page to get the best results for Eli. A LOT of information was given to us. Again, I cant express how great it feels to have someone understand where I am coming from and is very willing to work along side Andrew and I to work with him.
One of the first things we learned that an official diagnosis of SPD can not be given until he is 5 years old. Eli has not been diagnosed and can not be until he turns 5 but he has a lot of red flags that we will work on with him and test him again when he turns 5. Eli has 3 areas of SPD that need a lot of attention: Auditory, Visual, and Vestibular. A lot of research has been done about integrated listening and the benefits it has on children with SPD. We would use headphones with a transducer on the top of the head to listen to classical music. The transducer at the top of the headset is a bone conductor which helps clear up how his ears hear things. Over a period of time, the music starts to remove low frequency sounds which can distract from the other sounds. This activity should help with frequencies that are difficult for him due to past ear infections. The benefits of integrated listening are very high and if it does not work for him, then it is not like trying it has done any harm.
Eli has colored on the wall multiple times... I have tried to talk to him about where we color and where we do not color. He does not seem to understand me. I have put him in time out. He does not seem to know why he is in time out. I have spanked him. He still does not get it. Within the last month, he has colored on the wall 6 times. I felt like I have tried everything to make him stop. I have not known how to handle him. Why does he keep doing this? How can I get it in his head to stop? How can I make him understand where we color and where we don't color? Cindy will help me figure out what I can do to work with him. Andrew and I are learning that we may have to parent differently than most parents do and that is ok with us. We may have to think out of the box a little to get Eli to understand things. She said instead of trying the methods of punishment that have not been working, OVERCORRECT whatever he did. Make him clean the whole area, if he screams and cries it is ok but after he cleans it, go color where we are supposed to color. Just talking to someone who is willing to give us new ideas when we are lost for what to try next is very helpful.
Eli CRAVES hard play. His body needs it. He loves to spin, jump, run, hammer, and hit. Cindy is working with us on different activities we can do to give him the fulfillment of hard play/ pressure activities.
After our meeting this morning, Andrew took Eli to meet with the special services director for the Baldwin county public school system. He got evaluated for speech with them. We are going to work with both places. I could not be happier at kids kount but having someone work with us for free and work with the school system will be wonderful too. We will find out this week if he qualifies for their services.
We are learning so much and I am looking forward to what else we can learn about how Eli hears and interprets things. I started this journey to strictly address Eli's speech. I had no idea that the struggles I was having with him would be addressed. I am so grateful to have 2 great therapist willing to work with us as a family to get the best help for Eli we can get. I am continuing to pray that God will lead us in the right path and for clarity on what we need to do for him.
Here are a few pictures from our play date with a friend we had earlier this week:
-Brittany
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