The big catch up

I knew when I started this that some of the things Firstborn took ground on would creep up on us so that we didn't know. I was feeling like we were getting nowhere this week when Therapist Lady asked sent me an email asking how Firstborn was doing. She specifically wanted to know how his sensory integration symptoms were doing since the CD he is working on works in a frequency band that is helpful with SI issues.

Here is my response to her. You can see we have taken on new ground.

Kenny is beginning to understand voice volume. He still talks loud and fast most of the time, but he is beginning to talk softer when I tell him he is too loud. Unless he is very excited. We spent a week in VA and I noticed that both boys were talking more slowly by the end of the week. Maybe we should move there. :-)

We went to a sprinkler park yesterday and Firstborn seemed to have much more spatial awareness. Two weeks ago, he was running into his brother constantly while using the sprinkler in our back yard. Yesterday, he was running like a madman through the sprinklers, but never ran into anyone. That would be a huge improvement. I noticed that as he got more tired and stimulated, he became more dangerous. We were there for an hour.

He also got a chance to use a trampoline last week. His approach to it was interesting. He's still not able to climb up and do things other kids are able to do, but he did seem to preplan things much better than usual. He stepped tentatively onto the trampoline and then walked for a couple of steps to get the feel. Because I wasn't able to watch him every moment, I'm happy he didn't try anything funky. He just jumped up and down. If we had more time there, I would encourage him to try things to see how he did, but we didn't have the time. (Things I see other children do with this much exposure to a trampoline are jump then sit, jump then fall, jump like a frog, jump from one leg to another. Firstborn just does straight up and down jumps. Their frequency and height vary and often he seems to respond to them as if he can't control the frequency or height.)


We also got to go to a park that had objects he had never worked on before. He seemed to preplan much better than his usual. He also seemed to respond to physical feedback better than his usual. Specifically, he was working on a sort of vine-swing obstacle (See left). Swinging bars with a circular foot rest on the bottom. Each bar swings a certain distance but is chained to the ground. The child needs to reach out to the next bar and step onto its platform, gain their balance and then step onto the next. While he didn't do this as quickly as the very agile children we stayed with, he didn't become afraid, freeze or get stuck at all. He took a minute to read the feedback and adjust and then moved onto the next platform. Note, he still would not be comfortable swinging from them in a standing position as pictured, but if pushed he would do so. But just his ability to volentarily navigate them and do so in a reasonable amount of time is a big improvement. He didn't look klutzy at all, just like a quiet child which most of my friends know he is not.