Artwork by P: Quite Telling

A few weeks ago at play therapy, our therapist had P and WC do some artwork, and she said to me under her breath, "You can get a lot of info out of what they draw."

So I sat back and chatted with her about various discipline methods while they worked on their pictures.

Once they were done and handed them to the therapist, she looked at me and said, "See?"

P had drawn our family WITHOUT NOSES.

Remember his over-sensitivity to smells? And how he used to throw up when he smelled fruit like apples, oranges and bananas?????????????????????????? Although listening therapy helped tremendously, he simply prefers not to smell things like that- so no noses. Isn't that interesting?

By the way, the grey hair on drawings of Mr. Sasha never gets old.

Dear Concerned Therapist,

Just a quick post to let you know that although I appreciate your concern, I am still confident we chose the correct OT. One of my closest friends is an elementary school OT here in our town, and she had only wonderful things to say about this pediatric OT and assured me we made the right choice.

I also feel confident in our choice to do the Therapeutic Listening program that she is certainly well-trained in.

If the OT hadn't warned me to watch for odd behavior on the 4th or 5th day, I might have been freaked out a little. But since she gave me a log sheet and asked me to makes notes about anything out of the ordinary, I'm not worried at all.

In fact, I can already see some positive changes in WC.

The strange middle-of-the-night behavior has not happened again. In fact, Sunday night (day 4) was the only night she had any sleep issues at all. Every morning since she's woken up in a fabulous mood saying "I'm ready for my music!".

So while I appreciate your concern, the Sashas have it under control.

WC and Therapeutic Listening

WC started her Therapeutic Listening last Thursday using her super-fancy (and very expensive) headphones. She listens to special electronically altered CDs that vary in musical style, filtering, and level of complexity. We do this twice a day for 30 minutes.

It seems very new-agey to me, but our OT is just brilliant and is confident that this program will help WC learn to regulate her sensory processing.

The OT warned us that we might see some "odd" behavior on day 4 or 5. She said we may see some old behaviors (biting, hitting, etc) come back out as she adapts to the CDs.

So I'm glad I was a little prepared for what happened at 1:30 am last night. She woke up grunting, moaning, and crying, and when I went in her room she said "Get away from me!". (That'll break a mother's heart.)

For about an hour and half we watched as she wallered around on the floor, alternated between being upset and being quiet, and spent some time hiding under the clothes in our closet. She didn't want to be held or touched during this time period. Finally about 3 she calmed down enough to lay in our bed and we were able to get her back to sleep in her own bed about 3:30.

I am tuckered out today.

And it was strange. I've never seen her act like this. But I think it's a good sign, and it means the CDs are starting to work- to have some effect on her. The OT gave me a log sheet to write down behaviors that we notice, so of course this will be going on there.

Wonder what will happen tonight....