OT Begins

So this week we finally started our twice-weekly, in-home occupational therapy sessions for Ian. I think I may have forgotten to blog about the eval we had before Thanksgiving. In short, the results were that he does not have a clearcut Sensory Integration disorder, but more that he has difficulty with motor planning, including something called crossing the midline. He was hypersensitive to smell (this jives with his refusal to eat fruit "because of the smell" -- but why o why does this sensitivity not extend to the majorly stinky feet that result from the sock-wearing aversion?!?) and to sound (she congratulated me for homeschooling as she felt that this would be disastrous for him in a classroom -- yea, a supportive medical professional!), but hypOsensitive to vestibular stimulation, which means he doesn't get dizzy easily, he craves exaggerated amounts of stimulation because he doesn't pick up on more subtle degrees, and that explains why he may, say, bump into someone or squeeze them, or the like, without it really registering in his brain what he is doing and how it's affecting the other person.

Interesting stuff, that. My friend and college roommate, Cara, is a pediatric O.T., and now I have a whole new level of respect for what she does. It's funny b/c she always used to say she wasn't creative, and I think she meant artistic, but it's clear to me that what she does for a living (and I am SURE she is very good at it) requires incredible creativity, patience, resourcefulness, etc. Especially because sometimes you're working with kids who aren't exactly full-on cooperative/

So now the therapist comes to our house twice a week and does stuff like having Ian spin himself around a bunch of times on this thingamabob she has, and then going and lying face down on an exercise ball while working on a puzzle on the floor (working on trunk strength and visual tracking at the same time). So far, he loves it. The girls are jealous. Maybe I am too! :-)

Oh, and totally off-topic, I discovered this, which could seriously become addictive if I had more time ...