Sensory Play & Relief

I have been learning So much about the sensory side of things.  Like, I know that when My son is spinning and flapping its because a need in his sensory system is not being "fed".  When he is angry or screaming its the same thing, he need input/output.  So here's a dandy little list of what we now do to help relieve some of that need:

   Bean Bag therapy:  We have a simple medium sized bean bag.  We toss it across the room and jojo runs and "crashes" into it.  we do this about 6 times and its just enough for him to get out that need for input.  Sometimes he will initiate this himself.

Joint decompression:  Hard to put into words but here it goes, I start at his wrist and wrap both hands around it and gently do a pull or tug to release tension at the joints.  I do the wrist, elbow and shoulder.  then the ankle and knee.  He LOVES this, it feels good and relaxes him.

Blanket drag:   Place a blanket on the floor, put my kiddo in the middle and simply drag him around.  We do this for about 15 min or as long as he will allow it.  we have wood floors so this is pretty fun and easy on my back!

Burrito Roll Up:  Roll him up in a blanket, pretty tight BUT DO NOT COVER HIS FACE, and then unroll.  He gets a kick out of this one for sure.

Pushing Heavy Objects:  This one he was already doing and I was stopping him, but its actually a good thing.  So we have an ottoman that is pretty heavy and I flip it upside down and he pushes it back n forth.  This tires him out and stop his need for running obsessively back n forth down the hall. 

Trampoline  This one is outside and its been pretty hot here in AZ. so we haven't given this a whirl yet.  but with the way he bounces around on his tip toes i think he will love it.

Brushing:  I am excited to learn this one this Friday!  Jojo responds so well to firm pressure massage and the joint movement that I think brushing will be awesome too!  Its basically a natural bristled brush, soft one of course and you brush the child's skin.  I think this would really help with the "not wanting to be touched"  showing him that touch is OK.

Just a quick update:  Yesterday during speech we downloaded some pretty cool apps on the IPAD for jojo to work with.  I am amazed at the technology and how he can pick up how to use them.  even though he can not yet, use his pointer finger he has managed to use his knuckles to manipulate the ipad, cool!  here are the apps:

INJINI Lite (full version is 29.99..yikes) great for attention keeping, and color recognition
BABYEGGS Lite  great for animal sounds, colors, counting and basic letter sounds

Long Term Care? Really???

So I have to admit that all I really knew or thought I knew about Autism was from a movie I saw years ago.  It portrayed a man that had a fascination with numbers and repeating things, nothing too bad I thought back then.  And in all honesty when I look at the whole picture and what I am dealing with I feel the same, Its not too bad.  Sure, I am completely overwhelmed by appointments, therapy sessions, lack of sleep, financial output for it all,  and just the daily routine of having a little guy on the spectrum.  But, It could always be worse.  I am so very thankful for every little "ah" "m" "ga" I hear from my son. 

A few weeks back my sons coordinator mentioned that we needed to apply for Long term coverage.  I just kinda pushed it back into my "think about it later file" and when it came up again I was like huh? What do you mean LONG term coverage??  My plan is to kick this in the ass and be done with it.  I never looked past his toddler years.  I guess the BIG picture is that there is a possibility that the outcome could not be what I imagine (huh, really?) and to safeguard his therapy and coverage we have to apply.  So I did and our app is currently being processed and what not.  This is one thing I just don't want even think about.  I picture Jojo being a typical kid in a few years and you know what?  I'm keeping that picture.

This week has been a HUGE step for us.  We went from one day sessions to three!!  I had all sort of new things thrown out to me.  The notes I took are a mess but I'm glad I took them.  The speech part of things is finally coming more into the front lines now.  I learned that jojos fixation with a binky isn't typical binky love, rather its a need to have his mouth full and busy.  So there is a great Oral motor tool called a DnZVibe, its basically like a plastic wand that had different end tips that he can chew on, suck on, and drool all over and think he is having a grand ole time but really it will be helping to relieve his sensory need and developing some proper use of his tongue to help promote speech.  I just ordered his new tool tonight and I'm super motivated to have him give it a whirl.  She also mentioned getting him a chewy tube, I have been reluctant because it just seems like another thing to suck/chew on and well I have already bought a ton!
We also used the Ipad and got some cool apps to start using during and in between sessions:  here's what we are using
*Fisher price ABC, Animal sounds, Body parts apps
 *Picture AAC app(uses pics and my voice to help jojo correlate sounds to objects)
*Using Hand over Hand to initiate activities that he is working on.  I am really hoping this will help with self feeding. 

A fun fine motor activity we did this week was with dry beans and pompoms (the cute colorful small furry balls for crafting) we put all the beans and poms in a big bowl, gave jojo a spoon to use to fill the smaller bowl.  It took him a awhile to not use his hands but he did it!!  He did three scoops n dumps into the bowl.  I am so proud of him.  We are also working more on the hand-over-hand approach to encourage the touch and feel of me helping him and to help him accomplish a task and getting praise.

Bean Bag play/therapy!  This is so cool to play and watch.  Jojo first speech therapist had a bean bag in her office and jojo loved it.  He laid in that thing and just looked at peace. So for his birthday my mom got one for him and he has been having a ball with it.  Now it is used as a sensory relief for him.  we toss the bean bag and he runs full force and crashes into it.  He loves it!!  We do this five times before they start a session to relax the sensory need and it seems to work.


All in all it was a hard week with lots of small hidden treasures that I sometimes have to look really hard to find.  I am going to give the month of October my all and make the most of the craziness that happens with multiple sessions in a week!  More posts soon and I plan to be detailed on the activities and what we are working on so I can help others.

Team JoJo

Side note: Another very interesting thing I heard during therapy was that one of the therapist had recently attended a seminar discussing ASD and she heard an interesting piece on a possible link between autism and the brains use of mirror neurons, basically lacking the proper mirror neuron system.  I found the article online:  I read It completely and its a lot of scientific jargon but ultimately really made me think...could there be a real link to possible RF usage in our homes and ASD?  I think so, its definitely a possibility!

Out of time: A possible link between

mirror neurons, autism and electromagnetic

radiation

Ian M. Thornton

www.ianthornton

Patience...whats that?

Here's a short glimpse of my last week:  Oct 15-19

Monday: worst "autism-symptomatic" day EVER.  Jojo literally kicked, slapped and head banged everything he could that day.  I still cant figure it out so my best shot at trying to figure a "trigger" is a slice of cheese pizza.  I even took off nearly all the cheese, but I really think it was gluten overload. Gosh even typing that feels so odd, 10 months ago I was the OMG mom..Like omg who goes all gluten free? who buys all organic, who would keep a food diary..who does that? ME!  I have too.  Its the simple little things that cause his stimming (ear flapping, repetitive sounds) and melt downs.  His belly cant digest certain food correctly so he gets pain, real pain.  The sad thing is that its a hit n miss game.  I tend to just stick to what I know but he is now 25 months, he need more of everything ie..protein, fats, minerals, omega3..all the good stuff and I cant even give my boy a banana.  Ok back to my Rant, Monday down right by all means sucked!!  He was really hurting himself.  I tried it all, bear hugging, swaddling (yup YOU try and swaddle a 30lb toddler with the strength of a sumo wrestler) and water play, he took three baths that day just so I could put him down, the last bath, probably for a long time consisted of him trying to roll over face first and eat the tub, yup he don't care that he scares me because, well he doesn't feel scared himself..  ok I will spare you the rest of Monday.

Tuesday:  Therapy day whooo freaking hooo, more stress for the lil guy so I of course get him all dolled up and have my house perfect and then right before session starts, I get a cancellation text.  Ok I can understand we will do what I have been trained to do thus far.  We did some shape sorting, stickers, played with his sensory beans, fed him lunch, and awaited speech therapy, well she came late, but came ready to work!  I really like her style and dedication to my sons journey.  She spent 90 minutes with him and by the end of session I knew how to properly use a DnZ vibe oral motor tool.  Jojo liked this so it gave me a sense of hope for articulation to start once his stimming and sensory stuff calms down.  He even chanted mamamama a few times.  Now even though he doesn't direct them to me, I know my baby means me when he says it, right?

Wednesday:  My therapy day, my hour away to learn coping skills and just talk and vent and a "feel great when I am done" kinda visit.  This went well, the hubby came with me and that was supercool.  we snuck to lunch and just had a great morning.  Looking back, guess now I could properly refer to it as the calm before the storm!!! After we got home the hubby left for work and it just started.  Pure madness, it didn't matter what we did he got pissed.  At one point he pinched my arm and bit my boob so hard im bruised.  I was shocked and sad to the point of crying and just took him to his safe zone (his crib) and laid him down for a quiet time.  He seemed quiet so I told my 15 yr old to keep an ear out while I ran to grab a quick dinner to prepare (at this point something all ready cooked would have been a better idea).  When I got back it was all quiet and then I hear a squawk (yup like a bird) and I run to the room and holy shit balls, he had busted through his crib railing.  It broke the entire heirloom crib.  The frame was cracked and he was sitting on the corner nightstand looking pretty please with himself.  I screamed and cried in absolute disbelief!  How could just a cute lil boy be to strong willed and downright angry?  The night ended with crib torn apart in the garage and his mattress on the floor.

Thursday:  I had my first major, "I don't think I can do this" type of  breakdown.  The crib, the long term care, the therapy being cancelled all just set me into a frenzy.  I felt defeated and like Autism won, it kicked my ass.  I cried for hours though the day it was awful.. my eyes still hurt.  despite the bad day I feel like it was bound to happen and it needed to happen.  I am pissed and hurt that my son has autism.  I am still learning about what it all means.  I read a ton of books and this has probably overloaded my mind with both the good and bad of autism.  I am hoping and praying always for a better day!!