I took Clemmie to see Dr. Sonal at IMI in Central. I came across her blog trying to research about natural remedy, she mentioned treating a young boy with SPD with homeopathy. Not to get my hope up, but it is worth a shot.
The first consultation was 45 minutes long. She asked my a bunch of questions about Clemmie and she also notice her Clemmie's face with her "rash," but it really wasn't a rash just her capillaries surfacing close to the dermis layer of her skin. She told me that 80% could be due to allergy that we don't know about. I agreed to that so I asked her how would she test for allergies. She said do a blood draw and the lab in the UK will test it.
She gave Clemmie a prescription to start the treatment in neutralizing her.
I took Clemmie to get get blood drawn and that was a task in itself. The nurses and doctor at the clinic were very kind and understanding. We actually were there for half an hour. They all try to make her feel comfortable and offer her candies, but only after she let them draw her blood.
During the waiting, a mother and her two children came in. The older girl is getting her blood drawn, but her baby brother was the one crying which stirred up anxiety in Clemmie. Clemmie was asking what is happening to the boy and who is crying. It sounded like a slaughter house.
But at the end, we wrapped her up in a towel and I held her down with my body and held her hands. The doctors and nurses were swift in the matter. Clemmie cried in the beginning and at the end when the needle was out. She was offered candies for her bravery. I took her to get her favorite ice cream afterward.
Result will be due August 4th.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
3rd OT session
I do not know if Connie is helping Clemmie since we just started it is hard to say. Yesterday was the 3rd session for both. According to Connie, Clemmie didn't get as frustrated as last time, but her transitioning into the sensory gym was all in all the same, she doesn't want to go in because she was busy with playing with the tea cups and serving tea. I basically had to stay with her for most part of her session. I can see what Connie meant when she said Clemmie relies on sight and seeing more than feeling it with her body. Especially with climbing up the ladder, she would stop at the second to the top rung and then use her knees instead of her feet to reach completely to the top. It is the matter of using her feet to feel, but she rather see a confirmation than use her feet to feel the object as a confirmation, which is also her tactile defensiveness surfacing to help her keep the sensation to manageable.
This time Connie turned on the colorful lights and light switches around the room that correspond to the different colors of the light. And each light switches require different pressure or area to turn on. And Clemmie has some strategy of her own to switch on and off from one color to the next. And she was not afraid to climb up the nylon hammock once she found a way to get out and it was less intimidating for her.
Theo had a short session due to unforeseen circumstances that I do not wish to mention. But his 20 minutes session turned out to be very productive. Connie suggested for Theo to have the listening therapy and if it could be done consistently with her during August to help him start his school year. She is concern about his hyper focusing when something like sound could be too much for him that he tunes out completely to stay sane. And we do have to speak loud and repeat a few times for him to register and interpret what the words mean. He needs visual cue most of the time for instructions. I have seen it in class if the teacher tells him to pick out the first letter of his name from a box with letters and then put it up on the board then write his name. He gets somewhat confused with how to sequence the verbiages giving to him into interpreted action on his part.
One thing I also learned is how important taste is. The sour taste awaken the senses and that is what they need to have those neurotransmitters be arouse. And having an appetite especially for Theo is important. I purchased the super sour candy balls and Clemmie loves those. The outer coating is super sour and the inner coating is sweet.
This time Connie turned on the colorful lights and light switches around the room that correspond to the different colors of the light. And each light switches require different pressure or area to turn on. And Clemmie has some strategy of her own to switch on and off from one color to the next. And she was not afraid to climb up the nylon hammock once she found a way to get out and it was less intimidating for her.
Theo had a short session due to unforeseen circumstances that I do not wish to mention. But his 20 minutes session turned out to be very productive. Connie suggested for Theo to have the listening therapy and if it could be done consistently with her during August to help him start his school year. She is concern about his hyper focusing when something like sound could be too much for him that he tunes out completely to stay sane. And we do have to speak loud and repeat a few times for him to register and interpret what the words mean. He needs visual cue most of the time for instructions. I have seen it in class if the teacher tells him to pick out the first letter of his name from a box with letters and then put it up on the board then write his name. He gets somewhat confused with how to sequence the verbiages giving to him into interpreted action on his part.
One thing I also learned is how important taste is. The sour taste awaken the senses and that is what they need to have those neurotransmitters be arouse. And having an appetite especially for Theo is important. I purchased the super sour candy balls and Clemmie loves those. The outer coating is super sour and the inner coating is sweet.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Sunday breakdown
I really don't know what to do with Clemmie when she has a uncontrollable tantrum in the public. But I am one of those parents who doesn't really care what other bystanders say because all I can do is to soothe her even if she decided to lay on the ground in the middle of the mall. It is either that or screaming. The mall security guy came by to see if she was okay and then told me that she shouldn't lay on the floor.
The reason Clemmie was upset was because the amusement park was closed until 12:30PM for an event and we were there an hour early. If I knew I wouldn't have taken the kids so early. And she is one of those kids who has no patience whatsoever and with her excitement to disappointment that led to an aggressive transition. I even took her to Toys R Us to pick out a toy and she refused at first and I was only able to contain her for 30 minutes. Within that 30 minutes she did pick out a piggie toy bank. And the rest was her breakdown of screaming and yelling and crying then eventually she lay on the ground I was able to give her deep pressure massage from her head to her toes which has a calming effect.
The reason Clemmie was upset was because the amusement park was closed until 12:30PM for an event and we were there an hour early. If I knew I wouldn't have taken the kids so early. And she is one of those kids who has no patience whatsoever and with her excitement to disappointment that led to an aggressive transition. I even took her to Toys R Us to pick out a toy and she refused at first and I was only able to contain her for 30 minutes. Within that 30 minutes she did pick out a piggie toy bank. And the rest was her breakdown of screaming and yelling and crying then eventually she lay on the ground I was able to give her deep pressure massage from her head to her toes which has a calming effect.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Started reading The Element
Can you imagine your child forced on medication because the school says "we got a problem child here"? We really have to look deep because all children are not mold the same and that doesn't mean one odd ball would equal "problem." I believe in potential. And hopefully I will find out just that about my two sensational kids.
Some child jumps around and can't sit still like my Clemmie, but that doesn't mean she can't learn. She can, but she just have to jump around and learn. She picks up languages and nuances and spits them out like she knew them from birth. She can pronounce words whether in English, Cantonese, French or Mandarin perfectly as a 3 year old can and retains those words in the growing brain of her.
I will have to help her work with transitioning to school and it may take her months, but right now she is very home sick and wants to go back home. We were looking at old photos and she said to me that she wants to go back and maybe go to an hotel to stay for a bit before going back home.
A lot has been going on this week. We started summer program at Les Petits Lascars located in Central. It was too much of a rush and Clemmie did not take it well and eventually she got kicked out of the class. I wished I had insisted to stay with her to transition her. It took her a month to transition at Bright Horizons. And with everything going on I can just imagine what is going in her head. Her anxiety and all. Theo on the other hand was doing well. Having a playmates made all the difference and he enjoyed the class as much as he can of understanding French. I still don't know what is the right decision right now. I really hope a miracle would happen in September that he could go to an English School Foundation system that has integrated program for speech therapy and occupational therapy.
I do hope in the near future that other teachers would not see them as problems, but help bring out their talents in them as much as I would love to see them blossom. The critical time is now at their age.
I truly urge other parents to seek help as soon as they can because the window of opportunity crucial at the age from birth to 6.
The OT said Clemmie is a very smart kid, smart enough to tell her what to do and smart enough to question with her curiosity. Theo will need to let go some control, but then sometimes being a perfectionist is required because sometime things are not allowed to cut corners. I hope he will develop his own rating system later on and have some flexibilities in between.
Theo's PT session was great. Rachel was able to see how much he could do and now we can all focus on his weakness and strengthen them. He is still weak at the arm and down to the fingers with is strength and grips. And also at the hips. His overall gross motor skills are okay. We need to do a bit of fine tuning of his fine motor skills that would lead to writing.
I am looking into getting the Handwriting without Tears program.
Some child jumps around and can't sit still like my Clemmie, but that doesn't mean she can't learn. She can, but she just have to jump around and learn. She picks up languages and nuances and spits them out like she knew them from birth. She can pronounce words whether in English, Cantonese, French or Mandarin perfectly as a 3 year old can and retains those words in the growing brain of her.
I will have to help her work with transitioning to school and it may take her months, but right now she is very home sick and wants to go back home. We were looking at old photos and she said to me that she wants to go back and maybe go to an hotel to stay for a bit before going back home.
A lot has been going on this week. We started summer program at Les Petits Lascars located in Central. It was too much of a rush and Clemmie did not take it well and eventually she got kicked out of the class. I wished I had insisted to stay with her to transition her. It took her a month to transition at Bright Horizons. And with everything going on I can just imagine what is going in her head. Her anxiety and all. Theo on the other hand was doing well. Having a playmates made all the difference and he enjoyed the class as much as he can of understanding French. I still don't know what is the right decision right now. I really hope a miracle would happen in September that he could go to an English School Foundation system that has integrated program for speech therapy and occupational therapy.
I do hope in the near future that other teachers would not see them as problems, but help bring out their talents in them as much as I would love to see them blossom. The critical time is now at their age.
I truly urge other parents to seek help as soon as they can because the window of opportunity crucial at the age from birth to 6.
The OT said Clemmie is a very smart kid, smart enough to tell her what to do and smart enough to question with her curiosity. Theo will need to let go some control, but then sometimes being a perfectionist is required because sometime things are not allowed to cut corners. I hope he will develop his own rating system later on and have some flexibilities in between.
Theo's PT session was great. Rachel was able to see how much he could do and now we can all focus on his weakness and strengthen them. He is still weak at the arm and down to the fingers with is strength and grips. And also at the hips. His overall gross motor skills are okay. We need to do a bit of fine tuning of his fine motor skills that would lead to writing.
I am looking into getting the Handwriting without Tears program.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Tactile Defensiveness and Floppiness
This week Clemmie and Theo started their OT sessions and PT assessments.
June 30th
We were at the Watchdog Jordan for their OT sessions and we worked with Connie. She is really well versed and also very impressed with Judy's evaluation of Clemmie. She feels that Clemmie needs more OT sessions which I agreed. She feels that Clemmie's tactile defensiveness really gets in her way with her experience of the world. She is not able to get certain needs of her proprioceptive input and vestibular input because she is afraid or caution to touch certain textures or things which interprets all her manners to be of a two year old. She is constantly seeking other available and tolerable sensations to compensate for her tactile defensiveness. And once an input is not registered fully she moves on seeking for other sensation. And all the sensations are symbiotic, one causes other disorders to surface. Since she has tactile defensiveness her gross motor skills to her fine motor skills needs help which leads to her lack of confident issue.
Connie gave Clemmie a bubble container with a wand. It was hard for her to blow the wand to make the bubble because she couldn't create the right shape for her mouth to blow. The bubble container is a hard container with a slit just enough to fit the wand. She was struggling to fit the wand into the container and instead of trying with a little bit of twisting of the container or the wand to fit, Clemmie gave up all together after two seconds. Connie held her hand and did a slight turn and the wand was able to fit in. Connie suggested not to say anything awhile holding her hands so she can concentrate on the amount of shifting and pressure to complete the task.
For Theo is he is extremely cautious. She said most of the kids that comes in would attack the pit full of balls and throw them all around, but not Theo. He was eying at the Lego box for the longest time when we walked in the center. And once he was in the OT room the Lego box seemed ordinary and not much of a desire. He loves the rock climbing stones on the wall. Most of the time he played with the different layers of elastic hammocks. And Connie said his grasps are primitive with no thumbs involved. Maybe that is why he doesn't like to write because he can't grasp the pencil well or it is awkward for his body to have the thumbs be involved in stabilizing the pencil for writing. He always hold his pencil the drawing way, the exact way I was taught at drawing classes.
Connie said they shared the similar kind of defensiveness to sensation, but reacts differently to the simulation. And of course personality comes into play with it.
Overall the new OT observation on both the kids are on the dot.
July 2nd
We were at Watchdog Hong Kong Island for their PT assessments.
Theo started his PT session with Rachel. It is more of an assessment because of his low muscle tone. And Rachel agreed that he should benefits strengthening his core center. She noticed that his right shoulder is higher than is left and he is leaning on the side. She said this may lead to scoliosis if not corrected. And caused by his low muscle tone.
Clemmie on the other hand would benefit from treating her sensory processing disorder first in order for her to even be still to listen to Rachel. She was all over the place and refused to do anything. The only thing that she enjoyed was the balancing bar. Rachel doesn't recommend Clemmie for PT, but she told me to help her with exercising. She noticed Clemmie's tip toes and suggested to massage her calves every night and gently tuck on her heal and do heal exercise even standing on a reclining platform would benefit and counter act the other muscles.
June 30th
We were at the Watchdog Jordan for their OT sessions and we worked with Connie. She is really well versed and also very impressed with Judy's evaluation of Clemmie. She feels that Clemmie needs more OT sessions which I agreed. She feels that Clemmie's tactile defensiveness really gets in her way with her experience of the world. She is not able to get certain needs of her proprioceptive input and vestibular input because she is afraid or caution to touch certain textures or things which interprets all her manners to be of a two year old. She is constantly seeking other available and tolerable sensations to compensate for her tactile defensiveness. And once an input is not registered fully she moves on seeking for other sensation. And all the sensations are symbiotic, one causes other disorders to surface. Since she has tactile defensiveness her gross motor skills to her fine motor skills needs help which leads to her lack of confident issue.
Connie gave Clemmie a bubble container with a wand. It was hard for her to blow the wand to make the bubble because she couldn't create the right shape for her mouth to blow. The bubble container is a hard container with a slit just enough to fit the wand. She was struggling to fit the wand into the container and instead of trying with a little bit of twisting of the container or the wand to fit, Clemmie gave up all together after two seconds. Connie held her hand and did a slight turn and the wand was able to fit in. Connie suggested not to say anything awhile holding her hands so she can concentrate on the amount of shifting and pressure to complete the task.
For Theo is he is extremely cautious. She said most of the kids that comes in would attack the pit full of balls and throw them all around, but not Theo. He was eying at the Lego box for the longest time when we walked in the center. And once he was in the OT room the Lego box seemed ordinary and not much of a desire. He loves the rock climbing stones on the wall. Most of the time he played with the different layers of elastic hammocks. And Connie said his grasps are primitive with no thumbs involved. Maybe that is why he doesn't like to write because he can't grasp the pencil well or it is awkward for his body to have the thumbs be involved in stabilizing the pencil for writing. He always hold his pencil the drawing way, the exact way I was taught at drawing classes.
Connie said they shared the similar kind of defensiveness to sensation, but reacts differently to the simulation. And of course personality comes into play with it.
Overall the new OT observation on both the kids are on the dot.
July 2nd
We were at Watchdog Hong Kong Island for their PT assessments.
Theo started his PT session with Rachel. It is more of an assessment because of his low muscle tone. And Rachel agreed that he should benefits strengthening his core center. She noticed that his right shoulder is higher than is left and he is leaning on the side. She said this may lead to scoliosis if not corrected. And caused by his low muscle tone.
Clemmie on the other hand would benefit from treating her sensory processing disorder first in order for her to even be still to listen to Rachel. She was all over the place and refused to do anything. The only thing that she enjoyed was the balancing bar. Rachel doesn't recommend Clemmie for PT, but she told me to help her with exercising. She noticed Clemmie's tip toes and suggested to massage her calves every night and gently tuck on her heal and do heal exercise even standing on a reclining platform would benefit and counter act the other muscles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)