Therapy Begins

Our visit with Miss Emily went very well yesterday. She was so happy to see BabyGirl & the feeling was definitely mutual. BabyGirl lights up when Miss Emily walks into the waiting room to get us.

They played a bit, then Miss Emily started asking more questions & walking me through the Sensory Diet she set up for BabyGirl. We now have a list of things to do everyday, some things every two hours. It's a lot of work, but if it helps, it will be totally worth it. Just to give her some relief...that alone would be a blessing.

Miss Emily reccomended a lot of bouncing (on her exercise ball or the trampoline...guess Husband was right to go out & buy it), swinging (especially multi-directional swinging like a tire swing or the disc swing in the picture), bike riding, horse back riding, sliding, sucking (water bottles or straws), crawling, and anything else that "promotes weight bearing through the upper extremities." It's called Deep Pressure & Proproceptive Technique. They way she explained it was that BabyGirl's nervous system is underdeveloped. These "deep touch" feelings & weight bearing activities will feed her nervous system & help it grow.

Every two hours (when she is at home & awake) I have to brush her arms, legs, hands, feet, & back with one of these special brushes. After we brush, I have to "compress" the joints in her arms & legs. Basically I push the bones on each side of the joint in twoards the joint. That takes a little doing. Really it's a quick thing, maybe 3 or 4 minutes all together, but it depends on BabyGirl's mood how well it goes. Until this last time, she's done very well with it. Last time, she just wanted to be left alone.

Today I made her a calm corner in her room. It's a tent made from an old sheet with things inside she can use to help self sooth during a meltdown (or a MAJOR meltdown as BabyGirl calls them). It's never to be used for time out, but she is supposed to go to it when she feels herself "freaking out." Haven't had to use it yet, but she loves the idea. In the past I've tried to put her in her room so she can calm down. Most of the time she comes out swinging & screeching that she'll "never stay in that stupid, itchy room!" So I am a little doubtful, but willing to try.

Miss Emily is going to get all the paperwork together for Miss Dena and then BabyGirl will do OT at school once a week. We'll do her Sensory Diet everyday at home, then she'll see Miss Emily once a month. If things don't get better this month, we may bump up the visits to Miss Emily to once a week. Miss Emily left that up to me to decide.

I'm praying there will be a significant change or at the very least a move twoards improvement with in the next month. We need a significant improvement...badly.