OT: Day 21/30

Wound up tighter than a top. This would probably accurately describe Turbo today BEFORE therapy. When we got there, Ms. Renee worked on getting him self-regulated. She gave him a heavy ball, about 2 pounds and had him play with it while he climbed the rainbow in the small gym.

This helped to self regulate him.

Afterwards, we practiced recognizing facial expressions. By adding movement (proprioception) to the activity (sliding down the slide), he was able to move, but still concentrate. Ms. Renee would give him pictures of kids showing a variety of facial expressions (mad, sad, angry, surprised, etc.) To go down the slide, he had to do the same expression while I tried to guess what it was. Then we switched. I mimicked the picture while he tried to guess what facial expression/emotion that I was showing.

Ms. Renee suggested that because Turbo is such a fast mover (Huh...sarcastic laugh), that he will most of the time miss facial expressions. Seems to reason why sometimes he doesn't get that I am upset, angry, surprised or worried about his shinanigans that he pulls!

Unfortunately, another family needed to use the small gym which meant that our plan needed to change, and Turbo was unable to use the trampoline that he had already choosen for his plan for the day. This change in plan/routine was the beginning of what would be a meltdown. He was very sad that he couldn't jump on the trampoline and began to justify why he should stay and not move. He even offered different ideas for the family just so he didn't have to move. Finally, we helped him through it and thought of something else for his plan. It worked to get him out of the gym, but it didn't help in the long run.

Unfortunately, the game that they decided on to do couldn't be found, and the second trampoline that we thought would work, didn't, and Turbo was disappointed. So not only was he emotionally disappointed, but now his plan was changed, then changed again, and then the game wasn't what he picked. So the last half of the session was used to maintain him self-regulation why helping him to work through this change.

On a good note, I did find something that could help him sit/stand and help strengthen his core. Of course, we probably won't get this soon, but it is something to think about when the time comes.