Look Who Has A New Chewie!

Last week, the Star Center ran out of chewies for people to buy. Turbo was very upset and desperately wanted one. The weekend was here, and he was stressed about not having a chewie since he had learned that using a chewie helps him to calm down. When he got home, and through some encouragement from a Nana, he found himself is own chewie until one could be purchased.

BUT TODAY, the new shipment of chewies came in and we were able to purchase one. We also purchased a lanyard for him to string his chewie on so that he can wear it around his neck. He has a tendency to put things down and forget where he put it, so the lanyard was more for my sanity than for him...HEE HEE.


I also bought Tank one, because I tell ya, these are probably the best teething toys money can buy! They are GREAT! Maybe then, Tank can begin sleeping through the night if we can just get those teeth to come in!

OT: Day 13/30

This morning before therapy and during school, it was a nightmare. Thinking that things can get better at therapy, I prayed all the way to the Star Center. Turbo was so disorganized and antsy that when I tried to implement any strategies learned, I was met with opposition, anger and even a few fists being throw. Ahhh...back to square one. I suppose it is to be expected. These last couple of weeks have been tough on our whole family.



Once we got there, a good amount of time was spent on just trying to get Turbo's engine down to GREEN! She took him into the small gym and tried to get him self-regulated/organized. She had him jump on the small exercise trampoline, while chewing on and chewie toy, and wearing his headphones.

Afterwards, they played in the Rainbow on the wall. Lycra sheets tied onto the wall to create a tier of hammocks. They sang a song while he climbed the tiers and had to assemble and jack-o-lantern while crawling from end to end. Those two things didn't help him any.


To continue the process of trying to get his engine slowed, we pulled out Handwriting Without Tears
and worked on some writing. No, I have not ordered this yet. It is my "TO DO LIST" at number 76/out of 100. I'll get to it...I promise.

That didn't work either.

Ms. Renee didn't stop and didn't get frustrated...I think I need some of that patience. She pulled out a tube that can be extended and shortened, but Turbo decided to blow into it and yell/scream. Which was a good thing, because she turned it into a game. It helped a lot more than the other activities, but by that time, most of our time was up and he hadn't even looked at the book yet to decide what it was that they were going to do today.




Finally, we left the small gym and when into a craft room where they made a Star Chart. This Star Chart is covered in "I CAN" statements. Each time, Turbo does something that he says, "I CAN" in a particular situation, he gets a star bead to put on the ribbon. We started out that he realized that using a chewie toy is something that will totally work for him. So we wrote it out and put a bead on the ribbon.


Something she recommended was getting a small backpack that is filled with resources that he can use to help him self-regulate. Things such as a heavy ball, chewie toy, gum, TheraBand, slinky, etc. They sell one for $35 at the Star Center, but I bet I can come up with my own by shopping at the ARC or GoodWill. Put that on my list at number 101.

Marbled Pumpkins - Fall Craft

It is getting so late in the month for us to just begin to do Fall crafts, but we finally did our first one!


We cut out some pumpkin shapes, both big and small, and we taped them into a baking dish with squirts of paint in the corners. Next, we added a marble, and Turbo was to shift the marble around the pan picking up paint and painting his pumpkin!

Next, we did smaller ones, and hung them on a piece of string that we are going to use for a garland on our front door. Not too shabby for a fall craft!

Letter O

Therapy was later in the morning today, so we finally had some time to do some schoolwork. It has been forever since we did anything, so I figured, lets have some fun and maybe implement some therapy activities. Not to my surprise, did school go 1,000 times better than we have ever had before!

We started out by making the letter "O", both lower case and upper case. Then he stamped smiley faces on them, much like the letter "O", a smiley face has an "O" shape. Then I had him color the "O"s using a vibrating crayon holder. He liked it a lot. I did notice that when he used the marker to trace the lines, that he held it in his fist rather than in a pincher grasp. Evidence of hand fatigue when he writes.



Then we set up a relay race of shorts. I placed the cut out "O"s at one end of the room, and then had a bowl full of Cheerios on the other end of the room. He had to run back and forth between the two to glue on the Cheerios. It took some time, but completed the activity and without complaint!

Afterwards, we had some Cheerios in the bowl left over, so I decided to work on some math. We glued the remaining on the paper, practiced using our best GUESSTIMATE on how many were left, then we numbered them so he could practice writing his letters. As you can see, this is where I lost him.
He decided that he didn't want to write anymore, so I had to finish. I am pretty sure I messed up when I showed him how to correctly write the number 4 and then again the number 6. I should have just let him move on without saying a word. AHHH...live and learn.

Something to work on more on, writing from top to bottom. He is sequentially out of order when he writes as he constantly wants to write from bottom to top and every which way. Comes with time and practice.

We finished up snuggling on the couch reading some books. Not to much in the way of school, but we did fit some it! YEAH!

I also rescheduled our therapy sessions so that we can go later in the day. It works much better for Tank in that he gets a nap in the morning, and now Turbo and I get some school and quality time in together. Ahhh...much, much, much better!

OT: Day 12/30

Today I met with a Child Psychiatrist to discuss some issues we are having with Turbo in the areas of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) and anxiety, while he played with Ms. Renee.

We sat down and discussed particular instances where we were completely at a loss about his behavior and how sometimes you can visually see where he is torn. For an example: Whenever he gets a scratch he HAS to apply Neosporin and a Band-Aide - WHETHER OR NOT YOU CAN EVEN SEE IT! One evening, he fell at the playground, got a scratch, medicine and a Band-Aide was applied. We get home, time to take a bath or a shower. He doesn't like to be dirty, but he also doesn't like to get his Band-Aides wet! You could physically see how anxious and distressed he was about the situation. Among other examples, we came to the conclusion of a 3-Step-Process:

1) Begin to identify his tendencies toward OCD, so that we can being to alter the path or the compelling impulse so that his habits don't become ingrained and then eventually cause a problem.

2) If practicing new behaviors and altering the negative ones doesn't work, the I will have a Play Group Therapy session with her and Turbo so that she can help me practice with some guidance (Think Super Nanny).

3) Finally, if all else fails, then she wants to start some medication. My record button in my mind stopped there. I'm not sure what else she said about medication, but I will stop at that point and find some other resource that will help Turbo. No medication for my little guy.

So we will start with Step 1 and see how it goes.

In therapy today, Ms. Renee worked on self-care again. This time, apparently, he slathered himself, the lizard and the bust of Barbie with chap stick. Only this time, HE DIDN'T WIPE IT OFF! He put it on the back of his hands, arms, cheeks, nose, lips, forehead, almost everywhere! So proud of him! I think I will see what he does tonight when I ask him to put on chap stick.

She also said that they worked on slow (BLUE and GREEN) activities today, and really didn't do a RED activity. Which is a good thing...those wear me out! ;)

They sat in a swing and read a book that Ms. Renee made especially for him. Using Sandbox Learning she wrote a book for him, personalizing it about what happens when he feels frustrated. She said that this is a tool for me and him to use to begin practicing situations where it is inevitable where he will get frustrated. I can go to the site, write my own story and present different scenarios where Turbo can feel success and re-wire the situation so he won't get frustrated (i.e. meltdown, throw things, hit things, scream, etc.)

The Story started out like this:
"My name is Aidan and I have many feelings. One feeling I have is frustration. When things do not go the way I planned or the way I would like, I feel frustrated. I may feel frustrated by many things. When I tray a game or activity and I have difficulty, I feel frustrated. I learn new things everyday, but some things take practice. I can ask an adult or a friend to help me. I can keep trying and practicing, but it may take time to do something new well. I feel frustrated when I use my words to ask for something and my parents or teacher tell me I cannot use it. It might make me frustrated to not have something when I want it, but I am learning to listen when someone tells me it is not time to use something."

It is a simple way to discuss circumstance that will help alleviate problems. Many kids go through this, but for Turbo he reactions are escalated to an extreme emotion and can cause major problems in public or in private. I think this is going to be a super useful tool for our family, because I can go in and write a story myself to fit a particular situation.

A tool she gave Turbo to help calm him down, was a chew toy! Click here to see it! No, he is not a dog, but yes, she gave him a chew toy. He LOVED IT! I LOVE IT! I WAS ABLE TO STAND AND CHAT WITH MS. RENEE ABOUT THE SESSION FOR 5 WHOLE MINUTES WITHOUT HIM INTERRUPTING! HE SAT ON THE CHAIR, CHEWED ON THE TOY AND DIDN'T MOVE! What is more, he was bouncing off the walls, literally, while we walked down the hall to the waiting room. She gave him the toy, and it was like ZAP! Energy drain! I looked at her and said, "Where can I buy that? I need one now!" Unfortunately, they were sold out...wonder why...but if I can't wait until the shipment comes in, I'm buying one now...which I probably will just as soon as I log off here. Seriously, it was AMAZING!

OT: Day 11/30

OT was after MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) today. Of course, it was near lunchtime, and Turbo was off the charts in activity. HA! Now Ms. Renee can see exactly what I am dealing with starting at 5:30 am! SHEESH!

When we got there, I could see in her face that she was surprised and probably taken aback since most everytime he is active, but definitely not this active: antsy would be a better word. We got back to the "kitchen" to work on self-care again. This time, he sat on square board swing with a large innertube on it. Don't ask the reason, cause I didn't ask. Today's beauty candidate: a lizard - because yes, lizards need beauty treatments too.


It started out with Turbo using a little bit of lotion to put on the lizards face and belly. Immediately, he wiped it off of his hands using his pants and the carpet. SURPRISE?! After some encouragement that maybe if he rubbed his hands together really hard and fast that he would make the lotion warm and eventually rub it off. He did, and he actually really liked doing it. Next up, chapstick on the lizard...seriously...do they even have lips? Moving on. He put it on the lizard, and then me. I kissed a miorror, the lizard kissed a mirror and then when it was his turn, Turbo applied the chapstick, kissed the mirror and then used the back of his shirt sleeve to wipe it off. End of session.



While we were talking and preparing for the next activity, Turbo's engine got SUPER RED and SUPER FAST...as it always does when I am trying to hold a conversation...be it with myself or another person. We went over ways to help him calm himself while waiting:

1) Hug yourself really tight
2) Press your hands together
3) Blow out your candles (Hold up 5 fingers and slowly blow out the candles while putting each individual finger down)
4) Give mom and hard high five push
5) Sit Criss-Cross-Applesauce and press your knees to the floor
6) Using a tennis ball that has a slit in it - squeeze it (homemade stress reliever ball) or put pennies in it

These are just some of the tools that I have been given to help him, all work really well, but it is a matter of practice that will really show proof in the "puddin" as they say.

Have you ever met Mr. Beans? (not the actor) but the sock puppet? We bought a weighted frog that seriously weighs 5 pounds, and some days it is a really good tool. Some days it is just too heavy for Turbo. So we made a tube-sock puppet that is filled with dried beans (hence the name). This is much lighter for Turbo to use at times during transition periods and it is much more flexible than the frog - both have useful purposes.



Zoom Ball. You can't find these anymore, except for online, but it is great for gross motor skills and the development of sequential activities (the latter in which Turbo is lacking in). It helps because in order to get the ball back, he has to bring his arms together and bring the string down to the ground to let gravity work. Then when he gets the ball to send it back, he has to open his arms very wide and with force while standing up. He also receives that deep pressure feeling when the ball strikes his handles hard.



Afterwards, we moved on the Vision Program activities. Unfortunately, Turbo's eye movement muscles that allows his eyes to move slow (ability to read) is impaired and we need to exercise these muscles to help him. Ms. Renee also wanted to see how he does in a faster pace environment to see how well he does with finding his place while moving.

She set up the "peanut-shaped" ball and had him sit on it while reading directional arrows on the mirror. (she used window markers by Crayola - those will be in stockings this year!) Then while moving the ball a bit and with Turbo moving the ball a bit, he was to move his body in the direction the arrows were pointing. The purpose: Help him to read from left to right and then once at the end, jump down to the next line and begin again going from left to right. He did an amazing job here. His vision movement is great at a fast pace...HuH...hudda thunk? ;)


Then it was off to a little room for some slow pace vision therapy. She had him sit on the board while she spun him around 10 times. He was to look down (or center, really). Then he was to follow an object around with his eyes only and not move his head. Then she had him lie down again on his side, spun him around and had him track an object while lying down. After awhile, he wanted to stop because he was getting really dizzy! YEAH!!! YEAH!!! YEAH!!! That is a good thing because that means that some things are working and connecting in his brain that spinning excessively is not a good thing! He is beginning to feel that being dizzy isn't such a great thing! WHOO HOO! Although this was a break through, he still has trouble tracking an object smoothly and being able to go right to it rather than searching everywhere for it. It will come with time.


Our last activity for the day was for Turbo to come up with something on his own. He chose these squeaker "mushrooms" - if you will - for his activity. He decided to make a path so that he could walk the path and make them squeak. Good sequential activity for him to follow. I tell you one thing...those squeaker toys will NEVER make it into my house...NEVER....

Daily Schedule

Part of Turbo's OT treatment includes "Making A Plan". As I blogged before, Ms. Renee has a giant book binder that is filled with pages that has Velcro-ed pictures of different toys/activities available! Each session, Turbo is to look through the book and choose an activity to do or really to play on. It is referred to as "THE PLAN".

To implement the same kind of idea in our home, I tried various things and nothing worked:

1) Dry erase board - Turbo would erase the plan and draw on the board or Tank would try to eat it, and the plan would be lost anyways. (Scratch that idea)

2) Created a daily schedule on paper - too much paper, can't afford this plan to continue if the plan kept changing hourly for Turbo. (SCRATCH!)

3) Created a calendar for Turbo to look at - Really it was like telling him to read another language, he would look at me and walk away. (DOUBLE SCRATCH!)

4) POCKET CHART! YES! I used pocket charts all the time and I had one! Looking at it...Looking at it...Looking at it...YEP...GOT AN IDEA!!! (SCRATCH!!!!!! What was I thinking?)

Finally, I gave myself a good swift kick in the pants and a smack on the forehead - you know those types of DUH! moments!- and decided to do our "PLAN" the same way Ms. Renee does.

I made a WORD document and made a sequential order to our day. Looking back, I probably should have gone from left to right instead of top to bottom, but hey, I had a great plan - I didn't say it was brilliant!

Then I scoured the World Wide Web for images that fit our lives: Library, Grocery Story, Playgroups, Parks, School, Meal times, etc. I laminated everything, added Velcro to the back, and put a sticky Velcro strip on our fridge for Turbo to look through to make is plan and VOILA! My very own book of "THINGS TO DO"....but it is on the fridge instead...