Twenty-Nine - Rowan's OT Evaluation

Rowan had his Occupational Evaluation today. He was such a good boy. He did score below average on almost everything, especially in the sensory skills section, which we expected. He scored mostly average in the fine motor skills area. He has sensory skills overload.

I don't remember if I explained what occupational therapy does. Occupational is split into two groups: fine motor skills and sensory skills (which ranges from the five senses to emotions and mental). He scored average on many of the fine motor skills tests, but below average on the sensory skills, which is what we expected. He has hyperactive senses. He's a picky eater and prefers to eat bland and/or soft foods. He'll eat potato chips and stuff like that, but when it comes to meal times, he prefers less complex foods, such as applesauce, yogurt, pasta without the sauce, etc. He also has to smell a lot of things. He gets overly emotional over things (crying during adult movies as if he understands the concept) and has temper tantrums. Not because he's just misbehaving or anything, but if he can't get something to go his way during independent play (such as not being able to get a spiderman toy figure to bend his legs an EXACT way), or if he attempts something and isn't successful, he'll have a breakdown/meltdown. Because his sensory skills are different than other children's, in order to calm him down we may need to do things like, hold him really close and really tight and apply a blanket for pressure until he calms down, or lay with him on a cool floor (thank god we have hardwoods) with our faces on the floor so he can feel the temperature change sensation, which then triggers a calming feeling. It's hard sometimes, but we love him all the more just because he's NOT like other kids. To us it makes him more special. They tell us that's why he likes music so much, because of sensory reasons. He also has trouble focusing and following directions. Not because of behavior (yet again), but because he's so easily distracted. They say he is REALLY smart and has trouble concentrating on one thing. So the therapy is supposed to help him with his focus and with helping him find his own, independent ways of adapting and coping with a sensory overload. Because, you know, Mommy and Daddy can't always be there with a blanket and we can't go out in public and have to explain to people why we're lying on the floor in the middle of an aisle (yes we've had to do this a couple times) when he's 14 years old. People don't even understand now! They sometimes thinks he's just bratty or misbehaving (he actually behaves MARVELOUSLY) or they probably think we're just freaks. Anyway, if they begin therapy early, hopefully when he's older, it will be hard for an outsider/stranger to see that he sometimes "feels" or "reacts" differently to some situations. There's so much more too, but I'm tired from talking about it with the specialists today. Ha.

On another note, a friend "broke up" with me, I guess. It confuses me. Because to me, either you like someone enough/care about them enough and are interested enough in having them in your life as a friend, or your not. So if they're not, then you'd think they could just be a "mean" person and fess up to that, rather than have to have reasons or excuses as to why "it's not working". Or something like that. I don't know. Honestly, it just isn't as big of a deal to me as it might have been a few months ago.