Thirty-Six - Thursday's Therapy Session

Today I completely forgot that Rowan had a therapy session! Miss Colleen came in and I was hanging in my pjs (which consisted of disgusting, barely there shorts, a sports bra, and a wife beater type tank top. HAHA) and eating a bagel thin. Rowan was running around in just his diaper. I apologized, even though I'm sure she sees worse. For today's session Miss Colleen and Rowan made "gloop", which is really just slime. Miss Colleen read him a story about them making the gloop which focused on Rowan using his voice to explain to Miss Colleen if he was afraid or did not want the gloop to touch his hands. The stories are part of the prediction strategy, meaning if he knows something is going to take place, he may be able to prepare his senses/mind for a normal reaction. She types up the story on the computer and it inputs pictures so he can help read along, then she prints each individual story out about most of the activities she does with him. She even made him one for when we went camping. She really should have just been allowed to be his speech therapist AND his O/T therapist because she's really great with both. She's wonderful at her job and really seems to go above and beyond.

Anyway the story went something like this: "Today, Miss Colleen and Rowan are going to spend 10 minutes making gloop. The gloop is made of three things: soap, water, and glue. Sometimes the gloop can feel a little slimey on Rowan's hands. But that is okay. It is still safe. The gloop is not forever and it can come off Rowan's hands whenever he wants it to be gone. If Rowan does not want the gloop to touch his hands, he will use his voice to tell Miss Colleen, 'No, thank you." Rowan will not cry or run away because he will explain to Miss Colleen how he feels and she will understand what he is saying." She read the story to him slowly and then they began making the gloop. Rowan participated and helped measure the water and squeeze the glue bottle. When they were finished Miss Colleen rolled it around in her hands and then asked Rowan if he wanted to touch it. Rowan froze and just stood there. His lower lip started to tremble the tiniest bit and Miss Colleen said, "Rowan, hunny, what is wrong? What are you supposed to do?" and he replies, "Not cry." Hahaha. Awwww. He had remembered from the story that she had told him not to cry and he must have been concentrating on not doing it. Miss Colleen looked at me and said, "Oh gosh, I forgot how sensitive he is." She then turned back to Rowan and told him it was going to be alright, that it was okay to be nervous or sad. Then she said they could move on to a different activity and come back to the gloop. Next they worked with a sticker book. Miss Colleen bought him a "Fantastic Four" sticker book (she said it was the only superhero one she could find at the store) and she went over descriptive words with him, like hair color, what they were wearing, and also what action they were doing, etc. Then he would place stickers on a scene after correctly identifying words such as "above, under, next to" etc. When Rowan had calmed down they moved back to the gloop. Miss Colleen asked Rowan again if he'd like to touch it and right away he said, "No, I do not" and she asked him why and he replied, "It looks sticky and sticky makes my skin feel bad." Good job, Rowan! I was so proud of him I almost cried. He is getting so much better! We won't "get over" SPD and all of the feelings and quirks Rowan has because of it, but he is already growing in leaps and bounds at being able to communicate about it and cope with it. I'm anxious for him to be medically diagnosed because it will bring even more peace with it being "final", but they won't until he's four.

We've cancelled our camping reservations for Green Lakes this weekend. :[ There's a big storm system coming that's supposed to stretch from at least Pulaski to Fayetteville. Like 70% chance of thunderstorms for the weekend, so why would we want to go and just sit in our tent, you know? Plus, Thane is behind in school work and it gives him time to catch up. Jenn is "irritated" (her word) that we're canceling. Whatever, they're still going so why does it even matter? So frustrating sometimes.

Tomorrow I think I am going to borrow my mom's van to take into Oswego so that I can go to Sheldon, the children's center where Rowan is going to be going starting August 23rd. Miss Colleen wants me to take some pictures of the outside of the building and the classroom so that she can do a predictions story for him about going. I also need to speak with the head lady and go over all of Rowan's evaluations and therapy paperwork. I have to talk to her about the menu as well, because Rowan will be there full days Mondays and Wednesdays which means two meals, breakfast and lunch, and looking over the menu I already know some of the stuff he isn't okay with. And you're not allowed to bring food from home. Miss Colleen said she can call and speak with them, because Rowan won't eat certain things because of taste or because he'd rather have candy or something silly, it's because of certain food textures, which is part of SPD. And obviously he can't go to an all day program and not eat a meal if it isn't one that he can tolerate. So there must be some sort of solution? I don't know.

Maybe I should unpack our bags for camp now. Haha.