Thursday, November 19, 2009
Talkin' Baby
Austin decided two weeks ago at a Barnes and Noble to start.....TALKING!!! He wanted to go up the escalator and said as clear as can be "Please!" "Please Mama" over and over again. Needless to say, we went up the escalator up to the kids books. Ever since then he has gone from "Mamma" and "Dadda" to about 20 words. Every day he says one or two more. By his birthday he will probably have caught up to the 200 word expectation of other 3 year olds. Randall could not be happier. His speech therapist said it would "just happen" and it has! I never believed 6 months ago that we would ever get here. We sure have been blessed with wonderful children that continually surprise and challenge us.
Visit to the Park
We decided to take a trip to the park while my grandma was here visiting and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Pumpkins!
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405199816852594114" />Jenna and her pumpkin
Austin and Jenna sliding down the jump house they had there.
Austin and his not-so-exciting pumpking
Rachel and Jenna trying to get a good picture together...
Austin pretty dang mad about having to leave the slide at the pumpkin patch!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pudding Paint
We did a sensory activity with Austin and Jenna using Vanilla Pudding and food coloring. Jenna would only touch it with a spoon, mixing the colors to "make more pink." Austin make a huge mess with his dinosaurs and plastic cars. They had so much fun!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Sensory Processing Dysfunction
Since we have gotten a diagnosis for Austin I have had TONS of questions and not enough answers for my extraordinary son. He has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Dysfunction or Disorder (SPD). Specifically tactile defensiveness. Here are some of the questions and answers:
What is SPD? SPD describes the difficulty that some people's nervous systems have in making use of and integrating sensory information.
What causes SPD? The brain is not receiving messages, or the messages that are received are inconsistent, or is consistent but does not integrate properly with the other sensory information from the other related sensory systems.
Austin is what they call a "sensory seeker". Sensory seeking is when a person's nervous system requires unusual or intense amounts of stimulation. This is the kind of kid who crashes into things (Austin), or takes a lemon and sucks on it, or who may bite himself, or is constantly touching things to get more input. He "just can't get enough" sensory information.
To help Austin, we do "brush therapy" using a baby brush that you get at the hospital
and using direct pressure go up his arms, down his back, up and down the other arm, them both of his legs. Then we do "Joint compression therapy" to help put input into his body.
BRUSHING/JOINT COMPRESSION TECHNIQUE:
Purpose: to provide deep tactile input to help organize sensory system, increase focus and level of alertness. It is best to provide technique daily every two hours and prior to activities that may facilitate fear, anxiety, or resistance.
Item needed: surgical brush (may substitute by using bath brush (at Dollar Tree) that looks just like the surgical brush or use opened flat palm side of your hand)
Procedure:
1. Using surgical brush, apply firm continuous deep pressure as you brush from the finger tips toward shoulder. Repeat this ten times, ( as tolerated). Always start at the fingers and end at the shoulder. (Avoid brushing face and stomach).
2. After brushing, apply deep joint compression to shoulder, elbow, & wrist. Make sure child remains still, joints are in alignment. Hold joint and apply pressure for the count of ten.
3. Lastly, apply joint compression to both shoulders at the same time, on top of the head, and lastly, firm pressure above lip using finger tip.
4. This technique can also be applied to legs and feet. Apply pressure to hips, knees, ankles & feet.
Since we have done this, Austin's screaming has all but stopped, he is open to eating new things, and attempting self-initiated speech. His need for "sensory seeking" always got in the way of his speech, he now has the capability to start speaking like he should!
What is SPD? SPD describes the difficulty that some people's nervous systems have in making use of and integrating sensory information.
What causes SPD? The brain is not receiving messages, or the messages that are received are inconsistent, or is consistent but does not integrate properly with the other sensory information from the other related sensory systems.
Austin is what they call a "sensory seeker". Sensory seeking is when a person's nervous system requires unusual or intense amounts of stimulation. This is the kind of kid who crashes into things (Austin), or takes a lemon and sucks on it, or who may bite himself, or is constantly touching things to get more input. He "just can't get enough" sensory information.
To help Austin, we do "brush therapy" using a baby brush that you get at the hospital
and using direct pressure go up his arms, down his back, up and down the other arm, them both of his legs. Then we do "Joint compression therapy" to help put input into his body.
BRUSHING/JOINT COMPRESSION TECHNIQUE:
Purpose: to provide deep tactile input to help organize sensory system, increase focus and level of alertness. It is best to provide technique daily every two hours and prior to activities that may facilitate fear, anxiety, or resistance.
Item needed: surgical brush (may substitute by using bath brush (at Dollar Tree) that looks just like the surgical brush or use opened flat palm side of your hand)
Procedure:
1. Using surgical brush, apply firm continuous deep pressure as you brush from the finger tips toward shoulder. Repeat this ten times, ( as tolerated). Always start at the fingers and end at the shoulder. (Avoid brushing face and stomach).
2. After brushing, apply deep joint compression to shoulder, elbow, & wrist. Make sure child remains still, joints are in alignment. Hold joint and apply pressure for the count of ten.
3. Lastly, apply joint compression to both shoulders at the same time, on top of the head, and lastly, firm pressure above lip using finger tip.
4. This technique can also be applied to legs and feet. Apply pressure to hips, knees, ankles & feet.
Since we have done this, Austin's screaming has all but stopped, he is open to eating new things, and attempting self-initiated speech. His need for "sensory seeking" always got in the way of his speech, he now has the capability to start speaking like he should!
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