Maddy has been working steadily for the past year and a half at occupational therapy working on sensory integration. When she started last year she was falling well below her peers at many different tasks, was having incredible anger and rage outburst, and was just not her happy bubbly Maddy self.
Stephanie, her OT from the beginning of our autism journey, evaluated her and we developed a plan to help her catch up.
And again Maddy did what Maddy does best. She flourished in therapy! Making headway and progressed 2 years worth in 1 years time.
Her latest evaluation had her sitting about 2 months below her actual age and at a point where Stephanie felt it was time to scale back therapy.
Something that Maddy is not happy about and I am anxious about.
Most people would think I'm nuts. Most people with special kids would rejoice at the chance to scale back therapy.
Most people are not me. Most people are not raising Maddy. I am. (Not to discredit Justin who does raise her but when it comes to therapy and education - I'm in charge of that route...by default or by the fact that is the role God gave me...who knows. And also not to discredit the amazing people in my life that do take care of her from time to time...yes it takes a village, people!)
We did this before. We scaled back therapy. And were coasting along great until we crashed into the reality that she was slowly falling behind her peers and we were blindsided.
So forgive me if I am a bit anxious about not wanting to do that again.
Maddy loves therapy. She loves going to see Steph and play games. She thrives off of one-on-one time and let's be honest, it's what she knows. She doesn't know much about life without some kind of therapy. It's comfortable. It's safe.
Yet it's time. Regardless of it all, it's time. Time to take a leap of faith and believe that she can fly again on her own.
I try to think of all the bright sides...how ot therapy costs a lot of money each week and while our new insurance does cover better than the old, it does not have a deductible when it comes to rehab therapy....so they cover what they cover and we pay the rest....and let's be frank - we will be paying on her Rehab bills for a very long time.
How we can have an actual normal week of school. Instead of going Sunday-Thursday with therapy on Friday and Saturday being our only day "Off" - we can now do school Monday-Friday like everyone else and enjoy two days off!
How this is even possible. That Maddy has worked so hard and progressed so much. This is such a great thing not to be overshadowed by fear. And fear it is.
Maddy has 3 weeks left of OT and then we will transition to a lego-based social skills group. She will build things and work on social skills.
So for the next month we are working steadily to develop Maddy's visual motor skills. Yes, believe it or not but our resident gamer struggles with this. It's hard for me to wrap my brain around it as the girl can outsmart me in any video game and yet can't build most standard lego sets or copy a picture drawn before her.
I think I get it in one sense as it reminds me of how my brain cannot compute geometry. It can't. Trust me. I am a whiz at Alegbra...I actually really love it...but if you start throwing in geometric shapes, it shuts down.
I love puzzles and legos and building ikea furniture. But don't ask me to draw.
Every one's brain is different. Maddy can conquer a video game in 2 days. But drawing a cube? forget it.
So we are working. Today she built a birthday cake:
Because let's face it...we are going to ask her to combine two very difficult tasks in her brain at the same time: build things and be social. And while Maddy is incredibly social...she is socially awkward. She loves people but does not pick up social cues. At all.
Thankful for fun legos....trying not to spend a fortune on finding ones that she can build on her own without overwhelming her.
Lego group (though unofficially called that as it is NOT sponsored by Lego and I could get in trouble by calling it that) starts the end of June and ends the beginning of August. Thankfully it's only weekly so we are trading our therapy days from Friday to Wednesday evening.
Also in the therapy work - we are drawing on the window while we work on directional phrases....yes, my mushing kids learned Gee and Ha instead of Right and Left...
It's change. And no one likes change.
Especially kids on the spectrum. Regardless of where.
The Bible tells us not to fear. And I think it tells us so many times NOT to fear as a reminder as it is purely human nature TO fear.
Yet, Trust Him, we will.
Stephanie, her OT from the beginning of our autism journey, evaluated her and we developed a plan to help her catch up.
And again Maddy did what Maddy does best. She flourished in therapy! Making headway and progressed 2 years worth in 1 years time.
Her latest evaluation had her sitting about 2 months below her actual age and at a point where Stephanie felt it was time to scale back therapy.
Something that Maddy is not happy about and I am anxious about.
Most people would think I'm nuts. Most people with special kids would rejoice at the chance to scale back therapy.
Most people are not me. Most people are not raising Maddy. I am. (Not to discredit Justin who does raise her but when it comes to therapy and education - I'm in charge of that route...by default or by the fact that is the role God gave me...who knows. And also not to discredit the amazing people in my life that do take care of her from time to time...yes it takes a village, people!)
We did this before. We scaled back therapy. And were coasting along great until we crashed into the reality that she was slowly falling behind her peers and we were blindsided.
So forgive me if I am a bit anxious about not wanting to do that again.
Maddy loves therapy. She loves going to see Steph and play games. She thrives off of one-on-one time and let's be honest, it's what she knows. She doesn't know much about life without some kind of therapy. It's comfortable. It's safe.
Yet it's time. Regardless of it all, it's time. Time to take a leap of faith and believe that she can fly again on her own.
I try to think of all the bright sides...how ot therapy costs a lot of money each week and while our new insurance does cover better than the old, it does not have a deductible when it comes to rehab therapy....so they cover what they cover and we pay the rest....and let's be frank - we will be paying on her Rehab bills for a very long time.
How we can have an actual normal week of school. Instead of going Sunday-Thursday with therapy on Friday and Saturday being our only day "Off" - we can now do school Monday-Friday like everyone else and enjoy two days off!
How this is even possible. That Maddy has worked so hard and progressed so much. This is such a great thing not to be overshadowed by fear. And fear it is.
Maddy has 3 weeks left of OT and then we will transition to a lego-based social skills group. She will build things and work on social skills.
So for the next month we are working steadily to develop Maddy's visual motor skills. Yes, believe it or not but our resident gamer struggles with this. It's hard for me to wrap my brain around it as the girl can outsmart me in any video game and yet can't build most standard lego sets or copy a picture drawn before her.
I think I get it in one sense as it reminds me of how my brain cannot compute geometry. It can't. Trust me. I am a whiz at Alegbra...I actually really love it...but if you start throwing in geometric shapes, it shuts down.
I love puzzles and legos and building ikea furniture. But don't ask me to draw.
Every one's brain is different. Maddy can conquer a video game in 2 days. But drawing a cube? forget it.
So we are working. Today she built a birthday cake:
Because let's face it...we are going to ask her to combine two very difficult tasks in her brain at the same time: build things and be social. And while Maddy is incredibly social...she is socially awkward. She loves people but does not pick up social cues. At all.
The only thing worse is if we asked her to build things, be social, and be in the middle of a circus parade.
Thankful for fun legos....trying not to spend a fortune on finding ones that she can build on her own without overwhelming her.
Lego group (though unofficially called that as it is NOT sponsored by Lego and I could get in trouble by calling it that) starts the end of June and ends the beginning of August. Thankfully it's only weekly so we are trading our therapy days from Friday to Wednesday evening.
Also in the therapy work - we are drawing on the window while we work on directional phrases....yes, my mushing kids learned Gee and Ha instead of Right and Left...
It's change. And no one likes change.
Especially kids on the spectrum. Regardless of where.
The Bible tells us not to fear. And I think it tells us so many times NOT to fear as a reminder as it is purely human nature TO fear.
Yet, Trust Him, we will.
