Hi all. My pregnancy is doing great. I go for another ultrasound (my sixth) on Wednesday as well as my glucose test (yuck!). The doc is monitoring me closely.
I thought I would post an update on our life with SPD. We have been doing occupational therapy for almost a year now and we have seen a lot of progress. Noah's need to be in motion constantly has improved a lot which has made life more peaceful around here! :) His pain tolerance seems to have come down to a normal level..which seems like a bad thing, but it really is necessary to feel pain normally. A few months ago he had a stomach virus which just laid him out on the floor in pain. At first it scared me to see him holding his belly and yelling "it hurts", but then I realized that he had the same virus we had all been through, but was actually feeling it completely for the first time. Poor kid. He adjusted quickly, though. His issues with food have gotten worse, but hey, you can't have it all, huh? :( Right now he is working hard on his auditory issues. I have become more understanding of his issues, so instead of getting angry when he "doesn't listen" I have taken to repeating myself 3 or 4 times before I start getting frustrated. He doesn't like it at all! He told my mom I was a nag! LOL! 9 years old and already a typical man! A few days ago I had asked him to change his clothes. After reminding him like 14 times he finally was able to finish getting dressed. Part of his issues were auditory (at first), and then it was just that everytime he went to do it he would get distracted by something and forget. Finally, after he was dressed I asked him, "Noah, now do you see why I repeat myself so often?" and he said "yes." Maybe he won't think I am a nag now:) Homeschooling is wonderful for him! He was really stressed out at public school, coping with all of it. He knows how smart he is and it was really frustrating for him get problems wrong when he just knew he had done them right. He wasn't hearing directions completely, wasn't seeing the words/numbers correctly and couldn't use his hands the way he needed to to write, cut, etc... We can take all of that into account with homeschooling and make adjustments. We still have a lot of issues that we haven't hit yet, like vision, taste, fine motor work at therapy...but we will in time. We have truly come a long way. Occupational therapy with the right therapist has been a life saver...for all of us. I wish more people knew about and understood SPD, though. It would make life easier for us. I think that someday they will find out what causes this, and what fixes it!! My personal opinion (so far) is that it is a build up of toxins that this generation is loaded up with. The food we eat, the medicines (and vaccines) we take, the chemicals that are in EVERYTHING around us...from paint to bottled water! When we have a whole generation of kids who can't process sensory input properly to the point that it interferes with their life skills, then maybe it is time to look at what is going on. My patience with people who don't understand SPD has grown immensely...but if the doctors would get off their rears and speak up for these kids it sure would help a lot. I think docs don't want to admit that the mom's have figured out a problem without the doc's help. Oh well, I hope it will get better. I swear, though, if one more person says I am only dealing with a behavior issue, then I might just have to offend somebody:) With all the improvements we have seen in therapy we don't get too many comments like that anymore. It's been nice. I am not just a mom that wants to pawn off my parental resposibilty and blame everything on made up medical issues, and I think it is judgmental and arrogant to accuse someone of that. There are things I see, being the mom, that no one else sees. I have learned that there are some people out there that just need to learn a few more of life's lessons before they "get it." Well, I didn't expect to vent about that tonight, since I haven't dealt with it in so long. I have watched other kids struggle lately in other areas, and I think it is weighing on me a little bit. I see the attitude a lot out there that says "that kid just needs discipline," so tonight I challenge you to check yourself the next time you think a thought like that. You can NEVER know the whole story behind what is going on. If a child is acting innappropriately, then it could be a lack of discipline, but it could be more than that. I love what the singer/comedian Mark Lowry said about his childhood. He had "ADHD" and his teachers were always so mean to him. This one year he had a young, beautiful teacher that all the kids liked, but he would always go home with fingernail prints in his arms from her grabbing his arm when she was fed up with him. There was an old teacher at the school, though, that would come and get him and take him for walks and tell him that God loves hyperactive kids. She told him that God would use him one day in a great way, even with all of that energy! We should be showing God's love to all kids, even the difficult ones, and especially to their parents (who could probably use the support).
Rachel's OT is going well, too. She has gained a lot of stregth and balance. Her speech is amazing! She is learning so quickly with homeschooling. Her auditory issues are getting worse, and the OT has recommended brushing and listening therapy for her. Unfortunately, we haven't started on that yet, but we will soon. I have noticed that her issues with smells have gotten worse, too. She told my poor mom that she smelled the other day! :) LOL! She did it to her daddy too! She's not trying to hurt anybody's feelings, though. She just covers her nose and asks "what is that smell?" She does it in a way that isn't so much rude, as it is funny. She has a look on her face that says "why would anyone want to smell that way?" She can't figure it out! Yes, we will be having a talk about how it hurts people's feelings to tell them they smell! The funniest part is that she does this with good smells and bad ones! I think with my mom it was just her shampoo, and with my husband it was because he was eating something she didn't recognize the smell of. LOL! A lot of her other issues are resolving as well!
Tomorrow morning the kids have dentist appointments. This is always interesting with 2 SPD kids. No kid likes the dentist, but it is a whole different experience for them! Hopefully it goes well!
That all for tonight!
