the one year post-therapy mark

july 24, 2013 was harrison's last occupational therapy session with juliana at STAR center. i wrote about the emotions of that day HERE.

it's been nearly one year but it feels like a lifetime ago.

harrison has changed quite a bit since then. i've changed too.


i'll start with myself...

i don't cry nearly as much.
i don't obsess about his quirks nearly as much.
i don't worry about him as much.
i don't worry about his future as much.
i haven't sent panicked text messages to his OTs in a long while.

i still - probably always will -  carefully think through how certain things/situations/environments/activities/food will affect him and do my best to prep him for those. BUT he almost always surprises me and surpasses my expectations, a sign that i could probably loosen up on the detailedness of my prep work just a little bit.


as far as sweet harrison...

my friend, amy, who's been by my side since the very beginning of all this commented last week about how great she thinks harrison is doing. she noticed how much he is talking and how well he is interacting both with kids and adults.

ms. johnson, harrison's first grade teacher, commented that since he had his tonsils out he is like a new kid. she said he asks lots more questions and communicates much more freely/easily. (i do think it's quite likely that the pain and irritation of his nasty tonsils was preventing him from being his full self).

he is able to watch movies. this is a big one. it was one of our main goals for therapy, believe it or not. it may sound silly but typical kids can watch most movies without even thinking about it. we wanted that for harrison too. if you remember back, attempting to watch the lion king movie was my first indication that something wasn't quite right with him. in the year since therapy has ended we've watched more movies than in the previous six years combined. harrison frequently boasts, while the credits roll, "well, that's another one i can check off the list!"

he does not get motion sickness anywhere near as much as he used to. again, this feels huge. it used to be harrsion would get sick once or twice during a 30 minute drive up the highway to meme and papa's house. lately we've been driving back and forth from the mountains (a 1-1.5 hour, curvy drive) and he hasn't gotten car sick in a very long while (with the exception of one day when he had a stomach virus). i've also noticed he seeks out the spinning playground equipment and doesn't have any trouble handling that at all.

i've noticed his ability to interact with kids his own age improving. he still has some trouble standing up for himself at times. he also still has trouble understanding when kids are just joking with him or being hurtful. i wholeheartedly believe these are things that will come with time and practice. the bigger point is that he doesn't shy away from verbal exchanges as much. just this past weekend he was playing at the park and a girl his age came to play on the same equipment as him. old harrison would have walked away but today's harrison stayed, played and actually laughed and talked with her!

harrison and the girl at the park.

confession: i might be crying just a little bit right now.

he is brave, stretching his wings to do things on his own, not wanting to cling to me anymore. a great example of this was his willingness and actual desire to be left at chuck e. cheese to navigate a friend's birthday party in a new environment all by himself. and he did awesome. yesterday i watched him perform well during a group swimming lesson in a loud, crowded pool - amazed.

he is better able to recognize his feelings AND he is better able to tell us about it. we still have quite a ways to go in this area but i am always impressed when he makes baby steps in the right direction. anger is easier for him to deal with than sadness or shame (if he hurts someone and has to apologize). i'd say that is true for every human being. he says "i love you" freely now. it's not every day but when he does say it it's sincere. he even says "i love you more than you think i do". that one gets me every time.

he is better able to handle touch. and, maybe more importantly, he is better able to tell us how he likes or doesn't like to be touched. mostly this arises between him and jeremy in the form of "your whiskers are too scratchy" or "you kiss me too hard" or "no hugs". i am so incredibly proud of harrison for expressing his needs. he will tell me, too, that he doesn't want to be hugged or, sometimes, that he needs squeezes and i accommodate. i've learned how to touch him in a way he finds comfortable so he trusts me. jeremy is still working on building that trust with harrison.

there was a boy in his class last year who was always hugging on harrison and we had to figure out a way to deal with that. harrison said, "i need help telling him to stop" (so proud that he was able to ask for help!) so i spoke with ms. johnson about it and she helped him talk to his buddy. situations like that are milestones. old harrison would have just stood still as stone in freeze mode until his friend got bored and went to hug someone else. today's harrison understands he is allowed to have an opinion about what's happening to him, he is allowed to express that opinion, and he is allowed to seek help if he needs it.

he is able to talk for himself now as opposed to me talking for him. 

i am noticing more abstract, imaginative thinking from him. the other day, in a group of friends, we were talking about an orange tabby cat that typically roams the neighborhood. none of us had seen the cat in a while and harrison said, "maybe he turned into a black ninja cat" and we all laughed. stuff like that never would have happened before.

...


there are more details i could share, more improvements i've seen...i think what it comes down to, though, is that we've found our "normal". we've found that place where life is moving forward and we aren't racing to keep up. we've reached the plateau on this journey, the place where we can catch our breath, look up and enjoy the view for awhile. and, listen, i know there will always be hills and valleys but it's so lovely to recognize this season of smooth passage.

today harrison knows he has a "really smart brain that works a bit differently than other kids' brains". he knows he has "superhero sensitivities", a really strong sense of smell and taste and hearing and touch. i haven't noticed any negative self-esteem issues with regard to these characteristics, he seems to just accept this is the way he is.

that's my always prayer for him and for me and for each of you - that we would all be able to accept and love ourselves (and each other!) just as we are.

and if you are on a journey today i pray you find your plateau soon.

playing RISK - an opportunity to create circles of communication

i'm not sure how it happened that i still don't know how to play the game risk. my dad and my godfather played it nearly every time we got together with them, which was most of those monday holidays - labor day, memorial day, presidents day. we lived closer to my godparents, larry and cindy, than to any of our relatives and we spent a great deal of time with them. they had kids similar ages to my brother and me; three girls - hannah, sarah and leah - so my poor brother was outnumbered four to one but he didn't seem to mind. my parents and the soderbergs were friends long before kids came along and their friendship is still strong today long after the kids have left. they are one of a handful of families who have left a forever imprint on my heart.

i loved spending those holidays with them. whether it was at our house or theirs the visit typically included a big pot of soup on the stove and loads of junk food to be grazed throughout the day, twizzlers and fig newtons are the two i remember the most. us kids would play, the moms would talk and the dads would challenge each other to a long game of risk.

it was always just what the dads did and i never had any interest in learning to play.

the first christmas after jeremy and i were married was an interesting one. when we were dating jeremy was very thoughtful and generous in choosing a gift for me. after we were married, however, he went out to shop on christmas eve and on christmas morning i opened five different packages, all board games. one of them was risk. my sweet husband was attempting thoughtfulness, thinking it would be fun to play games together, but i sightly less than impressed.

monopoly, yes.  
scrabble, okay.  
acquire, never heard of it.
clue, yes.  
risk, you gotta be kidding me.

over the years jeremy and i have played lots of monopoly. we love playing clue with his family (i always get to be miss scarlet and jer's mom is always mrs. white). jer's brother, zach, loves the game acquire - who knew?! but risk has set on the shelf untouched.

until harrison asked to play it.

 here they are "playing" risk at christmas time. yes, they are wearing their ski helmets.

risk is recommended for ages 12+ but one evening jeremy pulled the box off the shelf and "played" with the boys (they made up their own rules) and all three of them had a great time. i still never participated, though, until yesterday. and when i finally did play, do you know what i learned?

playing a higher level game with younger level or inexperienced players is an awesome therapy activity!

over the past year or so as we've been figuring out this thing called sensory processing disorder and how it affects our son and our family, if i had to pinpoint the ultimate lesson i learned from occupational therapists for connecting with kids - ANY kids, but certainly kids on the spectrum - it is this:

find out what they are interested in

whatever it is, do it with them

expand on it

harrison wanted to play risk with me last night.

i could have said "that game is too old for you" or "let's play a different game," but what i said instead was, "sure i'll play with you but i've never played before so you're going to have to show me how."

that was all it took - me, sitting on the floor with harrison, setting up the game he wanted to play and being (sometimes just acting) very uninformed about what to do.

i think it's safe to say i've never had more circles of communication with harrison than i did last night.

he loves teaching others. he loves being in control of a situation. he loves talking about facts, giving information, sharing concrete details.

i took those things i know about his personality and exploited the game of risk to get as much communication and interaction with him as i could. first i just played dumb and asked lots of questions. "wait a second, i don't get it, what am i supposed to do again?!" then i expand it to more open-ended questions, "i wonder what would happen if crossed this border?" then i expanded it to add emotion, "ah! no! i'm scared! don't shoot my men!" then i expanded it to role-playing and acting out what my little soldiers were doing, "you can't hide from me! i'll ride my horse across this desert to find you if i have to! but, oh, i'm so tired and i need some food and water..."

silly? yes, it feels so silly pretending to be an exhausted, parched infantry man.

but rewarding? yup. every time harrison responded to my questions, every time he looked me in the eyes, every time he laughed because i was acting so silly, every time he pretended to shoot his cannon and kill my troops, every bit of it was hugely, satisfyingly rewarding!

last night was a great reminder that my job isn't always to be the leader, the teacher, the one in charge. sometimes, most times, the best connection occurs when i follow my boys' lead and let them teach me a thing or two.

my dad is coming for a visit next weekend to spend president's day with us. i suppose we'll have to pull risk back off the shelf and let harrison teach him a new way - the best way! - to "play." making a big pot of soup and buying some junk food feels like a good idea too. :-)

counting my blessings - november 25, 2013

number twenty-five

i am thankful for an intelligent god, who created human beings in his image - intelligently. intricately. masterfully. i am thankful for a god who allows us teeny tiny glimpses of his work - a bit of understanding about brain pathways here, a snippet of knowledge about the brain/gut connection there, a peek of awareness regarding how play therapy and listening therapy physically change the brain's "wiring". i am thankful for a god of transformation.


i am thankful for how harrison has been transformed.

he finished therapy in july.

he started school in august. he did not adjust well to school. it was not easy.

in september i was sending full-on panic mode, frantic text messages to his occupational therapists with statements like "should i be seeing WORSE behaviors since completing treatment? he had his worst meltdown EVER today."

he seemed so angry. he did not seem like harrison. i wondered what in the world had happened to my sweet, quiet boy.

i am thankful for rachel ottley who, after deeper discussion, texted back this: 

"he should feel things deeply - frustration, anger - because then he will feel joy and love that deeply too." 

that was all it took. that one comment and i was all in. no more worry or fear about what was happening inside my son. i understood then my task was to help him feel all his emotions deeply, help him identify what each one was and deal with it in an acceptable way. the rest of september, october and even now we are working on this. 

we are seeing transformation!

a couple weeks back jeremy and i picked up harrison from school and actually ended up calling him a chatterbox! my son, a chatterbox? we were astounded!

i was equally as astounded by the number of circles of communication he had with my dad while in iowa. heck, i'm still floored at the circles he has with me. while at church the sunday we were in iowa, harrison and i wrote notes back and forth during the entire sermon. question and answer kind of notes. conversation kind of notes. keep them forever kind of notes. 

the other day i was lying on the couch and he came over to me and held my face in his hands for no reason at all except just to touch. he reached out and touched me and held the touch. it was powerful.

he's asking for hugs. asking for hugs! transformed, i tell you.

last night he and i gave each other zerbert kisses back and forth a few times. it tickled him and he had to "wipe off" the tickle each time, but he kept asking for more. astounded.

last week the boys had their regular dental check up. dental cleanings are hard for harrison but he's always handled it well. my hunch is that he does so well because his body goes into "freeze" mode rather than into "fight" or "flight". the same thing happens during haircuts. the stylists always (always!) comment on how still he sits. little do they know it's because internally his body is freaking out. but...during his tooth polishing last week he actually raised his hand to ask the hygienist to stop (before the appointment i told both boys they were allowed to do that). she gave him a moment to breathe and then he was able to continue on. i was pleased and surprised he was able to express himself by raising his hand. but there was one bigger lesson that came from that dentist visit.

harrison has never been able to have tooth xrays taken. the've tried each time for the past two years. he gags. he can't handle holding the little bite piece in his mouth. last week he was finally able to get one good, non-blurry xray! but it took him four tries. he gagged, he didn't like it, but he kept trying. our sweet dentist, after the fourth try, said there was no need to continue and praised harrison for what he was able to do. 

graham has never had dental xrays taken. they would have taken some last time had he not had the vomiting disaster. but anyway. last week graham was able to hold still for two xrays. he did it perfectly on the first try. it was easy for him.

harrison was not happy about this. while leaving the dentist's office harrison said, "ugh! i'm so frustrated! it's not fair that graham only had to do two xrays and i had to do four!" i explained that "graham was able to hold really still so his xrays weren't blurry but you kept wiggling so your xrays were blurry so they kept taking more in hopes of getting a good picture." harrison replied, "i hate that thing and i keep touching it with my tongue!" i told him that's exactly why the pictures were blurry.

this lead to a good conversation about how every person has different strengths and different weaknesses...how graham's mouth is not as sensitive as harrison's...how god created all our bodies differently...how it's brave to persevere even when something is hard...how we can do hard things!

but that's not the point of this post. the point is this: do you know how awesome it is that harrison was able to 1) get frustrated 2) identify the emotion 3) verbalize why he was frustrated 4) deal with it appropriately 5) have a conversation about it 6) move on?

i walked away from that moment thinking wow! my son is frustrated because life isn't fair! that is just. so. NORMAL!

astounded. 

in november i am seeing lots of evidence that harrison's body has changed. i feel as though my sweet boy is back. but he's not quiet anymore.

i am so very, very blessed.

 

i'm too emotional to come up with a title

i have been mildly obsessed with the british royal family since i was a young girl. watching a real life prince marry a real life lady, which then turned her into a real life princess was beyond fascinating. it was dreamy. i remember watching diana walk down the aisle to meet her groom. the train of her dress and veil went on for days. i recall wondering if it was difficult for her to walk. i loved william and kate's wedding even more. jeremy makes fun of me for it, of course, but i'm not embarrassed. i think the royal family brings out the life-sometimes-really-is-a-fairytale side of me.

i've been loving the royal baby news coverage. i was happy they had a boy. not for any particular reason except you know how i love boys. i'm hedging my bets that they'll use the name spencer somewhere amongst the four or more names the new prince will be given as that was princess diana's maiden name. and wouldn't that just be an awesome way to honor her?

but even though their baby is a prince and the whole world is watching, they are still going through the same experience all us commoners have been through. they are brand new parents to a brand new child. they went into the hospital without a baby and came out of the hospital with one.

still to this very day i remember the strange feelings i had about how jeremy and i walked into the hospital as a couple and then they let us leave the hospital a few days later as a family. WITH A BABY.

into the hospital. no baby. out of the hospital. baby.

into the hospital. just people. out of the hospital. parents.

doesn't this strike anyone else as down right crazy?!

what's funny is the purple folder the hospital gave us. it contained tidbits like "your baby's poop should look like this..." and "your baby should be eating like this..." and "your baby should be sleeping like this...". i read through that violet-hued file repeatedly but it didn't come close to answering all my questions. still, the sentiment was here's your baby, here's your folder, go forth and prosper.

i cried as i sat in the wheelchair, holding a snugly buckled harrison in his car seat on my lap, while being pushed toward the hospital's exit. a giant bag of mixed emotions had positioned itself right on top of my chest. although i was asked repeatedly i could not completely identify what it was i was feeling.

jeremy brought the car around. the nurse listened for the locking sound as jeremy placed harrison's carrier into it's base. then she gave us the okay to leave. jeremy, harrison, me and our trusty information packet were safely loaded into the car. we pulled out of the valet area and turned right onto the street. in that moment our lives changed. and it does not matter what color the folder is or how much helpful insight it contains, nothing can prepare you for the moment your life changes.

today is harrison's final therapy session at STAR center. today i feel very much like that day so many years ago when they said it's time to check out of hospital and take your baby home.

i am scared.

it is scary leaving a place that has your best interests, and more so, the best interests of your baby at heart. it is scary leaving a place that is so knowledgeable and comforting and friendly and reassuring. it is scary leaving a place that you've relied on. it is very scary moving on into a new world of learning to rely on yourself.

it's hard to leave such a safe place.
 
yes, it's exciting. it's happy. it's a time to celebrate. but, for many reasons, my emotions are raw and ready. the tears come very quickly and i've been hard pressed to figure out why. i have been able to pin point some of the reasons - the fear factor, as mentioned above. but i think it's more than that. i think my tears come from an incredibly grateful heart. i am so very thankful for juliana, specifically, but for all the staff at STAR center who have walked beside us over the past eight months.

how do you say thank you to someone who does double fist pumps in the air because your son asserted himself and interjected a comment during an interaction with a peer? how do you say thank you to someone who gets even more excited than you do when she hears that your son initiated a conversation with another little boy while at the chickfila play area? how do you say thank you to someone who gives great suggestions about ways to get your son to wipe his own tooshie and then thinks it's absolutely amazing when he does just that? how do you say thank you to someone who is willing to step into a marriage and a family to help mediate some stressful things? how do you say thank you to someone who loves your child as much as you do and whose whole life is dedicated to helping him? how do you say thank you to someone for teaching you how to be a better parent to your son?

how do you say thank you to someone whose goal is to teach you the tools so that you won't need her anymore?

it really is the ultimate act of selflessness.

it is an unforgettable kindness.

it is a precious gift.

and it's hard to say goodbye to someone who has done so much for us.

as juliana brought to my attention, some of the emotion also probably comes from feeling so very accepted at STAR center. just like being in the hospital with a newborn, everyone is there to help you and no one there judges you. i don't have to explain anything to anyone. i do not need to be concerned about what harrison will do, how he will react, what he will say, what he won't say...whatever happens there is okay. the people there "get" it. they understand him. and they understand me. and they understand ALL THE THINGS that go along with him and me and us.

and it's hard to say goodbye to a place where you feel so understood.

one of the things i learned during my counseling session at the beginning of our time at STAR center was that it really is healing to write out my feelings. it's also healing to talk about them. apparently, every time i talk about or write about an emotional experience my brain literally shifts a little piece of that memory/data/whatever-the-heck-that-information-up-there-in-my-brain-is-called from my amygdala to my hippocampus. each time a bit of memory moves, a bit of raw emotion moves along with it. so over time i'll be able to talk about this subject (leaving STAR center) just as easily as i can now talk about what it was like to leave the hospital with my first born son. 

but until then, one thing i know...actually two...okay, three...

1) royal or not, every baby is a prince or princess.
2) each new adventure our children bring into our lives will carry with it a mixed bag of emotions.
3) this is what turns our ordinary lives into grand and interesting fairytales.


i love you all. thank you for listening (aka reading).

the dice game

can i please share our new favorite activity with you?

we've grown a bit tired of extreme candyland which was played repeatedly during the winter months. time to come up with something new. 

i got this idea after harrison described a game he played in p.e. class at school. he explained that the gym teacher had a huge yellow die. the kids took turns rolling the die and looking at a chart that showed them which exercise they had to do. easy peasy right?

we have dice.

we can come up with exercise ideas.

so that's what we've done.

the boys and i make a plan. we decide what exercises we want to do and write them down. graham likes to come up with crazy ideas. anyone heard of a one-legged donkey kick? nope? me neither.

here are a couple plans we've used in the past few days. we list out six activities, one for each number on the die. we take turns rolling one die to find out which activity to do then we roll both dice to tell us how many times we get to do it.

this is GREAT counting practice for graham!!!! an added bonus on top of the great sensory input/exercise all of us receive.

a few days after we had started playing the dice game you won't believe what came in the mail...

 the may 2013 issue of family fun magazine.

which had a little blurb that showed how to make your own exercise dice!

so that's what we've done.

i happened to have a perfectly square box in the recycle bin which i covered with a brown paper grocery bag. i asked the boys what their very favorite exercises are and we wrote them on here. you know graham chose one-legged donkey kicks. :)

we do each activity 10 times.

i figure this big box die will be great to take outside!

the small dice can be put in my purse, a backpack or a suitcase so we can take them on trips...or even if we have to wait to be seated at a restaurant...or if we go to a friend's house that doesn't have things for young children to play with...or any place where two little misters might need to get some sillies out.

and that is just about everywhere!! 

occupational therapy results - the changes we are noticing

this is a photo of our fridge. a couple of items on this fridge are telling signs that occupational therapy is helping harrison. 

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see this note? harrison went on a school field trip to denver's museum of nature and science yesterday. he had to take a 100% disposable sack lunch along with him. i wrote him a little note and tucked it next to a couple vanilla sandwich cookies. after i picked him up he pulled the note out of his pocket. i was shocked he kept it! he read it out loud to me and told me how he showed it to his teacher and read it to her. this mommy's heart was overflowing. but then...as i was making dinner last night i turned to open the fridge and saw that he hung it front and center, just below a red heart valentine he made for me a while back. i was shocked he kept it AND he displayed it!

this has been one of the biggest changes we've noticed in our son: his ability to give and receive affection. 

he gives more hugs. he gives more kisses. he is better at receiving hugs and kisses. he cuddles up on our laps more. he is better about using his words to tell us when he doesn't want to be touched. he is better about using his words to tell us when he does. he is better about using words to tell us HOW to touch him (firm pressure, but not too tight).

these are all great steps in the right direction. 

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this photo shows a paper juliana sent home with us. she uses this scale at STAR center and thought it would be beneficial for harrison to have one at home. we use it to rate activities, 0-10. you can see the facial expressions associated with each number. this helps harrison:

 1) recognize emotions

2) identify what the emotion is - happy? sad? angry? 

3) associate the events in our day with a number on the scale and be able to discuss them

4) most importantly, and this is really hard for him, understand that if something bad happens while doing something fun (you fall down while playing baseball) it does not mean that the entire event was bad. sure, it really hurts to scrape your knee (rating = 0 or 1), but you can recover and get back outside and have fun again (rating = 10)!

this has been huge in helping harrison learn to regulate again after becoming dysregulated. 

it's also been huge in helping him talk about emotional things.

just the fact that he is comfortable using this scale is a great step in the right direction!

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other changes we've noticed in harrison, in no particular order: 

i frequently hear "hey mommy, guess what..." or "mommy, i forgot to tell you something..." or "guess what we did today..." followed by actual back and forth communication with my son!

he actually wants to pick up the phone and call people, mostly memeandpapa.

our friends came by yesterday and harrison actually stopped what he was doing outside, came inside, started up a conversation by saying "i went to the museum today".

when discussing things he'll say, "i have an idea.." and proceed to tell me his plan.

in general, there are many more circles of communication now as opposed to me PULLING information out of him and only getting one word responses.

he has been writing about his feelings. just recognizing what he feels is a big deal. being able to write about it (even if he can't quite verbalize it yet) is an even bigger deal.

in general, he interacts so much more with us and others!

now, it has to be said that he still interacts with others in a socially awkward way. part of this may be his age - silly boy humor is at an all time high at the moment. but in my heart i know part of it is that he's just a bit socially awkward. sweet boy. 

i've also noticed that he does not crash into me when i pick him up from school anymore. at least he hasn't for a couple weeks. i guess we'll see if that behavior starts up again. 

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there are still a number of behaviors that we do deal with:

i mentioned the social awkwardness.

he still needs to chew on his 'chewies'. 

during his birthday dinner he said something funny and every laughed. he got instantly upset/angry, turned around and held his fists to my face as if he was going to hit me. i tried to calm him and he was fairly quickly able to go back to opening presents. later i was able to discuss it with him. he said just got so surprised when we laughed. so it's clear that unexpected things - especially if they are loud and especially if he doesn't understand why they are happening (he had no idea why we were laughing) - are dysregulating to him. the other piece of this scenario goes back to him understanding the social connection that humor = laughter. he just doesn't get it. he still doesn't really understand humor, or what's considered funny, all that well. 

there are more but i need to jet outta here and go pick up my sweet boy from school. and, really, i'd rather boast about the positive changes we see than dwell on the little things that still need improvement. 

all in all, we are thrilled to see evidence that therapy is working!

 

 

 

photos of occupational therapy at STAR center

my last post described harrison's therapy sessions. fortunately, harrison allowed me to take the camera along and snap some photos during our play time last thursday so you can get a visual of the things i was describing. the above photo shows you what the main gym space looks like. juliana is standing in the doorway, toward the back of the room. behind her are the "light room" and "rainbow room". behind ME are other rooms as well - the "messy room" and the "little gym". (i described some of these rooms in THIS post). STAR has quite a bit of space to play!

this is the zip line. you can see the wooden fort/tower off to the right of the frame. the ball pit is in the foreground. obviously, one of the therapists or kiddos came up with an idea to attach an inner tube to the zip line! harrison has never tried it with an inner tube attached. looks fun!

here's the monkey bars set-up. you can see the yellow rope tied to each end and the inner tube attached to the bar contraption at the top. this is one of harrison's favorite activities. he sits in the inner tube and pulls himself from one side to the other. last thursday we added a game to this - pop up pirate. we put the swords at one end of the monkey bars and the pirate at the other end. harrison had to barter with juliana and me to purchase swords (i got high-fives and hugs, juliana got pretend money). he then hauled the swords to the other end and placed them into the game to see if the pirate would pop up.

here's the rock climbing wall, which wraps around the corner and has hand/foot holds (grips? what do they call those things?) for climbing that wall, too. you can also see all the large exercise balls in this photo. harrison hasn't chosen to do any activities with those just yet.

here he is getting ready to place pictures of the activities he has chosen for the day onto the cover of the plan book (they adhere with velcro). you can see juliana on the right, turning on the ipod, and getting ready to place it inside the jet pack.

a good shot of the jet pack and headphones. the white headband just helps to keep the headphones in place during all the activities. play time can get rough/high impact at STAR center! :-)

the following are a progression of photos of one of the activities harrison chose - a bouncy swing! blast off...bounce onto pillow...up again...bounce onto mat...up again...boing, boing, boing!

occupational therapy is so stinkin fun!!  

occupational therapy - what it looks like

each of harrison's OT sessions is just a bit unique but they all have the same format.

we arrive at STAR, sit in the waiting area for a few minutes until juliana comes to fetch us. she helps harrison put on his "jet pack" and headphones. the "jet pack" is a cool, boy-friendly term to describe a backpack. inside the backpack is a well-protected ipod which feeds music to the headphones that harrison wears while we play. this is called listening therapy. you can read more about it HERE and HERE. my understanding of it is that the music harrison listens to - mostly classical and some chant - has been engineered to highlight different tones. the different tones in the music - low, mid and high - affect the brain differently and help to create new pathways in the brain.

as i've stated before, i may be making all that up. so research it yourself! :-)

once his jet pack is in place we enter the gym. juliana has a plan book which holds a photo of every piece of equipment/game/fun thing to do at STAR center. harrison looks through the book, chooses 4-5 items and places them in the order he'd like to do them. he leads everything we do. he rates everything we do. if an activity is getting boring, we move on to the next activity. it's 100% fun, exciting, and interesting to harrison! 

we spend the next 50 minutes or so doing the activities harrison chose for that day. here is a brief description of some of his faves:

zip line - climb up a wooden tower (looks like a fort), zip down and drop into a ball pit. this can be adapted further by adding stuffed animals to the ball pit. he has to search for them. or he may have to carry them up the fort and figure out how to carry them back down the zip line without using his hands (holding them with his knees, stuff inside his shirt, etc). it has also been adapted by having him drop into a barrel instead of the pit...or knocking over a tower of foam blocks while zipping down...or raising his knees up so he doesn't knock over the foam blocks (adding more of an obstacle course aspect to the zip line).

swings - they have every kind of swing i've ever seen and more. i really need to take pictures. on his very first therapy session he chose a swing but also added in another activity - nerf guns. he had to aim and shoot at different things while swinging (tricky!). he's done spinning swings, rocket blaster swings, bucking bronco swings, a hot dog-looking type swing, trapeze swings, swings that are covered with a blanket so he can't see out. he pretended it was a boat and he traveled all over the world, stopping and starting frequently, to collect food for his passengers...tons of swinging action.

scooter board - basically this is a wooden board on wheels. they have a ramp to race down. he can crash into foam block towers, he can crash into soft pillows, he can race down feet first or head first, on his knees, on his tummy...STAR has a "stop" sign and "go" sign so he has to interact/talk with juliana and me while scooter-boarding.

rock climbing wall - he can simply climb or this can be made harder by climbing while carrying a little animal friend that, then, has to be placed at the top of the rock wall. or he has to climb up and rescue his animal friends.

hammocks - we attach little stuffed animals to the tippy-tops of the hammocks (that are tethered to the ceiling or high up on the walls) and he has to rescue them. one time we turned out the lights and he had to carry a flashlight to find, and rescue the animals. can you imagine how hard it would be to balance on a hammock, climb it, and manage to free at least one hand to unclip a stuffed animal? think about that for a second. it's hard work!

monkey bars - STAR has a set-up that includes monkey bars but it also has a bar contraption that allows the kids to use their body to "scoot" across the monkey bars. they sort of have to use their legs to swing out and get momentum to move the bar forward. hard to explain. harrison likes to do that, but his very favorite is when juliana attaches a large inner tube (like the kind for floating on a river) to the bar and she knots a rope at both ends so harrison has to use the rope to pull himself, hand over hand, from one side of the monkey bars to the other. he also pretends it is a fishing boat and he uses a magnetic fishing pole to catch paper fish from the ground below.

i believe that is most of the stuff he's done so far. juliana comes up with awesome ideas for making each activity new and exciting and interactive and fun.

so, in a nutshell, our sessions look like: arrive, put on jet pack, make a plan, play, go home. repeat.

it's kinda every kid's dream, isn't it?

an hour of receiving undivided attention that includes super fun play time and awesome activities?

occupational therapy: it's a good thing.



*edited to add that i've submitted a very slightly adapted version of this post to the spd blogger network. if you are in need of support because you are also on a journey of raising a child with sensory issues, i highly recommend you check out their blog. you are not alone!