Therapeutic Listening

Auditory intervention is a relatively new theory in SPD. Therapeutic Listening (TL) is one form of auditory intervention that can be used as a part of a sensory diet. TL is considered a form of vestibular intervention as it works to activate the semicircular canals located in the ear which is where our vestibular system is housed. Our vestibular system is one of the more powerful of the sensory systems. When working properly, it tells our body where it is in relation to gravity, senses our body’s movement and enables us to move around our environment without running into obstacles, enables us to keep our balance, and works with the visual system to accurately target objects (and these are just some of the functions of this powerful system!) By activating the vestibular system using TL (in addition to other vestibular input), we can see improvements in balance, coordination, attention, visual perceptual skills, breathing patterns, muscle tone and even emotional tone.

A TL home program is created by someone certified (frequently an occupational therapist) in the program. A home program typically lasts 12 weeks, but is adjusted based on the individual’s needs. Each CD has been modified to elicit specific responses such as improved regulation (the body’s ability to control basic functions such as sleep/wake cycles, respiration, bowel/bladder, etc.), improved attention, improved emotional tone, a decrease in overall sensory defensiveness (including tactile sensitivity, auditory sensitivity and movement sensitivity). TL can be used for children or adults with a variety of difficulties including: autism/PDD, SPD, ADHD, learning disabilities, RAD, OCD, and many more. For more information on the Therapeutic Listening Program go to www.vitallinks.net.

Therapy Thursday Question

“So my son is 14 months old, but is a preemie, so his adjusted age is 12 months. Anyway, my big frustration is, he won’t drink from cups – only bottles, he thinks cups are toys. Then, the whole table food thing, he does eat it sometimes, but prefers baby food.

I feel like a failure as a mom because he doesn’t use a cup yet and is still learning to eat table food.

Oh and I feel like he can’t catch a break. Born a preemie, spent 69 days in the hospital, came home, got sick in march and ended up in the hospital for 14 hours with breathing issues, and we just found out that he’s allergic to dogs. They are suggesting that he get tested for allergies other than that, and there is a good possibility he will be asthmatic.

It’s not that I have an issue with it and I know it’s easily controllable and thing could be much worse, but as a mom, I don’t know, does it make sense that I feel like a failure? I mean, 14 months old and he’s been challenged. I know my friends all believe I have done a great job with him and that this is really nothing to worry about. I get that, but as a mom, it’s really hard. I hate seeing him deal with this stuff, ya know.

I keep telling myself that it will all be ok, it will all work out, but, I still feel disheartened. “

It is so very easy to believe every magazine article and every friend who tells us that our children must drink from a sippy cup after a bottle by the age of one. Every child develops each skill at their own level and it is important to respect the child and follow behind them at their pace and not your own.

A sippy cup is a cup with a lid to keep a child from spilling. Is it really an important developmental milestone??? NO! What is the goal? The goal is for your child to drink from an open cup. Therefore, introducing a sippy cup only gives them exposure to a cup. It doesn’t matter if they succeed by drinking from the lid or not. It is simply a convenience. Some speech therapists even remind us that extensive use of a sippy cup can actually cause speech errors and delays. Using a straw is actually better than a “spout” or sippy cup with a lid. Most of these cups have valves, which are very hard for a child to drink from. Taking the valve out is helpful, but also can be messy. Here are some simple suggestions to encourage, “sippy” cup drinking if it is important to you.
Tips for successfully introducing a sippy cup:

• If you are using a cup with a valve and your baby simply doesn’t seem to be able to suck hard enough to get a drink, then try removing the valve. Be on hand to guide your little one, though, as the liquid will flow a lot faster!
• If your baby is not interested, it may be that she or he doesn’t realize there’s actually something in the cup! Dip the spout into the liquid and let your baby have a taste – it might interest him/her.

• Demonstrate to your little one just how the cup is used. Make lots of appreciative sounds so that your baby really wants to taste the cup’s contents, too! Or ask an older brother or sister or little friend to show your baby how to use his cup – babies love to mimic others, so this may be just the incentive that he needs!

• Avoid giving your baby the cup when he’s particularly grumpy, or when he’s tired. If he’s very thirsty, he’ll find the cup frustrating and may become tearful. The best time to encourage your baby to use a cup is early in the morning, when he’s wide awake and cheerful!

• If your baby refuses one type of cup, then try another. You may need to try several styles before you find one that he likes. The best type of cup to start with is often one with a soft, rubbery spout, which will feel more like a nipple and therefore more familiar to your baby. A good, money-saving tip is to invest in a feeding set with interchangeable spouts. These sets usually contain bottles on to which you can attach either a sippy spout or a regular nipple. Handles are helpful, too

• Start with only ¼ of water or juice. Sometimes a child can not physically lift a cup because it is too heavy.

• Some parents encounter problems where their babies associate certain drinks with certain cups. So if you plan to give your baby breast milk or formula from the sippy cup, then you should put milk into the cup the first time that you give it to him. If you put in juice or water, then he may see the cup as being JUST for juice or water and could refuse to take milk from the same cup.

Introducing Foods

*When introducing new foods to a baby it is important to know that the child may need to see the food and have it offered to them 10-15 times consecutively until they will taste it.

*Start with soft foods that are bright in color and “inviting”.

*Watch your child attempt to eat the food. Are they “gumming the food”, “rotating the food around their mouth” or “chewing and swallowing”. Until a child is able to actually chew and swallow the food, they are not ready to be introduced to a large variety of “solid”. You can use a blender to change the consistency of the foods you want them to eat. If you are transitioning from baby food to “table” foods, toss the jar foods out. Making your own is best, because you can make it chuckier and monitor what your child needs.

*Watch to see if your child is adverse to certain textures. If they are gagging or vomiting, you may have a real concern. An occupational therapist will be able to help you more with this feeding issue.

*Weigh your child often when transitioning to “solid” foods. If your child is loosing weight, you may need advice from a pediatric dietician.

Remember that preemies need more time to gain strength and may need more exposure and repetition to learn a skill or be comfortable with a new routine. If your child was in the hospital or sick frequently, they may need more time. If our children do not learn a skill when we think they should, it does not mean they are behind or have failed. Each child develops on their own timeline and we need to be as patient as possible and be as positive as possible.

Incorporating Sensory Input into Daily Activities

A couple of weeks ago I got a sheet from our Occupational Therapist (who will be coming on board soon) about how to incorporate sensory input into your child’s daily activities. I think they’re great ideas so I wanted to share them with you.

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BATH TIME: Scrub with washcloth or bath brush, try a variety of soaps and lotions for bathing, play on the wall with shaving cream or bathing foam, rub body with lotion after bath time (deep massage), sprinkle powder onto body and brush or rub into skin. Read more

Therapy Thursday

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Therapy Thursday (Question/Answer)

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Don’t forget about Therapy Thursdays!

Join us for Therapy Thursdays

Hello everyone and welcome back! I am here to tell everyone that now on Thursdays we are going to have something called Therapy Thursdays. All you have to do is email me  with any questions or comments that you want either heard or answered and we will put them in a post with the advice from one of our therapists on Thursdays.

We are bringing two therapists on board to help with questions, comments, new ideas and so on. They are Little Miss’ Developmental Therapist, April (we will post her intro as soon as we can) and Little Miss’ Speech Therapist, Shireen (who has already posted her intro). Please give them a warm welcome and have your questions and/or comments in by Tuesday of each week so they have time to answer all of them.

From time to time they may also post links to new places for you to check out, new ideas on different therapy ideas, at home recipes for you to try with your youngins and so on. I can’t wait for our first Therapy Thursday which will start next week. So mark your calendars and submit your questions by Tuesday. See you all then!

Picture Schedules!

Sundays are always the worst at my house! When Little Miss is off her schedule/routine she looses it. So her Speech Therapist (I’ll call her ‘B’) gave me a great idea!

I told you all about how we took pics of all of her things that she plays with, eats and does throughout her day, right?! Well now we’re going to get some Velcro and put them on the fridge so that each morning when we get up we can go over to it and take off the breakfast one and say, ‘Ok Little Miss, breakfast is over. Let’s take off the breakfast picture and see what’s next.’ Then she will see that it’s playtime with her favorite toys. After that’s over and it’s time to go somewhere to run errands or eat lunch then she’ll get to go to the fridge and see what comes next. And when that’s done then she can take that one off and see what the next one is going to be; nap time, errands, etc. This is going to help her understand what happens next, feel like she is more in control or in the loop with what’s going on and help prepare her for the next event.

So now not only are the pictures I took good for giving her options and words but they’re also now going to help her with Sundays and feel like she is on a schedule/routine even though it’s different from the rest of the week. I highly recommend doing this with your kid(s)! I can’t wait to get started. I’ll keep you all posted on how it’s going! Thanks ‘B’ for all your help and advice so far!

Social story?

Yesterday at Little Man’s O.T. session, his therapist approached me about the idea of making him a “Social Story”. Of course, I had never heard of a social story, so she had to explain (a lot).

Here’s a good article about SOCIAL STORIES

Basically, a social story is a short, precise story that you write up for your child, depending on what their issues are. For example, with Little Man, one of his biggest issues is going out in public, especially out to eat. He hates the noise, the lights, the commotion, etc. It just overloads his poor little brain and he melts down. He almost always pinches and punches whoever is nearest to him (usually me) and screams and has tantrums the whole time — totally not pleasant.

So with the Social Story, she suggested I make a book to read to him right before going out in public, so I can reinforce the things he’s *supposed* to do. Like sitting still, not punching/pinching, eating his dinner nicely, etc. I’m having a VERY hard time with this. I’m usually very creative – I used to write children’s stories for my older boys all the time, but I’m not good with “Short” and “Precise“.

The one thing I do know I want to do is take pictures of Little Man out at a restaurant, sitting down, a picture of other people sitting nice, etc. The O.T. said this will help him reinforce the ideas in his brain….

So I’ll be working on it over the next couple days, and I hope it’ll be a success! I’ll post how it turned out, and the directions on how to make one, if anyone is interested.

Some suggestions from my O.T.

One of my little man’s MAIN triggers come from when we’re out in public. He hates noise, bright lights, extra. We’re almost always guaranteed a melt down when he goes anywhere in public, and it’s gotten to be pretty awful taking him out anywhere.

When I told his O.T. this last week, she had a good suggestion — putting a hat on him to block out the bright lights, as well as putting either headphones, ear plugs, or a pair of ear muffs on him to block out the sound. I heard this, and I had to chuckle. While it *is* a good idea (and I know this sounds lame), but I’m worried about the looks he’ll get from other parents and kids while we’re out in public while he’s dressed in his sensory blocking outfit! We get enough nasty looks as it is, when we’re out and he’s hitting or pinching me, and I just can’t stand anymore nasty looks.

So Stefanie had a good idea — a small Mp3 player that he can listen to! I think that’s a wonderful idea, and I’m going to go out today and look for some that are cheap enough and durable enough for him. He likes to listen to his big brother’s MP3 players, so I think he’d love to have one of his own.

AND, he can still wear a baseball cap in public without getting too many stares! I have noticed that when he gets overwhelmed, if he has his favorite Spongebob knit hat near him, he’ll put that hat on and pull it down as far as he can, so it almost covers his eyes and covers his ears, and he’ll go about playing with his toys. I guess that’s his way of blocking out the ’scary stuff’ around him.

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