Pour yourself a cup of tea; this might take a few minutes.
My little guy, Nicholas will be five on Monday. He's a really immature little guy (which I'm fine with). He's impulsive, he doesn't connect actions with consequences, he's extremely mercurial in his moods and reactions. He's a bright little guy--he has a great vocabulary, awesome imagination, is very musical, and is really good with spatial things. He also has a slight speech articulation problem, and qualified for services with the IU. He's since "graduated" from early intervention, but still can be difficult to understand at times, especially when he really gets going and talks quickly. This gets hairy with the whole advanced vocabulary thing--people just can't decode when he's talking about something unexpected, like "Into the Woods".
He comes by his small motor issues honestly. My husband has dyspraxia, which is a motor planning disorder. My nine-year-old Michael never did end up with a diagnosis, but also had a significant motor skill delay. Frankly, I think he is dyspraxic as well. He was in OT when he was enrolled in school, and subsequently discharged, but still has spatial planning issues (with math, he'll do one problem literally right on top of the other and never notice). We muddle through though, and he's fine. He's actually taking cello and doing great, and that's definitely a challenge to his motor skills. I try to give him opportunities to strengthen his motor skills--for example, I enrolled him in a yummy cake decorating class two summers ago--but I don't go out of my way to do OT at home, because it really frustrates him. Some of you may recall that when I first started homeschooling Michael, we were pretty strictly Waldorf, and all that knitting and form drawing made him so annoyed and angry that I ended up putting him in public school for two years.
Anyway, back to Nicholas. He is having small motor issues as well, and the doc thinks I should get him evaluated. It's not covered by insurance, and I'm not sure if it would be worthwhile to pay OOP or not. I have graduate level work in early childhood ed, and obviously, he's behind. He can't write his name, can't copy shapes, and can draw only a very rudimentary face. He wants to "do kindergarten" but it's hard since he can't really do any coloring, writing, etc.
I do try to give him lots of playdough, small manipulatives, opportunities to color and work with beeswax, etc. I'm afraid to do fingerknitting because it was such a negative experience with Michael.
I guess I'm just wondering what to do. Are their books or sites for doing OT at home? Should I just suck it up and pay for an evaluation and possibly occupational therapy? Just ride it out and see what happens?
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14 years ago
3 comments:
Happened to come across this post. I would recommend that you get your child evaluated through your school district. You would not have to pay out of pocket then if your insurance did not cover it. Each state is different,but even if your child is home schooled, he can be evaluated by the school district. The OT and possibly PT can determine some of the potential causes for his difficulties i.e. sensory processing, decreased muscle strength, coordination deficits, visual deificts, etc. The evaluation will give you a starting point. Then the OT or PT can teach you activities to do with your son at home. Based on experience and research, the earlier you intervene the better. It is much easier to break habits before they start. Good luck.
M Rice PT www.YourTherapySource.com
Look at the Out of Sync Child books by Carol Stock Kranowitz and Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka.
The problem with having your school district do the evaluations is that your child is labeled for life.
So many people have recommended the Out-of-Sync Child books both for Michael and now for Nicholas. I'm going to get them as soon as possible.
The spirited child book is like my second Bible around here.
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