My boys get a lot of therapies during their school week at Campfield Early Learning & Development Center. They each have an Occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a personal assistant, and a special education teacher who oversees the class. Each of these people are there to make sure the boys make progress on their IEP Goals. Both boys have received various types of these therapies since their diagnoses at very young ages. In the beginning the therapists would come to our home and work with the boys 1:1 for about a half hour per week. Then when the boys turn 3 they age out of infants and toddlers (in some states known as birth to three) and begin preschool in a program specifically designed for autistic children. Now the boys still have their therapy sessions but they are partially included during the day in their classes as well as 1:1 with the therapists in their offices.Sam's personal favorite is Occupational Therapy because he gets to go to the 'Motor Room' which is filled with swings, slides, and a giant ball pit. Here Ms. Deb helps Sam learn to use his body to perform tasks most of us just instinctively figured out as we got older. But for the autistic individual this can be very hard. For instance, Sam was over the age of 4 before he learned to jump with both feet off the ground. For an entire year we had a small trampoline with a handle in our living room for him to practice jumping on. He would march on it whenever we prompted him to jump and then one day he just got it. Something in his brain put two and two together and since then he has been jumping non-stop.
I am not sure of Noah's favorite therapy but I would like to think given the photo above it is 'snuggle therapy'. Heaven knows it is my favorite. Wrapping Noah tightly in a blanket and squeezing him is one of the few ways he will tolerate being touched and seem to actually enjoy it. He is very classically autistic in his desire for strong touch as opposed to gentle caresses or touching. Noah can often be found squeezing himself between very tight spaces behind the couch or even between the mattress and the box spring when I change the sheets (YOUCH!). He loves spending time in tent-like structures or even under the sheets in my bed if I use my leg as a tent-holder-upper. He would gladly spend an hour under there just talking and giggling away to himself.
No matter the therapy or playtime, whatever you want to call it. I am just happy when my boys are happy and lucky for me, that is a lot of the time.
;-)
