We told Charlotte at the beginning of November that she only had to go to OT three more times and she was super excited. She had a lot of fun at OT but she said she was excited to be with her friends at Edgecumbe Montessori all day. While in OT she was showing up at school around 9:30 am once a week rather than her usual 7:30 a.m. where I think she liked being there before everyone but one kid rather than just being dropped in a full classroom in full swing. I think we all can relate and appreciate easing into things.
But the OT really helped her get control of her sensory issues and fears. At the end of October we were at Fireroast, Charlotte's favorite and my favorite coffee shop, eating outside when some two ton trucks rolled down 38th street on separate occasions and Charlotte didn't even notice.
And then at school, her teacher at Montessori did
But I think about all the kids I used to work with who would hold their speech together all day at school and then go home and stutter like crazy in front of mom and dad. Or all kids who behave in school and come home and throw temper tantrums. It's kind of like if I went to the beach and walked around shirtless, I would be trying like crazy to keep my belly sucked in. That's a lot of work over the course of the day. And when I got home, I would put on some pajama pants an old t-shirt and let my belly relax and go wherever it wants. Kids do the same thing. They have to perform at school and when they get home they just can't hold it all together anymore because it is so much work. That's why the OT was so important for Charlotte so she didn't have to work so hard to keep her sensory self together.
Before OT, she'd suppress her out-of-whack sensory system to try to act like all the other kids. Only it wasn't working as well as she hoped. Over the summer she had daily to weekly behaviors with other kids and her teachers. Pushing past kids. Refusing to transition or follow directions. Regular old three year old meltdowns, but way more than usual for her. The teachers held her accountable as they should and we did too. But... we never saw those behaviors at home. I think Charlotte was overstimulated at school with light and noise and tried to hide her outbursts (because no other kid was freaking out about noise), but the energy and anxiety was pent up and had to come come out, only it came out sideways. So she pushed kids, cried, yelled, refused to share.... like any other three year old at his or her worst, only the source was sensory based. In the end it doesn't matter, but I do find it telling that all of these behaviors went away as Charlotte got better and better at tuning out irrelevant environmental noises.
And part of all this is to give a shout out to all the PTs, OTs, and my fellow SLPs, and the select teachers who can see the child holistically and not just focus on the one thing they are paid to work on, be it learning walk, read, or improve language skills. Charlotte's PTs and OTs were able to connect the dots in ways that Charlotte's teachers at Edgecumbe, as great as they are, are not specifically trained to do.
Regarding Happy, her walking and talking coming along. She has this super funny way of walking where her arms are like noodles that just hang down and flop around while her legs and tummy do all the work. I am not sure if that is an issue or not and she is actually starting to use her upper body more. Her PT will come out soon to check up on her. But she is as happy as can be, climbing and walking and following Charlotte around or just doing her own thing.
Happy certainly has a mind with a heart of its own. Charlotte and she are similar in that they are both very aware of what they can and cannot do and will do the hard things only when they are good and ready. But they approach that line so differently. Charlotte approaches with trepidation and meditation and then reflection, and Happy is more straight up defiant. She knows exactly what the PT wants her to do and she just walks away from her as if to say, "Nope. Not going to do that. End of story" and acts like the PT doesn't exist. But then.... that night there is Happy all by herself practicing independently whatever activity or exercise it is the PT wanted her to do earlier in the day (usually it's squats of some kind). And at her age that's all we want, is for her to do the exercises. The defiance, well, that's a streak I'm proud to say both my girls have, even if it manifests itself differently. Charlotte is more of a "No thank you" about it all while Haps is more like "No and I don't care about you."
It's like my friend said about having two kids: one is pizza and the other is tacos. They're totally different and you love them both the same.
Along those lines, Happy's language development is interesting. She is finally willing to imitate and attempt sounds. She'd imitate every nonspeech sound you can think of and laugh and smile the whole time. But the second you did something as simple as an "m" for "more" she would just ignore that and do her own thing. But now she is feeling better at taking risks with her speech and has tried to say Charlotte's name in imitation few times as well as a slew of other easier words all the time. She probably has about ten words so a language boon should happen in about six months. If not, well someone else can speech therapize her because that's going to be my role. But she is finally interested in talking, just like her PT and special ed teacher told us: once she gets walking down she will be more interested in trying out speech.
So things are progressing. Charlotte is eager to take responsibility for her learning and digested every second of OT, and Haps is eager to take responsibility for herself and doing things on her terms.
Tacos and pizza. I love them both.
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