Although not even four years old, Roger has spent over 2 years in various therapies. While in early intervention, there were always high and low points in a cycle…like a repetitious bell curve. The low points always seemed to last longer than the high points. Of course, that is probably not true. When there are constant meltdowns involved, time tends to move slower than during times of giggles and joy.
Since beginning preschool (and even the move to Texas), the curve has not seemed as dramatic as the bell curve. There have been times of sadness and bad moods, but not really times of screaming and crying during therapies. As noted in yesterday’s blog, Roger did not fare well in play therapy and he has a new occupational therapist. Although Monday’s OT session was more tense than it had previously been with his other therapist, there were no huge meltdown moments. There were some NO’s here and there, but that was all. Tuesday’s play therapy did have a 15-20 minute freeze time where all playing ceased and Roger kept whining and/or yelling. Well, today was his second session with his new occupational therapist and it was as tense as the first session. The therapist just as abrasive; she does not smile or seem in the least bit happy. It is strange that there are people who choose to work in pediatric fields that do not seem warm towards children. This lady is one of them. She seems like a good therapist for an adult or a child older than toddler age. His therapy session put him in complete meltdown mode by the time he had speech therapy. Unlike his occupational therapist, his speech therapist is very sweet with Roger and very jovial. However, two-thirds of the therapy was spent with Roger yelling that he did not want to play and he did not want to go to Grapevine again (that is where therapy is and what we call going to therapy); he wanted to home time. I felt bad that she received the brunt of his anger/despair/frustration.
I am feeling the occupational therapist is not a good fit for Roger. She wants to begin working on food therapy next week. He hardly wants to do tasks he enjoys with her. I think adding food to the mix is a bad choice and could only backfire into retreating from food even more. How long should one wait to see if a connection grows? How much time should I give before requesting a new therapist or traveling much further to where his old therapist is now located?
Despite the therapy woes, today was not an overall bad day. We had Roger’s Extended School Year ARD which went extremely well. Also, post-therapy, Roger and I enjoyed our neighborhood playground.
This little man is so amazing that it hurts my heart to see him so upset with a therapist who seems only goal-oriented and not well-being oriented. It was quite a contrast to a phone call I later received from his school occupational therapist who said he is progressing so much since November. More importantly, she sounded so full of love and hope describing how much she enjoyed working with Roger and how much fun he they have in therapy. Although I could not see her face smile, I could hear her voice smile. That makes all the difference in the world.
Spinning Wheels 