I've hit a wall with Chance about his occuptaional therapy. We've been doing rhythmic movement therapy (Primitive Reflex Integration) since last October. (Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long.) But just in the last couple of months, my son is giving me total attitude about it. There is a lot of whining and fighting it and not doing it correctly, trying to push my buttons while doing it, etc. So I decided to let him have a break for a couple of weeks. It is summer after all and I think he's just fighting anything that is beyond relaxation. Poor overworked child. *utter sarcasm*
I wasn't convinced yet that this new therapy was doing much. It was giving him some more coordination, but it's also supposed to give a kid more impulse control and I wasn't seeing that yet. But by the end of the two week break… he was losing control of his body! I mean, a lot more unconscious flailing of his arms; throwing his body around without realizing it, stuff like that. I was like, Wow! OK, I guess this IS helping. It's subtle, but for long-term control I think it's good for him.
So we started up again. And he went right back to giving me crap about it. I keep trying to make it fun but it's hard to keep it fun when you're getting mad. I'm frustrated. On top of that every time I try to give this one goldfish medicine another goldfish dies. Non sequitur, I know, except I kind of feel like the goldfish are a giant fucking metaphor!
I think I'm also running out of creative ideas TO make it fun. I mean, I've been basically doing one form of therapy or other with him, almost every day, since he was 3 1/2. I know therapy works; he's just being a total twirp.
This week I started incorporating music with our rhythmic movement. Hopefully music will tame the savage beast and blah blah blah. I wonder if I should bribe him? I haven't tried that yet. (I try to save the bribery for special events, you understand but maybe we're at that point.)
But… if anyone has any other ideas I'd love to hear them.
– the weirdgirl
You realize, of course, that you’re destroying Chance’s opportunity later to accuse you of not caring about him, right? Or maybe he can still say you didn’t care enough about his skill to flail around erratically. Whew! Thank goodness there’s always another angle.
“…I kind of feel like the goldfish are a giant fucking metaphor!”
That’s ingenious!
Tried to comment when I was on the road, but it wouldn’t work.
You know I’ve been dealing with my now 7 year old daughter with sensory integration issues. But it’s so strange…she’s both so coordinated and clumsy.
She is an amazing gymnast and dancer. So much grace. But she spills stuff and trips over stuff all the time.
Last Sunday, she fell in the shower and knocked a tooth out (thank God it was a baby tooth). Maybe she has issues with depth perception within close proximity???