Hey everyone!
Sorry I’ve been quiet and not blogging more than once a week; it’s hard to find time to write with the kids home 24/7. We just finished up week four of staying home and it wasn’t that bad.
The kids are adjusted pretty well and are doing a great job on rationing their snacks lol. I guess I should thank the lock on the pantry. It was AJ’s “spring break” so I did not push any schoolwork and just rested.
You would think that every week would be a rest week but nope! I love saving gas, but I feel tired keeping the kids alive with no break. I’m sure I am not alone, and I am not one to pretend that I have everything under control.
AJ enjoyed his week with no schooling, but Lucina struggled. She was easily bored and would do things to get a response out of me. I mean, she’s two, so it’s normal. Toddler mindset is if mom isn’t paying me 1-1 attention, I will get her attention by being mischievous. I don’t lose my cool all the time but there are times where I may be too stern. I am working on that.
Over time I have learned that kids (people really) act a certain way for a reason. It’s my job to find that reason and address it. If you don’t know, I love psychology and everything on why people act the way they do. I am a people reader and actually have an associate degree in psychology. I didn’t go any further than that once I had AJ just because of the length of schooling it would require. I did however get my bachelor’s degree in health care administration.
Anyway, long story short, I knew she was acting out because she was craving that attention, purpose and outlet to express herself. She is taking the social distancing the hardest.
With that in mind, I made it a point to sit down 1-1 with her. Today we spent our morning working on her school projects. She did three paintings and a craft and loved every minute of it. If I would move the paint she would say “mom, mo” mo = more. Her speech is also coming along so well!
AJ didn’t work on his schoolwork, but he did have in home speech and two online occupational therapy appointments (online therapy is also called teletherapy). He did amazing! I put on our Facebook Page some of the work he did. We worked on scissor and fine motor skills.
If you have a child who is in therapy, just know that I understand teletherapy and therapy in general can be a lot to handle, let alone doing it on your own during this stay at home order. Just take it a day at a time and try your best. We are parents first; don’t stress over it and reach out to your childs therapist for guidance.
I am lucky enough to have been in the “therapy world” long enough to know what works for AJ and how to approach behaviors and tasks. I must give props to his team of therapist who put up with me and my involvement. His old behavioral therapist Ms. A would joke that I came in hot with specific questions when we moved here. I am for sure that mom who researches and makes it known that my eyes will be watching lol. She isn’t his therapist anymore, but we keep in touch. I always say that she is AJ’s “person.” My Grey’s Anatomy people know what I mean by that.
Speaking of therapy, we have a lot of changes coming up in our future.
AJ has always had a busy therapy schedule. There isn’t much rest on our plate but that is going to change soon. Due to reasons out of my control, AJ will no longer be in ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis). This is the type of therapy that many individuals on the spectrum utilize in order to learn methods for life skills, communication, social skills, and so on.
Disclaimer: that isn’t the legitimate definition so please look into it if it is something that intrigues you. Like with any therapy, sometimes it’s a good fit for one family but not for another and that is okay. For us it has worked wonders.
AJ has been in ABA since he was two years old, so this is kind of scary for us. I did reach out to a new facility about four times, but they never got back to me. I am taking this as a time to try out less therapy and more school. Right now, I pull AJ out of school early two days a week. Next school year I will only be pulling him out once a week. The hope is that the school structure will be enough for him.
The other therapy that I am stopping is physical therapy. AJ has been in physical therapy since he was three years old. They help him with his coordination, core strength, hand eye coordination and so on. He loves physical therapy, but he has made enough progress to where it’s not a necessity. It breaks my heart but I rather him be in school and have more days to come home and relax. Before lock down, we would be getting home at 5:30pm and honestly, this mom just needs to slow things down.
The two therapies that we are keeping are occupational and speech therapy. To me, those are long-term therapies for AJ since most of his challenges are in those areas. I would say ABA as well, but that’s just not happening right now.
Don’t worry though! I am not taking away therapies and letting him sit in vain.
AJ has always been on the larger size and the doctors want me to work on that now that he is growing up and becoming stronger. The fear many families face is that when their child grows up, they become stronger and hurts their caregiver/parent during self-injurious behaviors. Though unintentional, that’s just the reality.
My plan in place for this summer and “working out” is swim lessons.
AJ was in swim lessons last year, but we had to stop because we were so busy, and he got sick at the end of the year. I made arrangements with his instructor to get him (and Lucina) back in swim to refresh their survival skills and hopefully add actual swimming techniques. I may have cut his physical therapy, but swimming is such a great workout and life skill I want him (and Lucina) to have.
So much change is already taking place in our lives and it’s only going to continue into the next school year. There will be shifts in our schedules when things open back up, a change in our family dynamic we will have to figure out and our first summer without that ABA structure. Free time can be fun but also challenging for a kid who thrives on structure.
I will be taking my own advice and handling it all one day at a time!
Here is to health, happiness and new adventures with all this change coming our way. I hope everyone has a blessed Easter with their loved ones and stay safe my friends!
Until next blog ❤
RAISING OPPOSITES 