Today was a big day at the clinic for Miss Emma. It was the first day that she had ALL facets of her treatment all throughout the day. She is a very tired little girl - but she did sooo well...
Her therapists are trying to teach her new coping techniques, so when she gets overwhelmed, or feels uncomfortable, instead of shying or backing away, to verbalise how she is feeling....
Today we also trialled our first tag team therapy session.. which seemed to work very well. Andy and I will alternate sessions and therapies so we both get equal exposure and teachings to everything. It is also a big learning curve for Andy because he has never been this involved in Emma's therapy sessions... and he is enjoying them...
He took Emma to food school today - his first session - and he was very pleased and excited in how she went. She tolerated the foods that were put in front of her - but is still displaying behaviour which shows she wants to get far away. But by the end of food school, Emma was smearing pudding (custard) all over her face, on her nails and her hands - definitely showing a big step in that area. I guess she is starting to feel secure in knowing that if she gets overwhelmed or over-loaded sensory-based, she has a towel there to wipe away the foodstuffs.
she is also enjoying the cleaning up game. Anyone who has been involved with any sort of SOS feeding program would know that most children enjoy this part as it involves throwing all food stuffs and items into the bin and saying good-bye..... in a way it is a relief for the child knowing that they are gone and wont be coming back.
The next part of the day we spent doing OT. Emma made ice-cream with fake snow, paint, water, smelly bath foam and corn flour - it started off ok but at the end she would not get her hands anywhere near it.... but she did start with her hands in the fake snow and then added more water to make a slushy mush..... (I felt it and it was a horrible texture... lol)...
Next we went into the gym. Emma spent awhile climbing up the tree house and then flew down the zip line into the big ball pit. The zip line helps her build confidence and also strengthen her core muscles. The ball pit is great for proprioception stimulation. Covering her body in plastic balls and making her swim around in them is a great stimulation for the body. She found eight animals swimming in the ball pit... she did very well...
We did have a major meltdown tonight with her - which is completely out of character and it was all over a small drop of coke falling onto her shirt. I think that with everything that is going on, she is reaching the end of her limits by the end of the day. But today was her first full-on day so new learning techniques will need to be applied because this is the way it is going to be for the next four weeks....
So off to bed.. its snowing outside... and off to the clinic again tomorrow for OT and food school, and parent update and reporting....
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