Monday was our second day of school for Carson. As before I left work early, got Carson from my mom's house, ran home to let the dogs out and give Carson a quick snack and then we were out the door to school. His physical therapist asked that we get there a few minutes early so he could work on stairs with her since the music room is only available for them to use for a short amount of time.
When we got to the school Carson was so happy because there was a giant scissor lift in front of the school putting in new windows. The work crew had the entire front entrance to the school cautioned off so luckily we met Patty in the parking lot and she was able to get us in a side door to the school otherwise I have no idea how we would've gotten in.
The first task was the stairs, which for some reason he couldn't seem to get. He was very clumsy and actually skipped a couple of steps on the ways up and down. He was leaning very far forward and I honestly thought he was going to fall on his face because when Patty is beside him on the stairs she uses what she refers to as "noodle arms" meaning she basically gives him no support unless he absolutely needs it.
We then moved into the music room. Carson is in a class with one other little boy who only receives speech therapy but because he has to be with the teacher the entire time he is always in the room with us but Amber usually plays with him while Carson is getting PT and OT. For some reason Amber was in training along with all of the other preschool teachers and she hadn't found someone ahead of time to be with the other little boy (who is a handful even with Amber) and Patty was very upset that she and Jen had been left with him since he wasn't receiving any PT/OT services. Jen went around and found an aide to come in to work with him so they could focus on Carson.
Meanwhile they continued with the same theme as the week before: THE BEACH. They started with the "Waves at the Beach" song. I went and found a chair in the corner and sat down. Carson was into it for a minute but then became very concerned with where I was in the room. He kept running to me and after I would assure him I wasn't leaving, I would push him back to Jen and Patty. After a while it became very apparent that Carson just wasn't going to have it this week. He started screaming and crying-stiffening up his body trying to get away from them. He was so upset that he actually grabbed Jen's face like he does mine when he tries to hurt me and then reached back and pulled Patty's hair and ripped it out of her ponytail. I was so embarrassed. I have never seen him act like that towards his therapists before. Patty turned off the lights and then came over to me while Jen took him (still screaming and crying) over to the opposite side of the room and started rocking him and talking softly to him.
I can't tell you how many times I apologized to Patty. I was so completely mortified. She asked me if he was feeling OK because she was concerned that she had never seen him behave this way. I told her he had been fine but that he didn't have a nap in the car on the way to my house from my mom's like he had the week before and wondered if that was the factor that was making him act the way he was.
Deciding that Carson was probably done for the day Jen decided to 'warm him down' once he stopped crying. They laid him on his stomach and took a big therapy ball and began to press it onto him to give him the deep pressure he relies on with his sensory issues to calm down. Being ever determined he began to crawl towards me from across the room even as they were pressing this ball against him. He finally made it to the edge of the carpet and then jumped up and ran to me. And of course me being the mean person that I can be told him that he needed to finish and started to carry him back to Jen, in the process, passing the little boy and the aide that were in the room too. As soon as I took one step in her direction Carson tensed up his entire body and began to shake while making a face that I have seen him do in the past when he is afraid of something. Only then did it dawn on me. He was afraid of the aide that was in the room! I felt like I was an inch tall. I mean really I deserved the mother of the year award for that one. How did I not see that one?
I took Carson back over to Jen and rocked him and quietly told him that I was so sorry that I didn't know he was afraid of the aide. He then shook his body again as if to tell me "duh, you idiot that's what this (insert shaking) means!" After that he seemed to snap out of it. We got him to play with a tennis ball and Velcro target and kick a ball a few times. By the time he was really happy again it was time to go to speech. I hung back with Carson in my arms and again apologized to Jen and Patty for him not only hurting them but wasting an entire session because of the way he acted. They both assured me that it wasn't wasted, if anything we learned something new about Carson that we would have to take into account from now on. Not only is it strange men that he's afraid of, it's women now too.
LaQuita came out into the hall and asked if Carson was coming to class and I headed down there. On the way in I mouthed to her that he was afraid of the aide and LaQuita told her she could handle the other little boy and that she could leave. We sat down on the floor for a story. It was a book about a little girl finding animals in different areas of a farm. She would first see the backside of the animal and then guess what the animal was. LaQuita had modified the book by adding Velcro spots where you could attach animal pictures. She placed the pictures of the animals that were in the book on the floor and began to read. When it came to the first animal('s butt) she asked Carson what animal he thought it would be. He grabbed the cat and stuck it on the book right where it went!! She took turns with the two boys getting them to pick the correct picture and put it in. I was so proud of Carson. He got all of his right and I've never done that sort of thing with him before.
After the story we went to the table and played a game where you could pull leaves on sticks out of a bee hive and bees would come down the hive and tree trunk and land in front of you. (The object is to get the most bees - I have this game at home but we play with sticks and marbles) She worked with the boys one at a time. She would hand Carson a card with a picture on it : Lawn mower. Then ask do you rake leaves (lay down pic of raking leaves) or mow the grass (lay down grass pic) with a lawn mover? He would place the card on which he thought was correct. Guess what?? You mow the lawn! She did this several times with him. Does an egg come from a cow or a chicken? chicken. What about milk? cow. What do you use to write on paper? pencil. All things most of us just know and honestly I never really thought about needing to explain to Carson. I just assumed he knew it or maybe didn't really have the concept and that's just how it was going to be? I don't know exactly. But I'm happy that he is getting, absorbing all of that information into that little sponge brain of his.
Overall it was such a mixed-bag. Great speech day but terrible PT/OT day. Next week Amber is out too and there is someone scheduled to be in class with us that Carson knows from last year. I am crossing my fingers that we don't have another freak-out. But if we do I guess we know what the problem is and how to fix it and that I think is the most important thing to Carson.
No comments:
Post a Comment