After the stairs we went into the music room and found out that we were going to be alone for the day! The other little boy was out sick-and as much as I hate to admit it, I was really happy he wasn't there. Carson does so much better alone plus then it's like private therapy for him.
They sang their apples song and then told us we were going out to the playground for an obstacle course. We made our way outside and Carson 'ran' to the jungle gym. We have taken him to the playground several times over the summer so it is a familiar place for him. Patty started by having him climb the rock wall. She guided his hands and feet where to go but expected him to do all of the work. She climbed up behind him to make sure that he didn't fall. She then went over to the double slide with him and they raced to the bottom. Carson won, of course.
Amber joined us and we talked and watched as Jen and Patty worked with Carson walking along the edge of the playground. It is built up about a foot taller than the ground and holds pea gravel inside. They were using it as a balance beam. Carson did good until he came upon a wooly worm and decided that he didn't want to step on it. I've always thought that they were poisonous but the teachers all assured me they aren't and even play with them on the playground. Cha Cha tells me they are. I'm listening to Cha Cha. ;)
Patty then had Carson climbing the stairs up to the taller slides. Carson slid down and then decided to try to scale the side where there is a wall straight up with cut-outs to place your hands and feet so Jen and Patty both began to spot him on his ascent. I turned and realized that they were both running out of arm length and sprinted to the stairs made it to the landing just in time to hold Carson's hands and help steady him as he scrambled to the top. It was so affirming for him. We cheered and clapped as he slid down to the girls waiting below.
He then decided that it would be fun to turn around and climb up the slide-which of course is a big no-no per school rules but hey, this kid was on a roll. Patty and Jen were happy to help out, supporting his feet at times and his bottom at others as he really dug in and used his core and his hands to climb this really steep slide. It took a lot more out of Patty and Jen I think than Carson to be honest. When he made it to the top he slid down and climbed up again. I think he probably did this about 5 times total even after they took off his shoes and socks to get a better feel for gripping the slide and also for sensory in the gravel.
After his last decent they moved on to an obstacle course which ended up being him running in the gravel and not really wanting to find the 'hidden' apples. They decided that since the lesson plans for the day were totally shot already we might as well wing it the rest of the time that we had so back to the side wall for more 'balance beam'.
They walked him over to the swings and made a deal with him. He would be able to swing but only after he strung beads (had to get fine motor in there somewhere) so they strapped him into the adapted swing and away they went. Amber and I chatted about making homemade baby food and organic produce while we waited.
Carson wasn't happy when our time outside was over but it was time to go in for speech (and the kindergartners were coming out for recess soon). When we got into Amber's room LaQuita was waiting for us with a book - "The Three Bears" but it was really hard for Carson to focus, I think mostly because his head was still outside on the playground. With a lot of coaxing we were able to use hand-over-hand to sort items into three piles (large, medium, small) for each of the bears. Again this was something that he wasn't in the least bit interested in doing but it was on LaQuita's itinerary for the day so it was getting done.
"Let's Go Swimming" was the song of the day again. The only part that Carson really likes is when the little fish are sleeping on the rocks and he gets to lay down with me on the super dirty mats on the floor. After the song we moved him to a table and I watched as LaQuita and Amber worked with him on matching pairs again: you get milk from ______? Cows. You brush your teeth with _________? Toothbrush. Some of the things seemed to be easy for him but then there were some others that were a lot harder for him to do and Amber would have to really push him to place the card on the correct spot.
The next thing they did was really fun because it joined reading and fine motor together. LaQuita and Carson each had a recipe card for a certain type of cookie. There were cards face-down on the table and they had plastic spoons with suction cups on the backs and they would have to slap down the spoon onto the cards and try to get all the ingredients they needed for their cookie recipe.
Carson got all of his 'ingredients' and was able to make his peanut butter cookies. The funniest thing was how interested he was in the suction cup on the spoon. I guess he'd never seen one before. It was cute the way he would hold it and really study it.
Amber had a project for Carson when speech was done. She had his name spelled out on a long black piece of paper and she wanted him to outline his name with Elmer's Glue. He was actually really excited to do it too. It was messy and he needed help squeezing the glue out of the bottle but he got it done. Amber was really happy with him because it was the first craft project that she has planned for him that he was willing to do all by himself and not having us either coaxing or making him do it. I thing next week he will put another piece of paper over the glued one and do a rubbing but we'll see.
By then school was officially over. Jen had mentioned to me that she needed to talk to me about Carson's diet so Amber let Carson play on her computer while Jen and I figured out a list. She had gone to a feeding seminar and was wondering if his diet was affected by his SPD.
So I gave her a list of foods that he won't eat:
mac & cheese or anything with noodles in it (spaghetti etc)
tomatoes
mashed potatoes
nuts of any kind
cucumber
watermelon
raspberries
blueberries
chocolate
And a list of things he will eat:
tuna salad
hot dogs
chicken nuggets
pizza
sausage
bacon
pretzels
strawberries
pot roast
veggies in pot roast (potatoes, carrots, onions - all cooked but not mushy)
gold fish
Oreo cookies
cake
Of course, that's just the short list. She said that she is thinking that most of these items have to do with sensory issues. She is also wondering if maybe he can't smell because he seems to really like foods that are on the spicy side. She said that could be a combination of the SPD and lack of smell or just the SPD. I am going to make a longer list to give to her next week to see if there is a connection.
So it was almost a half an hour to make the list. In that amount of time Carson somehow managed to reprogram Amber's computer and had it on a speaking tutorial that made the computer sound like it was about to self-destruct. I hope they were able to fix it lol.
After that it was time to go. I hope that next week is as fun.
XX
No comments:
Post a Comment