Mouth's Appointment Results

For those of you that don't know our family, our eldest son, Mouth, has had some issues with some delays in development, I guess you could say. When he was screened for preschool in AZ, he was placed in special ed. due to a significant speech delay (he was tongue tied at birth), some motor delays and social delays. He is doing much better, but has had some large problems with tolerance to frustration and "behavioral issues". His school in AZ mentioned possible Aspberger's Syndrome, which is on the Autism Scale. So, when we moved up here, we took him to the BRAINS Institute and had him screened. We found out today, he does not appear to have Aspberger's, but instead has Dyspraxia, which is a Sensory Processing Disorder. Now, I don't know exactly what that means, as I have to further educate myself about it (thank God for the Internet), but from what I gathered at our meeting, he has problems telling his body what to do or how to do things. For instance, his room is a disaster (which it often is, and so was mine when I was a kid) and I tell him to clean it up. He starts to and then gets upset, stating "I can't." I used to get angry and say,"Well, if you made the mess then surely you can clean it up." Well, today, I found out he really can't. It's too much stimuli (visually and conceptually) for him to handle and he shuts down. I will need to go in and sit with him and say,"Okay, pick up the puzzles and put them in their boxes. Now stack the boxes on the shelf. Gather up these guys and put them in their box. Put the costumes in the tote" and so on. One or two step instructions are key. And praise and thumbs up are HUGELY important.

It's scary because I don't know a lot about it yet, but I know that with our diligence as parents, Hubby and I will be able to give Mouth the help and encouragement he's going to need.

Okay, on a lighter note, I am still working on those socks for my sister. I've turned the heel and have started shaping the gusset on the second of the pair and can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. Woo-hoo! Then I need to get crackin' on the dishcloths I promised Mom for Christmas. I just realized tonight that I have, like, a dozen skeins or so of various colored dishcloth yarn (100% cotton) in my stash. Holy shee-it. That's a lot of friggin' dishcloths.

And I hate doing dishes.