Today was a weird day. Cade had OT at 12:00 today, and the social worker at STAR Center who specializes in social and emotional behavior sat in to observe. She will be working with us over the next couple of months. Cade came in like a raging bull...literally ran from one task to another without much rhyme or reason for the first 25 minutes of the session. He also didn't talk - which is very odd for him. He only made noises as he flew around the room. I can only guess that he was extremely overwhelmed.
During the last 15 minutes of the session today Cade got into the room full of vellum fabric pieces hanging from the ceiling. These are wonderful because they allow for climbing and pulling while also letting him wrap himself up in them (I'm thinking if I had them installed in my room I would be much more relaxed!). Here he worked with Julianna to develop an idea of what to do, which is one of his major struggles in social play. (This is a little long, so you might have to click play and let it upload in sections, then click play again to watch it completely through).
I met with the social worker this afternoon, where she was able to give me feedback on Cade. She again discussed how unregulated he truly is...I keep getting that from everyone here. She told me he is not even in the bell curve of being close to basic regulation...which basically means that he still needs constant help from adults to even soothe himself (think about it like an infant - we must comfort them because they cannot do it themselves, swing them, rock them, etc. This is the stage Cade is in right now in his sensory development). OK, so tough to hear. She continued to talk about what we can do to help him, which is basically get in that world of helping soothe him. That's about it right now...our job is to just get him regulated, and that must be done before any other strategies are going to really work.
OK, so not to bog you down with more technical details...I basically asked her where we were looking as far as getting the learned behaviors down for cause and effect and sensory regulation - she said he would hopefully have cause and effect down (meaning when he acts impulsivly there will be a consequence) within a year. A YEAR??!! I know this isn't a miracle fix...but we had no idea Cade was as sensory deficient as he truly is. And there's the kick in the gut...
Julianna met this afternoon with Dr. Lucy Miller, the founder of the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation and the STAR Center, to discuss Cade. That's just awesome!! I cannot wait to get feedback from this meeting...Dr. Miller is the heroine for those struggling with SPD and I know we can truly trust what she has to offer. The main reason we know we must be here...Cade is at his worst and we're in the best place.
OK, so I am sitting in traffic coming back from this meeting, reeling from all that was said and lamenting the dire situation that we are in...when I see these adorable little creatures running around in a parking lot. I pull over and get out of my car, with my cell phone of course to take pics...they are running around from one hole to the next and standing up on 2 feet looking at me. So I've never seen prairie dogs before and they are the cutest things I have ever seen. Of course I walk up closer to the holes so I can get a wonderful picture to show you here...and they fly down the holes. So I get closer -- one pops his head out of another hole and starts making this weird sound that I can only assume means, "She's at the top of your hole with her camera so stay down!!" I tried to aim my camera and wait, thinking they would surely pop back up again.
It was at this point that I wondered if prairie dogs bite. I don't have an answer, thankfully, but I also don't have a picture. You'll just have to take my word for it on how adorable they are. I have been told they are everywhere here, (and by the stares that I was getting from the natives in the parking lot that must be true!), so hopefully I'll have a picture soon to document the little creatures!
Sorry today's blog was details...it's hard not to get wrapped up in the "muck" of the situation here. Please continue to pray for successful progress here. A few other concerns have come up regarding Cade, and we feel that we might have a bigger row to hoe that we imagined. I'll keep you posted, of course, and you please keep praying!
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