Occupational Therapy

Kimball had his first visit with an occupational therapist last week. It went great! Kimball is the one child I spend the most amount of time on my knees about! I feel like we are finally in the right place to get him help.
His OT is Roxanne. She is so nice. She got on the floor with him and talked to him at his level. That always marks the sign of a good doctor.
We had a two hour evaluation, as our first appointment. We were brought into a small room with a few toys. Here we talked about why Kimball was here and what we wanted to accomplish. Goals are a huge part of Occupational Therapy. I set three goals. The first one is Potty Training. We would like Kimball to be potty trained by the time he starts Kindergarten in the fall. The second one is Anger Management. Part of Kimball’s disorder is how he reacts to situations. Often he will lash out over very small things. This is also to be accomplished by Kindergarten. The third, to be able to function in different settings. As many of you know, Kimball does not do well in busy, loud or crazy social situations. Taking him to the store is a nightmare, birthday parties always end in a tantrum, and at church it takes everything to keep him for shutting down. We will work on this so Kindergarten will not be that hard for him.
While in the small room I also had to fill out a mass amount of questionnaires, starting back from being pregnant with him. Filling out those forms was a big eye opening experience. Kimball was showing signs of this disorder from the time of being a small baby. It was very therapeutic to me to learn this. After filling out the forms Roxanne was able to graph them and show me where Kimball needed the most help. He was very high on the chart. He is defiantly in need of help and she could help him! I just wanted to cry with joy!
After the small from we went to the “fun room” as Kimball called it. It was the Occupational Therapy room. This is the room with all the toys and equipment. It was a fantasy land for Kimball. He loved running up the ramp, jumping up to the swinging bar, swinging and then falling into the ball pit. He never wanted to stop that. There were tunnels, tricycles, swings, balls, and so many other things. She was able to do more test and visual evaluations of him here.
When our two hours came to a close, she said she would work with the insurance company to make sure he gets the help. She also gave us homework. We are going to focus on potty training first. We have to have a “pounding exercise” for him, like jumping on a mini trampoline. This helps strengthen him form the inside out. It also helps he learn sensation in his body. The second thing we have to do is keep a record of his “out put”. Every hour he is awake we have to chart if he is dry, wet or soiled. We also have to put down if he has tried to us the potty. This has been hard for me. It is hard to remember every hour to do his. At first Kimball fought us. He didn’t want us to see. We had to explain and talk and explain. After five days, he is now to the point he will tell us! All I have to do is say, “Kimball it is underwear check time!” He then will pull down his pants, show me his pull up and then tell me if he is dry or wet! This may seem small, but it wonderful progress! Two weeks ago he wouldn’t tell me that. I am also starting to see a pattern in his potty. This is good.
I really feel like this is a light at the end of the tunnel, a glimmer of hope. I feel like this is where he is suppose to be and that my fears about him going into Kindergarten will not be fears, but things we have accomplished.
We will be going to the OT once a week for a few months. I will post after each appointment and post each milestone we reach!