Sensory Overload

Warning*** This post might cause some backlash. I apologize if that happens, but what I have to say needs to be said.

Last night, there was a set of parents that did something I wholeheartedly disagree with. We were in a public place where there were a hundred + adults and probably 20ish kiddos. There was a LOT of stimulation going on. There was a little boy who was about 1 ½ years old. The little guy was clearly suffering from sensory overload. He was crying his little heart out, to the point of almost vomiting.  All the parents needed to do was to pick him up and reassure him, love him. Instead what I saw was the mom laughing at him while he was crying, saying he was just a “cry baby.” Then, she decided it was a better plan to spank this little 1 ½ year old for having sensory overload. She spanked him several times. Not hard, mind you, but still, it was WRONG to spank him. I was so mad, but I didn’t say anything to her because obviously I am not the parent of said child. She then alternated between spanking and sitting the child in timeout for 5+ minutes at a time! HE IS 1 ½ FOR GOD’S SAKE!!!!!!! Following the normal protocol for timeout (assuming the child is old enough to know what is being done!), the most he should have been in timeout is 1 ½ to 2 minutes. If she would have put down her damn phone for two minutes and focused on him, he would have calmed down fairly quickly. He just needed held and reassured. In a public place, it is so easy for kiddos to get sensory overload, especially with loud noises and a lot of people. Heck, my 12 yo gets sensory overload, so I can only imagine how bad it is for the little guy.

What are your thoughts? How would you have handled the situation? 

School

How does your special needs child do in school? I am asking about academically, behaviorally, and socially.

Academically, Austin is doing fabulous! All  A's and 1 B. I am very proud of him, and how hard he is trying. He really does try hard in his classes!

Behaviorally? ABSOLUTELY HORRID! We are having, on average, 2-3+ major meltdowns per week at school. By "major" I am talking about the behaviors that require us to go pick him up from school. Now, if he is able to calm himself down, they don't call us. They allow him to continue his day. However, the behavior that require us to come get him? I am talking about desk throwing, chair throwing, spitting, having to be restrained behaviors. We have full faith in the school and their ability to restrain him properly. Some of the restrain is a simple "hug" type of restraint, just to calm him. This happened the other day. Austin was sitting in a chair, throwing things, and the assistant principal came up behind him, kneeled, and just enveloped Austin in a "hug." Worked like a charm! Of course, this was a mild behavior. Two weeks ago was horrible, and the worst one at school yet. In his rage, he threw, and broke, the overhead projector....sigh.... Yes, folks, I said overhead projector!   He ended up with a one day suspension, which we were totally on board with, because he caused destruction to school property. He needs to know that there are consequences to his actions. For this action, he got the suspension, but also got a loss of privileges at home. We did a short term loss of privileges, though, because he isn't able to comprehend a long term one. We need to keep it simple for him, so that he is better able to understand that there are consequences, and that the consequences don't make him fly off the handle.

Socially? Austin knows other kids, and interacts with them at school some, but his behaviors make it very difficult to really form a friendship :( He wants friends, just isn't capable of maintaining friends.

How is your child(ren) doing?

Until next time,

Potty Training

How old was your child(ren) when you finally got them potty trained? Are they even potty trained as of yet? I feel that special needs children are definitely harder to train. My son was nearly 5 years old before he was trained. When I say "trained" what I really mean is not using the bathroom in his underwear. While Austin is trained in that aspect, he still is unable to wipe his own bottom consistently. Don't get me wrong, he tries. He just isn't able to effectively get himself clean. Although, when he tries, nine times out of ten it ends up with a clogged toilet or a drowned floor. There have been times that he flushed and my bathroom ended up flooded with toilet water and poop! That was a lovely treat to clean up...lol. Definitely gives new meaning to the saying from Family Guy (possibly?) "All hands on the poop deck!"

With my oldest son, he literally woke up one morning the week before he turned three and said "I'm a big boy now, I don't need any pull-ups." Seriously, that was it. He was day and night trained in that one moment. Never had an accident, either!

What methods do you use to toilet train? We tied everything with Austin. We tried treats, encouragement, etc. Nothing in the whole wide world worked. We even tried those flushable styrofome things that he could aim at. Nothing. Cheerios and Froot Loops to aim at? Nothing. Now, don't get me wrong, those things probably work wonders for some, just not in our case. The one thing that I said I would never do is what I ended up resorting to...and it worked! After the umpteen hundred and fiftieth time of him pooping his pants, I finally got so frustrated and I caved and made him wash out his own underwear. Disgusting. Gross. Nasty. BUT IT WORKED!  After making him do this only 2 times, he finally got it, and was finally trained. It sounds gross, and it is, but there is definitely something to it! It must be the aversion (naturally!) to having to deal with poop. Whatever it was, it worked! Now, that is not to say we didn't have accidents, and it did take him longer to be night trained, simply due to medications and his thirst that went along with. But I was so relieved to not have to deal with him peeing his pants all day long!

What methods did you/ are you use/using?

Until next time,

Blood and spit and biting....oh my!

So, because Austin is on Lithium we have to do blood draws every six months to check the level of Lithium. This makes sure he is getting enough to be therapeutic, but not too much. Let me just say that these blood draws? PURE HELL!!!! It usually takes my husband, myself and several techs to hold Austin down to do the blood draw. This is with hubby taking the top half, me laying on the legs, one tech holding his arm still, another tech holding the vials and another tech actually sticking him. It is horrid! I am sure we are not alone in this, are we?

Unfortunately, since he has grown to Jolly Green Giant proportions this summer, we had to do a blood draw to make sure he still has enough meds in him. This was an impossible feat! Even with 4 techs and me and hubby? He still managed to spit at one tech and tried to bite another, while kicking the snot out of me. We all, collectively, were unable to contain him. I swear he has the strength of the Incredible Hulk! Needless to say, we did not get the blood draw done.

This morning, hubby called his psychiatrist and explained what happened. We told her that we either need some sedation or he would not be getting a blood draw any time soon. Well, she called in Xanax. She gave us two pills. One is for a trial run, to see how he reacts to it. She didn't want us to go in thinking he would be able to be contained, then BAM! She is awesome :)  I hate that we have to sedate for this, but for everyone's safety it is best.

How do you handle blood draws? Are you one of the lucky ones, who's children sit calmly? Or are you like us and it takes a million people and /or sedation to make it happen? I am curious to know!

Until Next Time,

Attachments

Do your children, either "typical" or special needs, have attachments to an object? This could be anything from a toy to an article of clothing to a Binky to a blankie. Austin, my special needs child, has zero attachments to any one object. Dustin, my "typical" child, had an attachment to his "B" or Binky, as everyone else knows it. He was 3 1/2 when he was "broken" from this attachment.  He was going to my dad's house one weekend and my dad had jokingly told Dustin he was going to take  his "B" from him and put it away. Dustin brought me his "B" all serious-like and said "Mommy, will you keep my "B" until I get home so Papaw won't get it?" I thought that it would surely be a disaster, as he was attached to this thing. I thought my dad would be calling me to bring one to him..lol. But sure enough, Dustin did just fine without it and when he came home on Sunday he came to me and asked for it back. I looked at him and told  him "You are a big boy now, you don't need a B." He just looked at me, then said "ok" and went to play. It was that simple. Now, I know that reality is that it isn't that easy. I was lucky that Dustin was and still is, an easy going child. For some kiddos, special needs or not, breaking them from an attachment can be a nightmare. Not just for the kiddos, but for the parents, too.

I read an article a couple of years ago about a mother who wanted to break her daughter from the Binky. The daughter was having no part of it, though. So the mother came up with a brilliant idea. She got some flower pots and soil. Then her and her daughter filled the pots with the soil and "planted" the Binkies. In the morning when the daughter got up, suckers had "grown" in place of the Binkies.

 Now, for a typical parent, we would either need  a LOT of flower pots, or we would need to plant more than one Binky in each. Any parent of a child who uses a Binky knows that there are at least a thousand of them in the house, car, purse, diaper bag, etc, at any given time. If we planted just one Binky in a flower pot, we would have to buy an entire warehouse of suckers...lol!!

You don't even have to use suckers as the reward. You can choose anything you want. If your child likes Hot Wheels cars, that is a great option. I know my boys like them, they have around 5,000 or so between them! Just use what works for you and your child.

There are other methods out there, I know. One method is just taking it away cold turkey. Me? I am not that strong to do that. I would cave. Definitely cave. I am a sap, and I am not ashamed to admit it..lol.

What are your methods? I would love to hear from you! Leave your methods in the comments and I will dedicate a post to all of the different methods I get :)

Weighted Products

Does your child use weighted products? There are so many to choose from anymore, from a simple lap pad to stuffed animals, to clothes. My son has a weighted blanket that he uses at night to help him sleep. His blanket weighs 8 pounds, and is currently too light. You would think that an 8 pound blanket would be very heavy, maybe too heavy? To correctly calculate the weight of the blanket, you  need to take ten percent of the child's body weight, then add 1 pound. For instance, Austin weighs in at 178 pounds (we have our very own Sasquatch...he had a MAJOR growth spurt this summer..lol.). Ten percent of his body weight would be 17.8 pounds, which we would round up to 18. You would then add 1 pound onto that, giving you an end result of 19 pounds. Again, you would think that a blanket that heavy would be like a ton of bricks on someone. I guarantee you, it is not. I have used Austin's blanket, and while it is definitely heavier than an average blanket, it isn't too heavy because it spreads that weight out over the body, rather than just having it in one centralized area.

The weight actually makes someone feel grounded, and it almost serves to feel like they were being hugged. A lot of times kiddos with sensory processing disorder feel almost floaty. In the classroom, smaller items can help kiddos focus and sit still (at least as still as a child can..lol.). The stuffed animals are actually long ones, like stuffed snakes, that a child would wear around his/her neck. They also have weighted vests that a child can wear, as well as sweatshirts. They also have small lap pads that a child would drape on their lap to provide the weight needed. My son's school sent home a permission slip so that he can use these items in class, and they are even providing them for him :)

The price of these items can be somewhat high, but the benefit really does outweigh (pun intended..haha!) the expense. A blanket can run you around $190, while a lap pad is around $60. A weighted hoodie can be as high as $150, depending on where you get it while the weighted animals can be around $30 each.  If you google the term "weighted blanket" you will come up with a plethora of places to purchase these items. If you are really crafty, you can make most of them. Me? I aspire to be crafty. Unfortunately, that isn't going to get me a blanket..lol.

Until next time,

About Me

My name is Majenica. I am 36 years old. I have been married for 18 years and have two children. Dustin is 14 years old, and he is my "typical" child. Austin is 12 years old and has the following diagnosis: Autism Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, Speech Delay and Fine Motor Delay. He also seems to have some Pica issues that haven't been officially diagnosed. He eats and chews on EVERYTHING! He will even reduce an aluminum can down to just a scrap of metal! He definitely takes us on a wild ride, and because of him, we have learned patience and understanding :) I hope you enjoy the blog!

Until next time,