Horse riding and D2 Immersion Therapy

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My wonderful son, my no.1. In his own world under the water, with Immersion Therapy. The  company is called ‘Determined 2″ or “D2” for short. A place where the sounds are suspended and the only sound to focus on is the sound of your own heartbeat. Under the water. Excited to go and looks forward to it.

I believe. He likes to wear his wetsuit which is tight. A firm pressure sensation for his body. I’m relieved that we found it. A place where we can walk under water. Self confidence is getting better. Great to see. I am glad we found this organisation to  his sensory needs. It has been an. Effort to  start this routine. Hard on me. But I have wanted so much to help him find something that he loves to do. That is his. Something he can relate to and be proud. (Perhaps he just wants to get time off school!) It could turn into an occupational interest down the track.

I am happy. No. 2 Kiddo is finally able to participate in horse riding activities  through another organisation as he loves it. It seems to satisfy the stim that he has. Horseriding addresses the pressure that he needs when seated on a horse. I originally thought satisfying this stim this activity was not possible. It is possible. We have found a way to do it through exploring resources. Although 6 months later he wanted to swim more than ride a horse.

Both boys were riding horses last week. Honestly I think it is one of the best activities to do and learn. I am very pleased. It has been hard work researching to find these activities that are relevant to my children. I am so very pleased that they are doing them.

Horse riding and D2 Immersion Therapy

 

Clothes

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My dear son. He must wear the exact same clothes every single day, to “feel right”! He tells me all the time. He has to wear his clothes to bed. It is too stressful to go through the “sensory hell” of putting them on in the morning along with having to eat breakfast. He always has toast with tomato sauce or plain rice bran butter. Sometimes Nutrigrain. He has decided to try to eat a variety of foods in the last year of so. But now, some years later, he is quite a food explorer.

Clothes

Autism and the Dentist

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“No more iPads!”. Which is the mantra used in my house to get malleable children. “Oh noooo!”. The kids protest and reluctantly do as they do not want. Everything takes one million years.

I put my hand up for being the worst mother in the world. Feeling completely incompetent that I find it hard to argue with “the apple of my eye” about: he has to brush his teeth. I insist and check up and when we found out he needed to floss well. Then he did. Or I did.  Or his father did.

Trying to do the best I can. Trying to do all the things that need doing to feel “Sorta Super Mum-ish”.  Am I doing too much. I have had a cry because, I can’t fulfil the expectations of my own ego. I remember, my dear Dad, (who is no longer with us). Telling me to brush my teeth. He told me to look after my teeth.

I cry to my own Mother. Nanna to the boys! She points out that “it is not the end of the world”. It’s just a filling. Well, 8 actually!

The kids going to have a mouth full of metal. I’m sure of it.

We humored ourselves when when he had his first dental work that this was his pirate tooth, and he showed it off. We were all proud of his pirate tooth. If you have it then flaunt it right! I didn’t expect the trend to carry on. My husband pointed out there is far worse conditions so I must be thankful. I must be grateful even!  We have hopefully nipped it in the bud or the rather large holes in his molers to prevent the nerve becoming exposed.

“My Bundle of Joy” was really good with his dental work today. The dentist did allot of work. She had to numb his mouth with a needle and drill.  Uuggg!!!! And he let her do it. 8 fillings not because I don’t care about insisting on brushing. He has visited the dentist three times. At the end of his appointment the dentist told me she had to do four fillings which is two more than we thought.

Dentist orders: Stop with the fizzy drinks as carbonated water and sugar effect the soft gums and teeth. If he has a soft drink, then we have to wash his mouth out with water. Limit sweets. Well, he loves Donuts from Coles!  If he eats a sweet with sugar he has to brush and floss because he has soft teeth. First teeth. Baby teeth. You would think this does not matter if he loses a tooth or two because he will get new ones. But having the teeth there shape his mouth for the next teeth apparently.

We ramped brushing up to fit twice a day. How to fit it in!

And now we must floss as well because it’s not enough. I insist that he must brush, he gets all stroppy, not letting me.

Trying to educate the boy about the importance of looking after his teeth is hard. He says he does not care. I tell him that he will care once he feels the pain of a rotted tooth. That is a great pain indeed.

I do remember some years ago it was identified the first time he had some filling work done. We had to see the peadiatric dentist who sent him to the hospital so he could be put under a general anaesethetic to get the first filling done because some decay had been detected.  We were wary of it. I remember we could not commence with procedure on the specific set date because he had a cold which was a contra-indication for surgery We had to go back a second time. While my “bundle of joy”  was having the procedure Mum and Dad had a coffee downstairs. We were back with him when he opened his eyes to love the little cherub.

Autism and the Dentist

https://janemuras.com/2017/11/09/sortasupermummish

A

The gloves, play the piano/move your fingers

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Band-aids and gloves had to cover his hands. He had scraped  his hands at school. This was too much for a highly sensitized 7 year old. Recently returned from a very humid, wet, Darwin.

Flying back to Adelaide’s dry weather. A scrape on the hands. He had somehow decided that he would cover his hands with band-aids. Lots of band-aids. Many packets costing a small fortune. The school spoke to me several times about the use and amount of band-aids. Could he please bring his own supply as they needed to keep a supply for other students as well. The band-aids were wretched after some days.  He would not want me to change them. One day I  found that the sticking plaster was caused a rash on his skin. A skin irritation.

This was not helping at all. In a problem solving effort I thought I had come up with a brainwave. I would substitute the band-aids with gloves. It was a comedy of errors. This seemed like a good idea but  turned out to be another hole to fall into.

He loved wearing the gloves. He wore them non-stop for 3 months. I could not buy just any old glove with a mixed fabric material. The material had to be cotton. It had to breathe.  His hands got sweaty from wearing the poly-fabric gloves and he did not have the will to explain this to me.

I finally got his gloves off of him to find  his skin peeling . I was not going to sit by and let this phobia he had hurt him so I changed gloves. I realized the material used to make the gloves was making his hands sweaty. It was impossible to  find cotton gloves anywhere. In an effort to dry wet gloves we used a blow dryer. (I’m starting to dig another hole unbeknownst to me! O.C.D. routines were rearing up it’s head).  The hair dryer  had a warming effect on the glove also.  It seems that he also thought he had horrible hands possibly because they felt extra sensitive. An extra teacher was called in at the time to help him understand how he was feeling. Constant wear of gloves poses a few problems when it comes to washing the darned things.

I didn’t understand what was happening only that I wanted him to be comfortable. Then it seemed to occur that because it had grown cold during the winter months that the gloves had to be warm when he put them on. They were dried in a certain section of the house before he put them on to go to school. (Another localised routine). This went on for quite some time  or there would be loud protestations from Junior. Well, requests to dry the socks started happening at school! The hair dryer – oh the hair dryer! I just determined I would not put up with it any more and I told him that I was not going to do it any more. He screamed and shouted at me. I feel defeated.  I decided not to assist the set routine.

I did not want him to stop using his hands so we started on the path of challenging him to work his hands and fingers on the piano. Hopefully music will do the trick. Now years later he plays some beautiful pieces on the piano. Thank goodness something has paid off! Piano

Navigating social interaction and holidays

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When my dear son was very young, maybe 5 years old, he went bouncing on the jumping pillow at a Caravan Park,  on a holiday. He wanted to bounce all the time I remember him wanting to watch prerecorded Bear Grylls videos over and over again as if they were instructional video’s on skills needed to face the day.

I remember him playing on the jumping pillow at the caravan park holiday and he found some boys to hang around with. (My son naively  thought were “his (said) friends”) These neuro-typical boys clearly found him an annoying tag along and made fun of him. This made me angry. My son did not recognize any unkindness in these boys,  he wanted me to go away. I cautioned my son. I wanted to protect him but also realizing that he had to find his own way in navigating this social interaction.  The kids were mean to him.  They made fun of him and took advantage of my son’s naivety. My son was so young and couldn’t understand that they weren’t being kind and playful. He could not understand that they were not looking after him. Navigating social interaction and holidays

Sub catgory list of earlier post/topics

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53. Autism and Problems at Mainstream school.

52. How did the kid learn to read so early?

51. Autism: Sensory Processing Disorder and Socks!

50. Murphy’s Law! Today: It’s ones of those days!

49. Autism Siblings.

48. Writing for writing’s sake!

47. Car Troubles and Laughter!

46. Comedy Radio, Laughing and walking to school!

45. Mum! Stay still I am putting a chip up your nose!

44. The 5 year old.

43. Let’s take our Xbox controller to school!

42. Autism and the 2 km walk to school!

41. Where is the demarcation line?

40. My son wants an X box!

39. Life in another Language: Auditory Processing Disorder.

38. Drama and the kiddo!

37. Don’t Let The Bastard’s Get You Down!

36. Useful Bedtime techniques for our kids.

35. Laughing and a loving family life.

34. Calming ideas for a stressed out kiddo.

33. Respite for Parents.

32. Feeling Isolated, Parental Depression, Feeling overwhelmed!

31. Autism: Clothes and Socks.

30. We have to trim your nails: “No Way Mum!”

29. “Can we wash your hair?”

28. Autism: Gloves and Bandaids.

27. Autism: Shoes, Socks and Clothes.

26. Cost of Education and Autism.

25. Swimming week 2014.

24. Autistic Meltdown 2014.

23. Diagnosis Days 2014.

22. Autism and School Socialization.

21. Why? Why? Why? Diabetes 2!

20. 9 yr old. I want an X Box.

19. Real life experience in the caravan.

18. Singing lessons? Martial Arts?

17. IPad Parental controls and Daily household chores.

16. 3rd pregnancy: Miracle Baby Jack.

15. 2nd Pregnancy: Miscarriage.

14. “No, I don’t know want to take my shoes off!”

13. Pregnancy no. 1: Birth of a miracle boy.

12. How to Survive on a camp trip with Bear Grylls!

11. Understanding signs and symptoms of Disgraphia.

10. “New Shoes! It’s Groundhog Day!”

9. Useful resources: Autism Support Groups/Reference books/films.

8. I am so proud of my Autistic son.

7. Autism and bedtime techniques.

6. Law mowing and being tired!

5.Writing therapy for parents.

4. National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and coordinating therapies.

3. Ok! Let’s talk about Autism, Poo, Toilet training and Sensory Processing Disorder.

2. Ok, let’s talk about Autism: Fixation and Obesessive Compulsive Disorder.

1. A full on Meltdown: I did not expect!