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Dom had another good speech session today. He was attentive, if overeager at times, and said lots of words. Monica wants us to start modeling "I want..." for him, hoping that as we keep doing it, he'll eventually start copying. As it is, when she did this today, he just filled in the blank, rather than saying the whole sentence. He probably will do it soon, considering how easily he picked up "please." He was working one of his train puzzles today and need a few more pieces to finish it, so he said "more choo-choo, please." It was lovely. Also today, I think he started saying "okay" ("o-tay").
Yesterday's OT session went well, too. Jacqui worked with him on using scissors, which she had done last week. She asked him to do a puzzle while lying on his stomach, then put his legs across her lap so that he'd have to support himself. If she had a piece that he wanted, she'd hold it up so that he had to reach for it.
One of our main goals for now is going to be desensitizing Dom to sounds. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to expose him to those sounds which distress him so much. That promises to be fun. Jacqui brought a CD walkman with some kids' music in it and showed it and the headphones to Dominick. She put the headphones on herself to show him how they worked, then tried it on him, but he wouldn't have it, even though the player was off. She turned the music on so we could hear it through the headphones, and Dom kept saying "off, off." We managed to keep it on at a very low volume while Dom was cutting some paper, but that was all he would allow.
During the week, Jacqui recommended listening to some lively music, preferably with laughter or other sounds in it. (Those of you with kids, do you have any recommendations?) She also mentioned listening therapy, which I think she said she's not trained in but is available through the Belle Center, where she works. It's an interesting thought. Dom really is hypersensitive about sounds, as many of you have witnessed firsthand, so I wonder if the therapy would help him. I have to say, though, that playgroup went much better yesterday. Dom still was very apprehensive and clingy when we got there, and kept saying "up" and trying to climb the basement stairs to get away from everyone, but he didn't cry, and within a reasonable amount of time, he was fine. This gives me hope.
posted by Kelly @ 8:12 PM
4 Comments:
We have a Little People CD that has children's voices and laughter. My little ones are napping right now, but I can look up the title later. My son benefitted from listening therapy. We still have the equipment and you're welcome to it. I forget which cd's we have. I think one was for vestibular balance. We also have the little pack that goes around their waist so they can be on the go during the therapy. It took my son awhile to get used to wearing the headphones too, but after lots of distraction and repetitive trials he not only wore it willingly but looked forward to the sessions.
The Little People CD is called "Songs and Games for the Road". I can only find one Vital Sounds CD for listening therapy now (I think a therapist borrowed the other). It is called "Rhythm and Rhyme Through Space and Time".
I'm curious to try this, if you don't mind. Does the therapy work if the child listens from a regular CD player and not through headphones? Dom's very, very defensive about wearing headphones. Obviously we'll have to work toward that.
I just looked on Amazon.com to see if they had samples of the Little People CD, but unfortunately they don't. It sounds like what we need, though.
Thanks for checking on this for us!
I had the same question for our therapist amidst tantrums to avoid the dreaded headphones. I forget her reason but the answer was no. Also it was important that we not sing other songs or have other music on during the therapy-again I forget why.
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