Sensory Integration

This month marks the one year anniversary that Colton completed Sensory Integration therapy. For those of you who arent quite sold on this being a real diagnosis, I wish you had met my child two years ago. For those of you who have never heard of this before, let me introduce you to Sensory Integration. And for those of you who understand this and can appreciate the therapy children receive, here is our story....

Around 15 months of age, we noticed Colton was very high-strung, demanding, and tempermental when he didnt get his way. I truly believed it was just his personality (which is still somewhat true today). If he didnt want tummy-time, let me tell you everyone around knew he wasnt having it. He refused to eat baby food and there was no one who was going to convince him otherwise. He wanted things his way and only his way. In his toddler years is when we truly noticed something wasnt right. Of coruse everyone around us kept telling me he was fine, he just wants his way, hang in there. Except, they werent with him 24 hours a day like I was. If he wanted something, he gave me a 5 second time frame to figure out what it was he wanted and give it to him. If I missed that mark, too bad. He would throw himself on the floor and scream. Sounds toddler-normal right?!?! Except his fits would last for hours and when one was over, then came another (because of course I couldnt figure out what my non-speaking toddler wanted in that 5 second timeslot). This went on for months, and months, and months. I cried. He screamed. I cannot tell you how many times the older two children heard, "Not right now. Colton is crying." or "Ive had a really long day, please behave." I didnt look forward to my days with him. We didnt go out in public because of the meltdowns. We didnt have family gatherings for fear of him going crazy on us. It was a battle to get out of the house or car and it was a battle to get in the house or car. It was a battle to get in the bath and out of the bath. To get dressed and to get undressed. To eat and then to quit eatting. I always made the wrong drink, gave him the wrong snack, his socks were wrong, his shirt wasnt right, his blanket wasnt folded right, nothing was ever right.

One day I was dropping him off to my mom so that I could go alone to an appointment. I left him with my mom, him crying of course, and just sat in my car and cried. I prayed and yelled, I was completely lost after a long morning of battles. I seriously had no clue what to do. I called a friend of mine and she told me to call Excel Pediatric Therapy. So I did. I called and told them I didnt really know what to say other than I have no control over my two year old - it may be my lack of confidence and slacking as a mother of three but if that were the case I was ready to hear it and if it were something more I needed to know and get him help. As we are ending our phone call she tells me that cost just for the evaluation is $450. So we dont exactly live in wealth and I had no clue how I was going to pay for this but I knew I had to have him evaluated.

I get home that evening and am going through the mail and find a refund check for $425. (The hair on my arms is standing and tears are coming to my eyes just reminding myself of this story.) I could easily come up with the other $25 right?! I hadnt even told my husband what I had done yet! Continuing to go through the mail, I open another check from Juice Plus for $25. Can you believe this?? I had the exact amount of money needed to have him evaluated. As a mother, I knew then something was wrong and he needed help. Why would God pave this way so perfectly for nothing? I call Jason to tell him and he isnt exactly on board but knew "I" needed help and guidance if anything.

We get to the evaluation, which takes 1 1/2 hours to complete and Colton goes back with his therapist. I had previously asked her what she does when children cry uncontrollably and she reassures me that she has never had a child cry so hard or long that she cannot complete an evaluation. After 30 minutes of Colton screaming and her getting absolutely nothing accomplished, she calls me back to help. Of course I am a blithering mess just hearing him crying and knowing something wasnt right and feeling like a failure. I get back with him and clings to me like a monkey with a death grip. It takes us 15 minutes to get him calmed down and in somewhat of a state to cooperate with her.

After his evaulation, here are his results at his age of 26 months:
Stationary (control his body with gravity) - 14 months
Locomotion (ability to move from one place to another) - 20 months
Object Manipulation (catching, throwing, kicking, etc) - 23 months
Grasping (ability to use his hands) - 14 months
Visual-Motor Integration (complex hand-eye coordination) - 21 months

Tempermental and Atypical Behaviors:
Detached - 3rd percentile
Hypersensitive - <1st>
Underreactive - 2nd percentile
Dysregulated - 5th percentile

She also noted that when walking he holds his right arm close to his chest (which I had noticed a few weeks before the test) and that his eye tracking wasnt complete, meaning he would stop tracking items once they crossed the midline. He was also very tactile defensive and had severe anxiety issues. Some of the things we noticed he did include: heavy walking, fear of walking up or down stairs, transitions, climbing in or out, touching things, extreme movement (running, jumping, bouncing, flying in the air, etc), not holding things correctly, his inability to control himself.

Of course I ask why this is a problem, why him, why us. She said they didnt really know or understand why so many children have sensory-type issues. For Colton it may have been me being on bedrest for so long and he never had true movement. He never would have felt me moving up and down and therefore he never grasped his sense of gravity. It may have been a result of him not breathing quickly after birth and his slight lack of oxygen. It could be because children do not have the freedom to run around play all day; we parents cant just send our kids outside to play and expect them home by dark. The world isnt a safe place anymore. Either way, he had some sesnory problems we needed to focus on to make our home life better.

We prayerfully considered our options: we could use our clean and clear AmExp card for physical and occupational therapy or we could do nothing. We did what any parents would do and maxed out a credit card for the sake of our child. For the next few months we charged each therapy appointment twice a week (which was $165 a week) and we never looked back.
At times I wonder if we made the right decision, especially when I am STILL paying that balance off. But I remind myself of where we were and how far we've come and I know we made the right decision for Colton and for our family. Each new day I am greeted with a smiling face and my heart melts with pure excitement. He is a completely different child and one that embraces life happily. He loves to be on the go. He is super friendly and has a kind-heart and compassion for others. He is almost always smiling and only gives us his grumpy face for a few seconds when he doesnt get his way. I honestly cannot remember the last "fit" he has thrown.

Thank you to my friend who pushed me to make that call. Thank you to everyone who stood by me (and Colton) and offered encouraging words. And thank you to those who chose not to be around us or refused to talk to me on the phone during that time frame. Although I promise to never do this to you, believe it or not, this was a confirmation to me that something wasnt right.

So thats our Sensory Integration story.....