my son, the enigma

Today was Sam's follow-up evaluation with Child Find. It was a 2-hour evaluation with 5 different 'specialists' and WOW! was he a good sport. He was very agreeable and showed WAY more patience (in trying things) than he does at home or at school. He was approved for OT services which is a HUGE relief. It means we won't have to pay for it. He scored below the acceptable limits for gross motor, fine motor and sensory processing. This means:

Gross motor:

• he doesn't run as well as he should
• do stairs as well as he should
• throw or kick a ball as well as he should

Enigma #1: he can ride a 2-wheeler with training wheels as well as a 4 year old.

Fine motor:

• He doesn't write his letters & shapes as well as he should
• do buttons or hold a marker as well as he should
• cut with scissors as well as he should
  

Enigma #2: he knows all his letters by sight, capitals & smalls, and counted until they told him to stop (I think he got to 20 or something). Auditory learner? Thoughts, Mom?

Sensory processing:

• He doesn't do puzzles as well as he should (or at all, really. Too frustrating for him.)
  
• He doesn't "tell a story" while looking at a book (he labels, but won't tell what's going on.)
  
• He has a hard time following through with multi-step instructions, getting distracted after only the 1st or 2nd step (hmmm, sounds like Ted!).
• His 'sentence order' is often a little off as well (ex: "Mom, your pizza is going to miss." means "Mom, you're going to miss eating your pizza.")
  

And Enigma #3: his vocabulary, while it may be a little hard to understand sometimes, was scored at a 4th grade level. (How do they do that? Not sure but apparently once you hit age 7, they start referring to "1st grade level" etc.)

Gotta love the enigmas. I think it's so cool that he can excel right in the middle of an area that he needs work on.

From their observations at preschool and my reports, they also think he needs help 'self-soothing' when he is angry or frustrated. The eating piece should improve itself when other sensory issues are worked on (this is exactly what his OT is doing now anyway, and I have noticed his eating improving. He will at least try a food that he has gagged on in the past. That is a huge improvement!)

So, in about a week we will hear from his assigned therapist. There are usually 3-4 kids of the same age in a session so it's a group thing. The 4th week of every month they don't have OT but the therapist comes to the home or to the school to do an observation and write a progess report. Should be an adventure! So tomorrow is our last day of OT through Avista. I think she's done good work with him, but he only had a few sessions left before it was going to cost over $100 per session.

It's funny. I took Sam in to ChildFind at 17 months because he wasn't walking. They assured me that he was perhaps a bit slower but that he was on his way. I expressed concern over his seemingly constant screaming in frustration. They assured me that once he was able to walk he'd calm down. I guess it just takes time for the sensory stuff to manifest itself in a manner that can be 'tested.' Ted was denied services, probably because there was nothing solidly "below level" in his test results. I wonder, when he is older and 'should be able' to do things, if we will start seeing gaps. Whatever happens, I am so grateful to all the random people who've made suggestions that have led to both boys' ending up in OT for sensory issues. Hopefully, early intervention will prevent more serious problems in the future.