I sense a disturbence in Master George

We got the results from Georgie's OT visit today. He has issues.

When compared to his peers, George shows a definite difference in performance in the area of sensory registration. This is the ability to recognize sensory input. It takes less input for George to notice and respond than other children his age. He shows a difference in the area of sensation seeking, low threshold and sensory avoiding. He seeks information less than children his age and becomes more easily over stimulated. The area affected are: visual, vestibular and auditory.

We now have a sensory diet for Georgie. It's alot like a normal food diet but, um, doesn't involve food. Like food, it feeds the areas of his body that he neglects. He doesn't seek sensory information for those three areas of his body so we have to "Feed" them. The OT typed up a few ideas, like singing songs, reading books and looking for objects, spinning and swinging.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Yes, alot of them can be added into our day but musical instruments? Hear that noise? It's the sound of my musician friend DYING of laughter! I don't HAVE toy instruments in our house and for a very good reason! They make alot of noise and I have alot of noise making kids. Still, you know, he's cute. I guess we'll start with making some noise-makers!

(I actually did this this afternoon. I took some plastic eggs and some beans and put the beans inside the eggs. I used a piece of tape to tape them shut and then gave them to Georgie. He promptly took off the tape and dumped out the beans. Adam pointed out that when plastic eggs make noise, there is candy inside... and he was just looking for the candy!)

The OT's report explains alot of behaviors (like why we still have to drag him into then nursery after going to them for almost a year) . The day we got the information, we went on a long walk to take Joseph to a party. He didn't want to ride int he stroller on the way home, so he walked the trail (paved) in his bare feet, splashing in puddles and listening to nature sounds. I am beginning to tell when he's worked hard on something that the rest of us don't normally have to, like speech and now sensory issues, because he SLEEPS. He slept well that night! Today, when we were off our normal diets and he had loads of dairy, gluten and gummi treats :) he was a crabby pistol!

What caused all this? It could be a variety of things. I do think genetics play a part. I don't think the whole late term preemie thing helped. Causation? Corrilation? Who knows?

We meet with the OT in person this week and I'll hopefully get some more tips and advice but, for now, we have a good start.