Monkey: Beating Sensory Challenges



Monkey had weak motor skills and had trouble with sensory too. I'll be sharing a few of the sensory challenges he overcame.

 From ages two to four years old, my boy vomited without warning. I cleaned vomit up just about every where in town. I remember the first time it happened. Immediately after we walked into the vet's office, Monkey threw up at the entrance. At the time I just believed he was sick. It happened a few times and he did not have a fever so off to the doctor we go. He said it was part of processing sensory meaning Monkey did it as an input to his sensory. He needed to feel the action of vomiting. It was all alarming. The doctor urged me not to give him a reaction when it occurred and not to scold him either. That was hard. I gasped many times when it happened, it took me a few times to keep myself from reacting. We chose to go on with life. I did what we wanted and needed to do... I just had to clean up vomit along the way.

I became the vomit wiper upper as in a professional status. I carried, paper towels, change of clothes and sanitizing wipes with me. I had our cars covered in plastic bags. If it occurred while shopping at the grocery store I just cleaned up and kept going. This went on for two years so it could not interrupt our life. The best thing was to just keep on.  Strong odors also triggered the vomiting. We could not go into a movie theatre because the smell of popcorn was overwhelming for Monkey. We also avoided the car repair shop and gasoline station. Family came to visit us during this time. We just let them know ahead of time what was going on and how we handled it and that was the best way for us at the time.

Too much of a sensory was bothersome for my boy. He did not like loud places. Instead of staying away, we would go to a busy loud place in short spurts so he could get comfortable with the sights and sounds. We weren't going to hide. You see we are warriors and we fight back.

Monkey has enjoyed the pool since he was a baby. The therapists always thought this was a wonderful thing for his sensory. Even till this day that is his fave thing to do in the summer. He is an awesome swimmer!

 

Excuse the mess, I did not know I was going to have a blog later. ;)

With any phase my Monkey was fighting, we chose to live our life and not hide. We believed in hitting the challenge straight on and not letting it beat us. Our boy went to Occupational therapy and the therapist would give us techniques to practice. I just kept him involved in what I was doing and that was a sure way for him to feel different sensory and practice speaking. My boy always enjoyed  mixing, baking and he even got good at using a cookie scoop. All great exercises for his motor skills. The dirtier he got the better. If he got dirty, he did "freak out a little". I just acted like it was no big deal. It slowly became more enjoyable for him.  Often I would make a simple dough that he could play with while I cooked. If he did not like an activity, I would encourage him to try it and we would do it again later.

This is funny. Why didn't I cover the chair and table? Today I would have.

Monkey and I enjoyed craft time multiple times a week. I made art time fun and also educational and an opportunity to practice therapy.

Decorating a tree for Valentine's Day. Yep, he had to do it by himself. It was a great exercise for his fingers and he had fun.

I took advantage of anything to have my boy practice his motor skills. He thought he was helping me but really I was helping him get stronger every time he helped me around the house.

I also kept him involved with me often as I did my chores or cooked. I remember as I did laundry I'd let him play with the water as it was filling up the washer. He'd help me put in the wet clothes into the dryer. I folded clothes on our bed, and I always threw the warm clothes on him. Laundry time had several sensory opportunities available to help us. See this way he felt gushing water, wet clothes and the warmth of the clothes out of the dryer.

 



His speech pathologist recommended for us to make a bean box. We added clean pinto beans to a plastic box. We kept it inside the house and he played with it as a sand box. He used his toys and we reused food containers too! It was a mess, but he loved it. He enjoyed it for almost two years. Monkey even got to the point where he would vacuum the spilled beans. This was a great way to use different toys and just feel the beans on him and play,play, play!

I am sure this pit was full of balls, it looks empty in this picture. My boy was responsible for picking up all 10,000 plastic balls. haha!

We were also told, Monkey was not aware of his space in space. This meant he did not know where his body was, in other words where it began and ended. We practiced a special therapy for this. I stood in front of him and gently squeezed him in each joint area. It was hard to have him stand still for this so I always promised his favorite activity or game after therapy. Later we filled up a small pool with plastic balls. He loved to jump and play in this. As the therapist stated this would help Monkey feel his space. It worked wonders. We also practiced the brushing techniques which helps the touch sensory. My boy disliked this one because it was something that kept him standing in one place, we managed to get it done in short sessions. As we continued therapy, my boy fell down less, his hugs became tighter and he was less clumsy.

Sure, there were activities he did not want to do because it bothered him so I would do it in short sessions and I would try it again. We found an opportunity in every thing to expose him to textures to help with his sensory and words to help him verbally.

Over the years, my Monkey has shared memories he has of his childhood. It warms my soul that he remembers the activities we did together and that he knows his parents were always at his side. He also said he remembers me narrating cartoons to him. Haha! Yes I did that. It was just a way for him to hear simple words.

We fought against our son's challenges. There were more sensory issues that I have not mentioned. We always practiced therapy and did all we could for him. His quality of life depended on what we did for him. Our son has flourished and I know it was God's will for it to be this way and it's amazing that God blessed him to triumph over his challenges. We still have challenges today, we will not back down. The fight is still going!

I am happy to share this with you and it is healing for me too. It is good to look at where he was and where he is now. That makes this momma proud and hopeful.

PS. The first photo is Halloween this year. It's the first year, he can handle wearing a full mask. In the past we have cut the mask to be smaller to cover the eye area. This year he wore the whole mask. Big win!



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Monkey: Please Baby Look at Me
Monkey: Working Hard for Our Baby