Just as it probably was for you and yours, I could tell something was up with Jam pretty early on. But he was passing all of his developmental milestones within the expected timeframes (barely, but still). And being born five weeks premature, I expected he was going to take some time to 'catch up'. Still, I had that niggling feeling in the back of the brain there...
So before his 2.5 year wellness exam, I put together a list of Jam's 'quirky' behaviors- mostly sensory stuff and some motor things- and I did some preliminary research on the internet. (Being dyspraxic, I just really like to come prepared and to know what to expect with anything new- no surprises for me, thanks!) It didn't take long before 'sensory processing disorder' popped up. And it didn't take long afterwards for the pediatrician to look at that list and reach the same conclusion. So off we went with our evaluation referral in hand and then on our merry way to begin occupational therapy.
I've always been pretty good at this diagnosis stuff and with the Sensory Processing Disorder confirmation, I was feeling very good and confident. I thought with strong and early intervention we'd be able to quickly manage this SPD business and mainstream Jam by kindergarten. I'd filled in a big piece of the puzzle that is Jam. But it turned out I was missing an even bigger piece.
When Jam took the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales test as part of his evaluation, he was assessed as being a full year behind his peers in gross and fine motor. But I didn't freak out- we'd been working on both the sensory and motor components in therapy. In fact, I remember feeling that the therapist was focusing a little more on the motor and should have been focusing more on the sensory. My thinking was, 'fix the sensory and the motor would follow'. And that's what I focused on at home, too.
So after a year of occupational therapy with solid but slow progress, I realized that this 'SPD business' wasn't just going to magically resolve itself by the time kindergarten rolled around. I'd also been getting the feeling that there was something more going on. So back to my trusty computer I went. And pretty quickly found the term 'dyspraxia'. And as I was reading, the proverbial light bulb clicked on. Except I forgot all about Jam and his issues and realized the page was talking about me. About my childhood. And that it wasn't something Jam was going to 'grow out of'.
My first order of business was to go back through that initial fifteen page evaluation. There'd been lots of big words and test results around motor skills, but there it was on page 5- "dyspraxia". I'd somehow missed it. Or dismissed it, favoring the SPD diagnosis.
My second order of business was to completely overhaul the approach we'd been taking, now with a strong focus on motor skills and motor planning. Weekly occupational therapy, physical therapy, swimming and gymnastics. And that's when we finally started to see big changes.
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