Hi, kind of a quick question, with long, long start. I am unsure if my DS4 really needs OT help or not. We had talked ourselves into it because of how sensitive he is; but maybe we just need one that has dealt with a boy like ours. We realize that he is a very sensitive kid and does need help trying to regulate his emotions and dealing with stressful situations. He is not an angry aggressive child. He is fun and playful and hysterical. We decided to seek OT help for DS a few months ago for more feeding therapy, to get him to be more open to trying to eat more foods (although he does eat very healthy foods), especially now that he is gluten and dairy free. It was a nightmare trying to transition him to solid foods when it was time; and he is still a very picky eater. DS had seen the OT about 7x's. We stopped about a month ago to give him a complete break from everything due to what his reaction was to school related stuff (see my other posts). We started OT again today, no feeding stuff, just sensory integration stuff, exercises, brushing massage, Therapeutic Listening, and training for me. He was excessively silly through most of it, plus added barking (he is really into the air buddies movies right now - all 3). Plus, he hadn't gotten any exercise outside today. The OT was getting sensitive/perturbed about his actions; which he sensed of course and pushed more (buttons by being more silly - we can be excessively silly at home). I said that he was pretending to be the buddies (and explained who they were). She said that that wasn't it, that he just needed to make noise; and that it wasn't pretending. Later, at home he said "Mommy, I was just pretending to be "Shasta" (from "Snow Buddies") to Ms. (OT). I said, "I know honey." She also mentioned that she works with "many intelligent kids" with sensory stuff. She obviously didn't believe in the "giftedness" of our DS with that statement, even though I said previously that our ped and a child neuro we saw thought so as well. DS heard us talking about all of this stuff, and always understands what we are talking about. I hate talking about him when he is there.
Finally, my question...how do you know if a gifted child needs help if he acts fine at home (the best a-just-turned-4-yr old can) and only acts out (silly or frustrated) with certain authority figures? Does it mean he just doesn't respect the therapist or teacher or whatever authority figure? And how can you find one that has worked with a child like yours, if your child does need help, without bouncing him around and spending $$$ along the way? I have asked around; but I don't know anyone who's child is like mine (that's in GA).
DS is finally coming out of the shell he has been in for the last 5 months or so (while he was in school), and telling us things like the teacher told him "no" when he gave answers about what he knows???; he is singing the songs and tell us the prayers he learned at school; he is starting to act extremely interested in learning new things again. He is actually doing very well with controlling his emotions and giving himself time to decompress when we talk to him calmly about what and how he is feeling. He said that he doesn't want to be a smart kid though still; and I suppose that is because most of the kids in his former pre-school class didn't know what he did. The kids don't understand his humor sometimes; but he makes his friends laugh with his fun-lovingness and pretending to be things (taking on the persona of characters he likes). Their parents say that his sense of humor is so "different and funny."
Thank you!
p.s. I would love a recommendation of a child's book for us to read together that speaks about emotions and expressing them better. He is really contemplating things more lately and becoming more introspective.
Last edited by Mom0405; 04/06/09 11:03 PM.
