Proud of my little self advocate - 08/19/16 02:03 AM
DS4 with DCD/dyspraxia has been pretty stressed out in his OT sessions. He's been shutting down at least once per session lying in the fetal position on the floor saying he can't go on or pretending to go to sleep. This is not like him, and our initial comments to the OT that maybe we need to change something were not really heeded.
Well in the car today I asked him today about his feelings and he said, "When I do the [gross motor] activities I feel clumsy and overwhelmed. When I feel overwhelmed people should give me time to calm down, but they don't." I couldn't have put it better myself! When we went in they already had some changes planned (like starting with the gross motor instead of ending with it), but I let the OT know that when DS asked for a break adults were going to respect that, and that DS agreed to use his words to let us know when he was overwhelmed. It went so well he didn't even need to ask for a break, but just ran to me for a quick hug between activities. I think feeling empowered and knowing the adults would listen to him reply helped him.
Well in the car today I asked him today about his feelings and he said, "When I do the [gross motor] activities I feel clumsy and overwhelmed. When I feel overwhelmed people should give me time to calm down, but they don't." I couldn't have put it better myself! When we went in they already had some changes planned (like starting with the gross motor instead of ending with it), but I let the OT know that when DS asked for a break adults were going to respect that, and that DS agreed to use his words to let us know when he was overwhelmed. It went so well he didn't even need to ask for a break, but just ran to me for a quick hug between activities. I think feeling empowered and knowing the adults would listen to him reply helped him.