Just doing the best you can

As you guys know this year had already chewed us up and spit us out on the other side. In more than one way. I have been sick, Hunter's work is very tough at the moment, Mr L has not adapted well to school and being away from Mr C. We are a little rough around the edges - tired and slightly bleary eyed. What I also have not told you is that we have two boys in OT at the moment - Mr L who will possibly still be for a long time, and Mr C who we had evaluated at the end of last year. His teacher noted that he was very slow with work but a meticulous planner. It turns out he also has a touch of low muscle tone (only in the upper body) and a bit of a brain integration issue. He is left footed, left eyed but right handed.(But I am ambidextrous so it should not be a surprise). It should not be  along course of OT but we know that the sooner we do it the better the result will be.

We have read many accounts of how horse riding therapy benefits children with SID/SPD - in fact, all children seem to benefit in some way or another. It is also indecated for brain integration issues. It even has a positive influence on eye muscle movement. So Hunter went along and found stables that provide this, managed to get a time slot we can manage on a Saturday and sent on their OT reports to the instructor. On Saturday morning they started - to say they liked it is an understatement - they loved it. Yes, it is costing us a small fortune and yes, we will certainly not be able to not let A not ride later (at the moment her Saturday mornings are filled with ballet practice for their concert).But we are doing it and placing high hopes on it. It may be just co incidence but this weekend and this week is by far our best yet this year with Mr L. I am feeling way more positive. Yes, we are just doing the very best we can for them right now. In the meantime, I am loving the smell of the stables, the contact with the horses. The joy of sharing their excitement.

And who can resist a little donkey face? Gosh he is so cute.

What??? I said?

When I saw on the school's newsletter that admission applications close on the 22nd of June this year. Yes, it has been made a whole lot earlier than it used to be. In addition, grade R is part of the Primary school next year and forms the first formal year of education. This means that I have to enroll my boys into grade R now! And at the Primary school, not the Pre Primary who I have talked to about my boys, especially Mr L before.

So on Friday I popped in at the Pre Primary and had a chat to the headmistress there. It transpires that I need to do a whole lot of homework and get a whole lot of reports for Mr L. (For those not aware he has Sensory Integration disorder - or Sensory processing disorder). He is behind in some fields of development and apparently at this stage ahead in others, but he does not have what I would like to call a "non neurotipical" profile - I hate the word normal. What the hec is normal? What is a fact is that he has made huge progress in the last year. But it also means that although our OT and his teacher and the headmistress of the pre primary all are of the opinion that he should go to a main stream school, the governing body of the shool has the right to refuse him entry. So I need to get the supporting "evidence" that he is indeed suitable for the school. The Pre primary principal is prepared to go to the headmaster of the Primary school and have a discussion to allow him without even having to refer it to the governing body. For that I am so grateful.

But, this all means a scramble to the OT for a new updated report, asking his teacher for an updated report and getting a developmental psychologist report if the OT thinks we should. A lot to get done in just a month. But I know that if we can get this done, and if we can indeed get him grade 1 ready next year, I can have my twins in the same school and grade successfully. As our OT always says, that is our big goal. The rest will follow. Maybe with more attention and therapy, but it will follow. We also have to move the two of them into separate classes next year so that they can both establish their own friends and place in the class.

So we are pushing ahead getting everything done, and then it's a question of holding thumbs and praying that this all works out. What I do know is that he loves these books at the moment - and he is doing so well sitting, concentrating, drawing. Starting to lift his wings and fly. Hope, yes, hope. There's that word again, My word for 2012.

So how's it going with the SID thing...

someone asked me the other day. Not the first of the blogger friends to ask. Well, I think we are making some progress. Maybe it just feels that way because we are learning more about him and understanding more about what makes him "tick."

• The Occupational therapy is going well. He runs to his therapist with joy and laughs through the half an hour he spends there. She said to me today that she feels that he is already concentrating better and that she can understand his pronunciation better as she thinks he is talking better.
• The little isolation tent/nest has turned out to be a winner - he uses it regularly and it has made our mornings a whole lot better.
• At school the teacher reports that he is at least now sitting at his chair and doing tasks as the rest o the class. That is a huge step forward.
• "The Out -of -Sync child" has finally arrived from Kalahari and I have started reading it. Hunter is also going to.
• I have made contact with an organization that gives seminars for parents about SID a few times a year. They will email me for the next one.
• We try to incorporate some of the stuff the Occupational therapist do at home and it is helping a lot.
• We are also exploring other options to help him like horse riding and swimming.
• He is definitely getting better at sitting and doing something for instance play-do and drawing/colouring .
• We are not making progress in the potty training department - so we might enlist the help of a play therapist that calls herself the potty specialist.

• The part that is really getting us down though, is the sleeping. C is actually a worse sleeper - in the sense that he wakes up about 50% of the nights, come to out room and sleep on the little mattress we put out at the foot of our bed. But in all honesty, some nights I do not even wake up when he comes. So that is fine. But L.... and I only now realize that this is typically SID child, struggles to fall asleep some times, but wakes up some nights ( once to twice a week), totally unable to sleep again. He talks, he plays he wriggles around. He is 100% awake. Last night was another one of those, following on Saturday night. I saw that Tertia got a weighted blanket for her SID boy, and after reading a lot of  great reviews on it being a sleep saver have decided to order one. Really , we need to sleep.Very badly. And as from tonight, regardless of what sleep gurus say, we are taking him downstairs and letting him play, preferably in his tent and hopefully we can get some sleep.

So, all in all we have some improvements and are hoping for way more. Now if we can only get this sleep thing going and the no-nappies thing.