Thursday, March 15, 2007

Therapy Thursday

Here are the notes for what Aidan did with the OT today:

First, I had him show her the page with the traced C’s from the Jan Brett site. This was because I had to call him down from upstairs when she came and I sensed he was going to be reluctant, so I wanted to give him a focus apart from that and turn his thoughts in a positive direction. He usually likes the sessions with her but he was watching Paddy play Mario (bad mom, bad mom). She was appropriately impressed and that affirmed his confidence.

Then she did the lotion and massage of his extremities, noticing that his left leg was particularly tight. We discussed factors in that — the cold, the mood, etc.

Then he played with some silly putty for more exercise with his hand muscles.

Then he did an exercise where he picked up little toy frogs with big tweezers. I can’t find the exact word but you know, those things you use to pick up tortillas from the fryer with a tension spring so you have to put some effort into keeping their grip steady.

Then he and Paddy did some coloring. They traced a couple of mazes and colored som troll pictures.

Then he and Paddy played a matching game with childrens’ faces. It was sort of like concentration except that once they turned the picture right side up they could leave it up. Aidan took a while to get it. There were a lot of choices, which visually overwhelm him, and he is used to playing our concentration game by having all the pieces right side up and then finding the matches. Once he got it he started doing a good job.

That was it for today. I am trying to figure out a way to write out loose “lesson plans” for the preschoolers that would include Aidan’s therapy protocol. I always let it slide a bit too much. Sometimes it is because the exercises they suggest are actually easier than some of the things he does spontaneously. And sometimes it is because I get busy with the day and plus, have to fight my public-school-honed rebel instincts which tell me to just passively resist anything that sounds like a requirement (true confessions here) . And sometimes it is because the exercises simply bore us both. Trying to get this out on the surface since I am trying to be a bit more adult about this. But anyway, if I do get some sort of running lesson plan going, I will put it in my pages on the sidebar.