SPD and Pretend Play

For his birthday last year, R's godfather, my husband's best friend, got him the LeapReader in hopes that he will start reading and writing soon.  R loved it and started using it on the books that came with the present.  His interest in the books waned soon, but strangely enough, his interest in the pen didn't.

R has also been taking notice of the things my husband and I do, especially when we talk on the phone.  He even insists on being the one to hang up the calls on our cellphones.  So I wasn't too surprised when he started putting the pen to his ears, turning it on and off, then waving to it with a "buh-buh" (his word for "bye bye" which he has pretty much learned how to say for quite some time).

However, he totally surprised me last night when he was playing with the LeapReader.  He put it to his ear, and started to babble, as though he was making conversation.  This went on for a good 3 minutes.  And then, as if to end the conversation, I heard him say, "Ok.  Buh-buh."

It took a solid ten seconds to dawn on me that he was pretending.  He was actually pretending!

I know what you're thinking.  Why is this such a big deal?

Remember one of my older posts where I mentioned the 5 signs that a child is about to talk?  Well, I mentioned there that R only exhibits 4 of the 5.  The fifth is symbolic or pretend play.  Apparently, pretend play is an essential developmental milestone for a child to learn how to speak.

So how does pretend play affect speech?

Rude Remarks while Parenting a Special Needs Child

I had just read this article that was featured in The Sensory Spectrum, and it made me remember a similar incident that happened not too long ago.

I remember when, back in Hong Kong, I had to leave R with his dad for a little while. I wasn't feeling very well since I had eaten something that didn't sit well with me so I had to go the bathroom. R, on the other hand, was wired up, wouldn't settle, and it was way past his nap time. He couldn't sleep, simply because we were out and about.

I was having a hard time carrying and taking him around as the food poisoning was causing me to weaken, and even became feverish at one point in the day. So my husband and I decided to stop at a Starbucks coffee shop so he could get a drink for us, as well as get R calm for nap. I prepared a bottle of milk for him, laid him down on the sofa, and proceeded to the bathroom.

Homeschooling with SPD

Because it's been a while since I posted...

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

新年快樂!

Now that it's out of the way... On to the topic at hand.

R and I have been homeschooling now for at least 18 weeks, not counting the weeks he had for Christmas and New Year breaks.  Over time we've done a few projects, some activities, and a lot of learning, mostly on my part.

Traveling with an SPD Kid

In the years we've had with R, we've had to travel quite a bit, whether it's out of town or overseas.  And even before the SPD diagnosis, we had discovered a few little things about him that made traveling a bit difficult.  R was exhibiting vestibular seeking methods even as early as a year old, when he would always want to go out no matter how tired we were.  He was also quite picky over a lot of foods and we needed to make an effort to seek out the food that he would actually eat.

The SPD diagnosis made a few things clearer to us in terms of his behaviors, and we did learn to adjust to his needs when traveling.  Not saying we're experts, but we've had a few experiences of R having a meltdown while we were overseas or out of town.  Needless to say, it's hard because when you're not in familiar environment, you need to get really creative.

I found a few posts online with tips for traveling with SPD.  You can read them at:

• Travel Tips for Parents of Children with Sensory Integration Issues
• Traveling with a Sensory Seeking Child
• 8 Tips for Flying with a Child with Sensory Processing Disorder
• Travel tips for kids with Sensory Processing Disorder

As for me, here are my tips for traveling with an SPD Kid.

SPD, the Interoceptive Sense and Toileting

Just when I thought I had nothing more to say about SPD, somehow R ends up manifesting this in yet another way.

It all started when we took R out for a day and ended up having a major meltdown in the mall.  The trigger, the toilet flush.

Now, R has been relatively easy to potty train considering he has SPD.  I've read of many parents who had such a hard time with this, even without the sensory issues.  But in R's case, his love for the toilet flushing and his dislike of wet clothes actually ended up stimulating him to use the toilet more and the diapers less.

But let's go back to the very beginning in terms of his toilet habits, shall we?  And no, please don't think I'm shaming him.  I actually want this to be a teaching moment, for me and my hubby, for R, and for anyone going through something similar.

So, let's discuss!

Little Victories

And so it's official, we are enrolled as a homeschooling family with TMA Homeschool.

UPDATE 11/4/2016: TMA Homeschool is now known as Homeschool Global.

I went and attended Curriculum Day today, and listened to a short talk by Joy Tan-chi Mendoza on how to choose books and material that will be customized for the needs of the kids.  I liked how flexible it was, and with R counted as a special needs kid, it gives me a whole lot more leeway on how to teach him, considering he's not really speaking yet.

And some of the slides shown are the following:

When will my Child be Normal?

R and I have been sick for past few weeks, and just started to recover.  After our visit to ChildFind (who gave us the go ahead to homeschool for 2 years, YAY!), he got a cold, which I also caught.  We recovered in time, or so we thought, for our family vacation to Japan, which was awesome.  But coming home, R went down with bad ear pain, and got otitis media (middle ear infection).

He was put on antibiotics, but the sleepless nights of caring for him got to me and I succumbed.  I'm on the mend now, still not 100% but getting there.

I did do a lot of thinking time while I was recovering, and encountered a couple of posts that were comforting.

Be Kind

Yesterday I read this article published by The Age newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia.

It got me thinking.

Last year, when R was recently diagnosed, I struggled with the question, "Does this mean I have a special needs child?"

I was also asked that of several well-meaning people, although at the time it was hard to answer.  Because R seemed so normal aside from his speech delay, it was really hard to come to terms with whether or not he was a special needs kid.

Admittedly, I as a parent would not have actively chosen to have a kid who has special needs.  I realized that while I am taking this journey with R.  But for reasons I have yet to fully understand, God has blessed us with this little boy, SPD and all.

And by His grace, I know that there are others in worse situations than us.

I am in several Facebook groups.  In one of them, I read of a little guy named Caleb Munn.  As of this posting he is eight months old, and is recovering from a liver transplant.

Yes you read that right.

Caleb was diagnosed at two months old with a severe liver disease called Biliary Atresia.