Who wants a carrot?

What a crazy day!  Remind me to stop stacking everything into my day off.  It's just a bit insanity.  Although I will say that we stayed on time, and we were never late for any appointment.  I need an award!

First stop....occupational therapy.  We've had concerns over the past 3-5 days that Nea is doing much more head banging than usual.  That's an increase sensory need that requires "A"s input.   Nea did very well in therapy but when she was swinging and spinning she said, "Ow, hurt."  "A" stopped the swing and asked her what hurt..."your head or your ear".  Nea responded, "Ear hurt, ow."  No more spinning for the day, but they worked really hard in the tunnels.  "A" wants us to get a compression shirt from UnderArmor and continue to work her vestibular system.  Your vestibular system is what keeps you balanced and aware of your body in space.  The sensations originate in your inner ear....and if she complains of it hurting, plus increased head banging, plus doing some more frequent tripping.....  (no worries, I already had plans to see the pediatrician after therapies).  The best way to "exercise" this sense is to let her fall onto soft services.  So standing on a ball, and falling onto her bean bag is a great exercise.  That sensation of falling is a way to improve the vestibular system.

Weekend crankiness

Next stop....Speech therapy.  Great session.  Lots of matching and engaging play.  She even showed us some of her deductive reasoning skills which was really exciting to watch!  She's getting so much better with language and she's starting to pay closer attention to correction of words.  So when she says "cruck", Diana will stop, put her fingers near her mouth and say..."not cruck, it's truck.  Say t-t-t-t"  And Nea responds in a positive way.  Great work with puzzles and attention to stick with completion.

Moving on......pediatrician.  Clearly we need to see what's going on with these ears.  I work with some amazing pediatric experts who I also call friend.  The pediatrician looked in her ears and said they were clear, but may have some fluid behind them.  She suggested Dimetapp for a few days to see if that doesn't help.  "A" also had explained that many autistic kiddos are more sensitive to barometric changes.  Okay, a game plan is made!

Karen, Chica and Nea at Jamba Juice

Third stop.....the dentist.  Now this is a brand new experience for us.  And no matter any kind of preparation verbally was not going to work for her.  I didn't have enough time to make pictures so I could do a story board with her, so we were both on uncharted territory.

I chose a pediatric dentist who was recommended by Nea's OT and works with special needs kids.  

Let me just say right at the beginning that this was the best dang referral we've had thus far in her life!  

The waiting room was inviting, the toys were fun and the television was on NickJr with Dora greeting us when we walked in.  The dental hygienist came to get us and we both went back to the room.  Nea crawled right up into the chair, excited to be in a new place.  

Televisions on the ceiling!?!?  Oh that was very fun and Nea was very intrigued.  The hygienist let her pick out a new toothbrush and then it was time to lay back.  Nea was hesitant at first, but the hygienist asked me if I thought a weighted xray vest would help.  Ohhh, this isn't her first rodeo!  

The lead xray vest did help to relax her and she opened her mouth to see her reflection in the little mirror.  She let her polish her teeth, and she didn't really care about the floss either.  (mental note made....we haven't tried that yet)  However, that new toothbrush she picked out now had a new purpose.  She put some fluoride gel on there and Nea opened her mouth willingly again.  However that fluoride stuff was NOT one of her favorite things.  I'm pretty sure I'm not going out on a limb here to say that she really, really hated it.  When that brushing was over....the girl was ready to be done!

Then the dentist came in.  And I LOVED her from the second she said hello.  This woman is kid friendly, special needs friendly and knows exactly what she's talking about. She taught me a few things too, which I very much appreciated.

1) Baby teeth are important.  Yes she'll lose them, but her molars she'll keep for 12 years.  Help her take care of them.
2)  Cavities in baby teeth can possibly cause infection.  Remember, her permanent teeth are in her mouth, don't let a cavity cause an infection and raid her permanent teeth. (ohh!  that never occurred to me)

3)  If she ever has to have any major work done....sedation in the hospital. 

4)  As far as the pacifier, you have to do what you need to do.  I'm not worried, there's still time that her mouth will change and it sounds like you're transitioning anyway.  Don't worry about it.

Nea got a great report!  NO cavities, her teeth looked "gorgeous" and there seems to be enough space at this point.  The top teeth may get crowded later down the line, but not too worrisome now.  Nea  was so brave and did such an amazing job.  I'm just so proud of her!!  The dentist's parting words were, "Keep doing what you're doing!"

Hmmmm......those carrots must be working!

Teethbrushing

So this is something we've been working on for about a week now.  Reading through some of my resources, it seems that dental care gets lost along the way.  There are so many therapies and so many goals on the "to do" list, it doesn't seem worth a battle to get a toothbrush in a kids mouth.  Trust me, for some kids this is a big issue.  Some kids can have such a horrible oral aversion, that the teeth brushing thing is more than anyone can handle.

Nea's had a toothbrush since she was 9 months old.  I wanted to start with her just getting used to having a toothbrush in her mouth.  I let her explore with it, play with it and essentially handle it as much as she wanted.  I was trying to desensitize her to it, so it wouldn't always be regarded as a "foreign object" and just piss her off.

I tried to make teeth brushing a pleasant experience.
However, as time has gone on the teeth brushing thing became more and more of an issue.  Until essentially she wanted nothing to do with it.

That doesn't work very well, because now she's eating big person food and Grandma gives you marshmallows for breakfast at her house!  I was a little baffled as to how to move through this teeth brushing thing.

Now that I understand that this may have been a sensory issue for Nea, I talked to her therapists.  They had great ideas for me!  The first one was to get her an electronic toothbrush.  I would have never thought of this on my own.  I would have never bought one of these brushes for Nea at 2 years old!  But if we remember that Nea requires LOTS of sensory information to process it, a vibrating toothbrush makes a whole lotta sense.  I wonder what the regular toothbrush felt like?  An annoying fly?  Tiny pinpricks?  Who knows.

Now that I figured out which brush, I needed to recreate the habit for her and essentially start all over with this toothbrush thing.  It was also time to switch to a fluoride toothpaste now that she's 2 AND introduce the whole swish and spit thing... ..... good grief my head was spinning!  (yes, I know, I did it to myself!)

For a few days I have been putting a hair scrunchie on her arm about 5 min before teeth brushing (with the vibrating toothbrush) and that seemed to go over fairly well.  TAP suggested standing behind her, and allowing her to see in a mirror.  All of these things I incorporated, and overall I was pleased.

Today, I did something a little different and actually held on to her.  I just gave her a big hug while we brushed teeth.   We didn't make it a full 2 minutes ( I wasn't tempting fate!), but she did better than she ever has!

She's hesitant at first.  Notice that I'm not restraining her.  I'm just hugging her.  She could get her arms out if she wanted, or she could even get down.  So it's a firm hug, not restraining.  Ha...it's funny even as I type it!  And of course, a friend always helps.  In this case, it's Tigger.

This is great mouth opening!  She's watching herself in the mirror the whole time.  I even had a few smiles

I was alright with scowls, but we just kept working and she would open her mouth right back up.  

The swish and spit is a new skill as well.  The swish part isn't that great....but the spit part is coming along just fine!  (hahah)

Some of you may be reading this thinking, "What the heck??  Why are we hearing about a teethbrushing session??"  Well, you are reading this because I thought it was important to share....in case another parent of a child with autism is looking for information.

Sharing information and tips is important for parents!