Saw the OT this week, need info

[tmli]

As some of you know my ds has ASD, OCD fear and anxiety disorder and just confirmed severe SID. We have been going to a facility that specializes in child mental health and disorders all summer for various assessments. After the assessment from the OT she has said that he scored very low in Gross and Fine Motor Skills (in the 2nd percentile) which I kind of new. There are things he can't do like button his pants and tie his shoes yet he plays gameboy and builds with legos. I find it all confusing. I haven't got the actual report yet so I am hoping this clarifies and she said she would recommend some reading for me. She is also going to get us a OT locally to work with him. Is this new assessment common in kids with his conditions or is this something seperate yet again.

Any info that you can provide in this area would be greatly appreciated as this is all new to me.

 

[mbb]

we use elastic waist pants, velcro sneakers, electric toothbrushes, short haircuts (so not lots of brushing) one piece snowsuits (zippers are really hard for our boys), pull on hats and homemade mittens.

Our guys are REALLY great at Gameboy, Lego stuff as well...so we really try to capitalize on those stengths, and work our way around the rest

We bought one of those "jogging trampolines" so that they can jump safely inside the house (jumping helps with the hip joint compressions) We installed a bathtub grab bar next to it on the wall

Keep asking questions If we know what is concerning you, someone here has tried it

 

[SueM in MN]

My DD doesn't have the same issues as your child, but I just wanted to say that being able to do something that looks complicated (like a gameboy) and not being able to do something that looks easy (like tying shoes) is very common with all sorts of disabilities.
For one thing, there is a lot more motivation to do anything that the child perceives to be fun, so even though it might have originally been hard for them, there is a lot of payback for doing the activity. Doing something like tying shoes or buttoning pants might be useful (in the worls'd eye), but it's not that motivating to a child.
When I was working for a home care agency with children with various disabilities, one of the things we did was breaking down tasks into all the steps involved in doing the task so that it could be taught to our clients one piece of the task at a time. Something that looks simple (like combing hair) actually has quite a few steps and even small kids without disabilities tend to only look at the parrts of the task they can see (it's very common to only brush the front of the hair since that's the part they see).
So, things like mbb mentioned that make the task easier are a big help. That made me think of a kid's song that was out about 10 years ago talking about the merits of velcro - the chorus is something like "What did we do without velcro? It's a cool thing to use. We can stroll into the 21st century with our velcro on our shoes."

 

[SweetSpot]

As the others post it is extremely common for ASD children to have gross and fine motor problems and at times their issues can even interfere with learning. In 3rd grade we had a wonderful OT who explained to us how just his posture and the act of trying to sit up straight at his desk can be so exhausting it makes it hard for him to concentrate. My DS also has always been amazing when it comes to his ability to play gameboy and video games and we have let him play more than others would because I know that it has helped him. We also bought a small exercise tramp and then as he got bigger an outdoor tramp because it builds up all the muscles. Those large exercise balls are wonderful too. Have him just sit on it or bounce a bit on it while he watches tv or plays gameboy and without realizing hit he is strenghting his muscles. Also, play Superman and hold his legs while he rolls his body over the ball a couple times a day. When we were in WDW years ago he took a liking to the Playstation Jungle Book game which is similar to Dance Revolution. You watch the screen and move on the dance pad to follow the movement. We bought it and made it play for a couples minutes at first, adding minutes everyday, until he loved it so much he would play till he beat the game. Also, Playstation has a game called Eye Toy where you are watching yourself as part of the game and you have to move your body instead of using a control pad. My DS has really improved over the years. He use to fall down the steps daily but I can't remember the last time he's screamed "I'm okay!" after a fall. Up until this year, his first in HS, he would only wear elastic and velcro but he thinks he can handle the buttons and laces so he will fit in. We were lucky our school provide OT and when he reached the middle school daily adaptive gym where he works with weights and machines to build muscle.

 

[tmli]

I am really glad to hear that these things are common. Sweetspt I laughed out loud when you said about him calling out "I'm Okay" My ds says this at least 3 times a day.

I too let my ds play more video games than the average child. But it does help.

Just found out yesterday we have an 8 mth wait for a local OT....I will definitely be looking into activities and strategies for the meantime.

 

[SweetSpot]

Sorry, just thought of another one we used when he was young. We ran relay races in the house with his brother. I would put a couple toys at one end a couple feet away and they would race to pick the toy up and then run back drop it in a basket and repeat until someone won. We laughed and video taped it so he couple watch himself. It was like a game show which he was addicted to at the time. Also walks were a scavenger hunt where you had to find letters (he had a letter and number fetish), colors, etc along the way. The walks were more fun and he fought them less. Stress balls also were great because he would squeeze them while watching tv without realizing he was doing it. Pencil grips and fatter pencils also make writing easier.

 

[reikimom]

Hi Tracey,

You do not say how old your ds is. If you live in the US he should qualify for OT through either early intervention or the school system. If you make a request in writing it shouldn't take 6 months to get an appt. I am an OTR who works in a school system and I would be happy to have you email me with any questions you might have. There is a book you might want to take a look at, it's called The Out-of-Sync Child Has Fun. It is a sequel to the Out of Synch child, which looks at issues of kids with sensory integration issues. It is like a cookbook of great activities that parents can do at home to help their kids with motor issues as well as sensory issues. I have found it very helpful and have sent manyideas home with parents from the book. You can probably find it at half.com or eBay.

gbreton@adelphia.net