Early on we noticed that Wesley had an obsession with licking things. At first we wrote it off as the usual way that babies interact with and explore their surroundings. As time went by though, instead of seeing a decrease in licking as one would expect, Wesley's need to interact with the world with his tongue only seemed to grow. We did our best to limit his licking of the floor, the carpet, the pedals on the piano, and other large inanimate objects, seeking instead to direct his licking to small toys he could hold in his hands.
Another thing we noticed very quickly with Wesley was his constant need for motion. At 2 months old, he started rolling over. From that point on, he has never stopped moving. His determination to always be on the move has benefited him greatly in his development of gross motor skills. He started army crawling at 7 months, crawling at 11 months, and walking at 15 months. On the other hand, it has been detrimental to his ability to concentrate and focus on any task for more than a few seconds at a time. As well, he still struggles significantly with balance because of his unwillingness to work on anything related to stability. To this day, if we want to spend more than a few minutes at a time working on a task with Wesley, we need to put him in his highchair where he can't take a break and run around the room every minute or so.
Wesley - 11 months old
Spinning objects have always held a fascination for Wesley. He selects toys to play with largely based on whether or not they have spinning parts on them. Then he focuses intently on his toys while spinning them with his hands. Once he is satisfied with the spin of the object, he then sticks out his tongue to experience the tactile sensation. Since we have removed all of Wesley's toys that spin in an attempt to curb this behavior, his favorite thing to do is grab one of Zach's cars or trucks and either spin the wheels while licking them or turn the entire car upside down and spin it around on Zach's train table while watching it closely. Wesley also loves to spin himself in circles. He giggles and laughs as he goes around and around until he's so dizzy that he walks into furniture and walls like a drunken sailor.
In the last few months we have also begun to notice his desire for firm pressure. He regularly comes to us for big hugs and squeezes. He likes pressing into tight spaces and sucking his thumb while holding a blankie. And when he's upset, he throws himself prostrate on the floor or throws his head into the wall or the floor.
We have been concerned about Wesley's sensory issues for a while now, so we are thrilled beyond belief that God has provided us with a new occupational therapist who is particularly experienced with helping children with sensory integration disorders. Marsha has helped us to understand what is going on with Wesley's vestibular system (which contributes to balance and a sense of spatial orientation), his proprioception (the sense that indicates whether his body is moving with the required effort and indicates where the various parts of his body are located in relation to one another), and his sense of touch/sensory system (how he uses the sense of touch to explore the world).
With Marsha's help, we have created a sensory diet for Wesley, providing him with a schedule of daily activities that will hopefully give him the sensory input his body needs to get into an organized state and stay there.
To provide tactile input for Wesley, we have begun a deep pressure regimen which involves brushing him with a special brush every hour and a half throughout the day. Our hopes are that this will assist in increasing his sense of touch throughout the rest of body so that he doesn't feel the need to seek sensory stimulation with his tongue. So far we have seen some improvement in this area, which is helpful in providing us with a reason to keep working with him faithfully. The brushing is followed immediately by compression of Wesley's joints, which provides proprioceptive input as Wesley's brain seeks to stabilize and protect the joints we are compressing.
Twice a day we are also using a vestibular protocal called "the Astronaut Program", which involves us spinning Wesley around in a circle ten times in one direction and then ten times in the other. The goal of this therapy is to help improve his visual processing, motor coordination skills and sense of balance.
In addition, we are providing Wesley with "heavy work" activities, such as pulling cushions and heavy pillows off the couch, climbing over couch cushions on the floor, pushing heavy balls and lifting heavy toys up to put them in buckets. The resistive proprioceptive input obtained through "heavy work" activities helps to improve attention and body awareness, so we are hoping it will help to calm Wesley and organize his nervous system.
It seems that we must not have been busy enough before, since Marsha has assisted us in filling up our days that we might live each day to the fullest, not squandering even a moment of the precious time God has given us.
I just keep telling myself that if these are the tools that God is going to use to help Wesley with his sensory issues, I ought to rejoice in the opportunity to help my son rather than grumble as I brush and compress the joints of a screaming child who would prefer to do anything in the world other than LIE STILL for a few minutes.
"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
