Thursday, February 24, 2011

Therapy Thursday ... A Calming DVD

Our local hands-on museum always has the DVD, The Way Things Go, playing.  Ever since my son was a little baby, he has been mesmerized by this show. This amazing show is a Rube Goldberg machine in action.  The creators use fire, water, chemistry and gravity to make an exciting chain reaction of events. This is a fun DVD for the scientist/theater artist in all of us. However, it has a special calming effect on some of our special little guys. My son has never been diagnosed with autism, but he does have severe sensory processing disorder, which we have been told often looks like autism. When I had the opportunity to buy this DVD recently, I was talking to the staff at the museum. They told me that other families with kids on the spectrum had found great success with this DVD. They had a few amazing stories.



It certainly has calmed our son whenever he has watched it. I have no idea why it works so well. As I have said in the past, calmness is our theme word this year. With that in mind, we decided to hire one of our son's favorite Tomatis workers. She will be coming into our home 2 to 3 hours a week to help us make a better sensory diet for him. On her first day with us yesterday, I got more ideas than in the past 20 years living with two children with sensory processing disorder. I am so excited about her coming and getting us on the road to a calmer lifestyle! She said we had tons of tools (trampoline, balls, balance board, putty...) in our home, so it is just a matter of learning how to use them to help him more. We will be taking a long break from Tomatis. I have not seen any major gains in the last few loops, and I think we need to explore some other options for awhile. I have a feeling that having this worker in my home is going to make huge gains for us. I will be posting what we learn.

Blessings,
Dawn
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4 comments:

  1. morningstarFebruary 24, 2011 at 5:32 PM

    How exciting! I know this is wonderful for you. I am going to check out the DVD.

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  2. LeslieFebruary 24, 2011 at 9:25 PM

    I'm excited for you! What a great idea to have her come into your home and teach you how to do things! That's one of the things I loved about Early Intervention.

    Look forward to hearing more!

    Hugs
    Leslie

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  3. lahbluebonnetFebruary 25, 2011 at 12:40 PM

    Oh that is great that the therapist gave you lots more ideas on how to develop the Sensory diet. It's really about creativity and changing things up all the time, I think. I learned long ago with my kids that I had to keep changing things up. I think after a while success is accomplished through the nervous system, but that means the nervous system is ready to be prompted through a different route.
    Blessings,
    laurie

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  4. BelindaFebruary 25, 2011 at 4:29 PM

    It sounds as if your new hire is paid for in spades, as they say, already! I look forward to your sharing some of the dietary changes--I think that, even if a child does not have the same challenges, there's a lot of benefit in understanding food and why it does what it does in our bodies. I know personally, I've really been trying to reduce, if not eliminate, the red dye #40 in our diet. I think I may be seeing some of its less-than-positive effects on our youngest daughter.

    Thanks for the blog visit. I was typing to Tracy that I miss the convenience of visiting my HSB friends, but I always enjoy "getting out." I'm glad things are well with you.

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