Progress with Sensory Processing

We have a live-in house guest in our sandbox outside.  

This little guy has taken up residence and has been there all summer long.  

He usually hops on out as soon as the commotion of the building of the sand castles commences.  

Yesterday, however, he lingered a while.  

Maddie has never noticed our one-eyed guest...

until this day!

When she saw him hop away, she didn't hesitate. 

She had a plan. 

She grabbed and sifter and the chase was on!

Lucky for our frog friend, he narrowly escaped.  

Maddie, however, was clearly disappointed.  

She began calling out to the frog and looking for him. 

And then, finally, resided in the fact he was gone, she sat down for a rest.  

This seems like an every day childhood occurrence but for us, this is BIG, BIG progress!!

For instance, this is the first time Maddie even NOTICED the frog, which indicates an awareness of her surroundings.  

Before this, she would have been so defensive of all the information her brain was trying to receive that she would just shut everything out, therefore not noticing the world around her.

Secondly, she PROCESSED what to do with the frog.  

She thought through the idea of catching him with her strainer (brilliant!) and proceeded to try and make that happen.  

Of course all this happened in a matter of seconds, so for me I had never realized watching normal kids how amazing this is, but Maddie has a processing disorder that has never allowed her to fully process a situation like this...UNTIL NOW!!!

I am so excited and so proud of her.  

We have been using a method of therapy called Bone Conduction Therapy that has really been the turning point for us.  

I'm so grateful for our wonderful Occupational Therapist who didn't give up on Maddie. When the music therapy wasn't getting the job done, she was just learning about bone conduction and decided to give it a try.  

I'm so glad we did!

Even though she's been doing this for over 20 years, she's still pushing herself to learn new techniques and find the best path for the kids she sees.  

Amazing.

New discoveries like our frog friend are now happening every day and life is getting super interesting for her and me!