An update on Maddie

The other day I was thinking about all of the specialists in Maddie's life. 

We have her pediatrician, endocrinologist, otolaryngologist, cranial sacral specialist, cardiologist, ophthalmologist, speech therapist, occupational therapist, and now we can add child psychologist to the list.   

Life gets overwhelming sometimes.  

Since she was showing some signs of what may be post traumatic stress disorder, we decided it was best to seek the help of yet one more specialist.  

I'm so glad we did!

She eased a lot of my concerns and additionally helped me know what to make of some of her "quirks."

I was mostly concerned with her repetitious behavior of stacking objects over and over over.  She gets in a loop and becomes obsessive about it.  

I didn't know if she needed the "release" of the activity for the sensory processing issues, or if it was truly unhealthy. 

As it turns out, it may be a little of both.  

She stacks because it's an activity that she knows and it is familiar.  She can anticipate the outcome, but at the same time, she's not being challenged.  

She's bored. 

She needs other stimulation, but not so much that she gets overwhelmed.  

The second issue we were highly concerned about is her increasing frustrations.  

She seems agitated and upset more than she's relaxed and in a positive state.  

I found out this is because she's so smart! 

 She knows a lot more than she's actually able to produce.  

Her cognitive skills far outweigh her language and motor skills.  

There's a lot that she knows and wants to do, but is limited by her body.

You can imagine this would cause a LOT of frustration.

We have backed off of her music therapy and bone conduction therapy in order to focus on her social emotional health.  
The last couple of weeks she seems much more happy and content.

She's been playing well with friends, asserting herself more often, engaging in conversations more, and LOVING ballet or "al-lay" as she calls it!