Update

One week ago this time, I was at the OT office with B for his evaluation. After a day or two to get used to the idea, I was a lot better with it. It was just hard to get used to the idea that maybe he wasn’t a typical 3 year old boy and had ‘something’ going on that needed to be addressed. But, if that was going to be the case, at least he’s 3 and we’re getting into it now. I had a great visit with his pediatrician who was totally on board with going for the evaluation. He also commented that B is a really smart kid (proud mama moment!) and that when you combine that with being an only/oldest child in the home, it isn’t unusual for that to result in some anxiety issues because he wants full control and understanding of his environment.

Filling out all the paperwork for the evaluation was an experience. I found myself checking a lot of boxes and wondering “hmm … maybe there is something bigger going on here.” I actually started to look forward to the appointment.

His therapist was super nice and B seemed to warm up to her right away. She explained that lot of their work is based on reflexes. We talked a bit about B and she tried to evaluation some of his reflexes to see if they were active (present) or integrated (in the background). She wasn’t able to do a ton of work with him, but he’s got a fair number of infant primary motor reflexes that were still present. It appears that they either didn’t integrate when they should have, or they have reemerged. One of these reflexes is in his feet. She said that some of what will present was wiggly, not wanting to stand still, etc.. to most people, with him is actually that standing is ‘activating’ that reflex and it’s really uncomfortable for him. Hence why he’ll toe walk sometimes. He’ll also use his intelligence to compensate for and work through things because he understand the end result. He also seems to have some auditory/sensory things going on, which explains quite a few things.

She wants to go and observe him in the classroom so that she can see what’s ‘triggering’ his reactions to things there so she can incorporate that in his treatment plan. Hopefully she can get over there early this week. Tomorrow I go and meet with his teacher, and Thursday is the second part of the evaluation. The real work will begin next week. I think it’s going to be hard work for all of us, but it will be well worth it.