Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Putting the Puzzle Together

Our super-intelligent, highly verbal, can-do-math-in-his-head child got kicked out of preschool a few weeks ago for "aggressive behavior." There were some other things going on with him as well so we got him evaluated by a pediatric neurobehaviorist and learned that he has the classic traits of something called Sensory Integration Disorder. His proprioceptive system is one of many that are affected. We've started doing occupational therapy and we've been told that the therapy will work wonders.

Here's a video of Alex when he was about 20 months old, showing classic signs of the disorder:




He is slamming into the wall and couch to help himself understand the space he takes up. It's hard to explain, but they seek sensory input to feel "normal." They'll also seek it in times of stress or anxiety. Read the link for more details - it's actually pretty interesting.

Like Alex, kids with this disorder are usually highly verbal and highly intelligent. He still says amazing things every day, but if I don't write them down, I don't remember them later when I want to post them here.

Ok here's one. He told me that if his head were made of cheese, he would eat it. I asked how, since his mouth is on head. He said he has a 2nd mouth, right under the first one, that he would use. I asked if he had extra ears too, and he said yes, he has 901 extra ears and he keeps them in his tummy. When he wants them, he pushes on his nose and they all shoot out his foot at once. Did I mention that he's very silly?

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