It's Sensory Awareness Month! Today's Sensory Awareness Challege is actually....A Tale of Two Little Boys!
Once upon a time there were two little boys in Mrs. Blue's First Grade Class. These boys sat at different tables (Mrs. Blue had her desks grouped into tables of 5 or 6) and were both very bright little guys who might be well described as...exuberant.
At recess, these boys both played hard - climbing, jumping, running in circles...doing what little boys do. In line, both boys constantly had a very difficult time keeping their "bodies in check" and keeping their hands to themselves (then again, most first graders do, right?). During class? well, that's another story!
Mrs. Blue was at the end of her very patient, always wanted to be a teacher, rope! These two little boys wiggled, and fidgeted and jabbered, and got up, walked around, distracted their peers....and she was constantly having to repeat, "sit down, concentrate, keep your hands to your self, stop fiddling...stop fidgeting...stop stop stop" (although I was told in a fabulous parenting class that kids do not hear the words "don't, stop, and no"..."stop running in Wal-Mart" is pretty much permission to run your little tails off versus, "walking feet"). In short, these two boys had respectively become "that kid".
During parent/teacher conferences, Mrs. Blue was told by both sets of parents their boys were going to go on medication for their "impulsiveness" (such a politically correct word for...my kid is out of control and I don't know what else to do...I can joke about this as my kid is on meds for "impulsiveness"). Mrs. Blue was thrilled and could not WAIT to see how the two little guys responded.
Within a week, one of the boys became a completely different student! He sat at his desk, he completed his work neatly and completely. He stayed on task. He kept his hands to himself...quite amazing, really. The medication allowed him to simply be a better participant in his own life.
The other little guy? Not so much. No change. Nothing...nada! The parents switched to another brand of medication...nothing, nada. Then...on a fluky whim, a friend of his mom saw a FB post on “this sensory stuff”. Thinking that an awful lot of these things sounded pretty spot on for this little guy, she did a cut and paste of the post and emailed it over to the little guy’s mom. Mom immediately jumped on this and started doing some digging about various sensory processing challenges – at her wit’s end, she was open to ANYTHING!
After some reading and researching, she sat down with her little guy and started asking him some questions about what was going on with him in class. During the conversation, things that never would have occurred to her as problems started to come up. Here’s what she found out:
1. There’s a weird bump on his chair and it feels like it’s poking him all day long, so he can’t sit still.
Once upon a time there were two little boys in Mrs. Blue's First Grade Class. These boys sat at different tables (Mrs. Blue had her desks grouped into tables of 5 or 6) and were both very bright little guys who might be well described as...exuberant.
At recess, these boys both played hard - climbing, jumping, running in circles...doing what little boys do. In line, both boys constantly had a very difficult time keeping their "bodies in check" and keeping their hands to themselves (then again, most first graders do, right?). During class? well, that's another story!
Mrs. Blue was at the end of her very patient, always wanted to be a teacher, rope! These two little boys wiggled, and fidgeted and jabbered, and got up, walked around, distracted their peers....and she was constantly having to repeat, "sit down, concentrate, keep your hands to your self, stop fiddling...stop fidgeting...stop stop stop" (although I was told in a fabulous parenting class that kids do not hear the words "don't, stop, and no"..."stop running in Wal-Mart" is pretty much permission to run your little tails off versus, "walking feet"). In short, these two boys had respectively become "that kid".
During parent/teacher conferences, Mrs. Blue was told by both sets of parents their boys were going to go on medication for their "impulsiveness" (such a politically correct word for...my kid is out of control and I don't know what else to do...I can joke about this as my kid is on meds for "impulsiveness"). Mrs. Blue was thrilled and could not WAIT to see how the two little guys responded.
Within a week, one of the boys became a completely different student! He sat at his desk, he completed his work neatly and completely. He stayed on task. He kept his hands to himself...quite amazing, really. The medication allowed him to simply be a better participant in his own life.
The other little guy? Not so much. No change. Nothing...nada! The parents switched to another brand of medication...nothing, nada. Then...on a fluky whim, a friend of his mom saw a FB post on “this sensory stuff”. Thinking that an awful lot of these things sounded pretty spot on for this little guy, she did a cut and paste of the post and emailed it over to the little guy’s mom. Mom immediately jumped on this and started doing some digging about various sensory processing challenges – at her wit’s end, she was open to ANYTHING!
After some reading and researching, she sat down with her little guy and started asking him some questions about what was going on with him in class. During the conversation, things that never would have occurred to her as problems started to come up. Here’s what she found out:
1. There’s a weird bump on his chair and it feels like it’s poking him all day long, so he can’t sit still.
2. There’s a chip in the linoleum under his desk and his toe keeps getting “stuck” in it.
3. His desk does not line up with the rest of the desks in his group.
4. He has a very hard time writing with the yellow pencils that have “flat strips” instead of the round ones they used in kindergarten.
5. The girl next to him fiddles with the zipper on her sweater all day long and he can hear it.
6. His desk is close to the door and he can hear the other kids going up and down the hall all day long and it’s hard to concentrate every time the door opens and closes.
7. The shoes he got for the beginning of school make his feet feel like they are being squished and he really hates wearing jeans because the waistband rubs funny on his tummy.
8. The noise in the cafeteria makes him feel like his head is going to explode – he liked kindergarten so much better because he got to come home and eat lunch.
9. The big kids on the bus make so much noise that by the time he gets to school, he has a tummy ache and feels like he is shaking all over.
Armed with this information, Mom met with an occupational therapist and together, they built a “Sensory Diet” for her little guy. In addition to a variety of sensory activities and strategies to do at home to help our young friend get “neurologically organized”, the OT suggested some easy changes to implement in class: new chair, different desk location, round pencils, wearing sweatpants, sitting at a table closer to the edge of the cafeteria instead of right in the middle, sitting at the front of the bus…easy stuff…HUGE difference.
Within a couple weeks, Mrs. Blue could not believe the difference in the little guy. He arrived at school with a much calmer demeanor, he completed his work, he engaged with his peers and STAYED IN HIS SEAT! The rest of the year was successful for both boys, Mrs. Blue and the class at large. All said…it’s first grade, nothing is perfect, but what a difference!
The moral of the story? Not all “impulsive” little boys (and girls) have ADHD/ADD. When meds do not work, the problem may well be something that can be helped by popping a pill. Sensory Processing Disorders/Dysfunctions are real! The brain does not or cannot organize information properly and the cacophony of input creates “noise” that cannot simply be tuned out. The information needs to be redirected and “organized” in a way that helps the brain process the information in a way that makes sense.
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