The daycare Frank attends provides lunch each day as part of tuition, something we have seldom taken advantage of because of Frank's SPD. Now, however, he eats chicken fingers, and I am determined he will eat the pizza. (He eats pizza bagel here at home.) So, today was pizza day at daycare, and on my lunch period, which blessedly coincides with his, I went over to daycare to put a small piece of pizza in his mouth.
It went better than I expected- he didn't scream bloody murder. He did cry a lot, though, and mash his lips together. I had him touch the piece, then I touched the piece to his lips, and then I got it in his mouth. He held it there, with his mouth gaping open, as he does whenever he has something new- to have it touch as little of his mouth cavity as possible, I think. I let him keep it there for about 30 seconds, and then, time being what it was, I okayed him spitting it out into a napkin. (Usually, we tell him the new food has to stay in his mouth until he chews and swallows it- normally, that takes about 15-20 minutes, involves much drooling, and he cries throughout, and I didn't feel like dealing with that in the limited time I had before my next class.
I told Darrel about it this evening, and we've decided to get more aggressive with food. Much of SPD, his OT told me, can become behavioral rather than actual physical sensation- he's sure it'll be horrible, and it therefore is. He eats pizza bagel here at home, he eats fish sticks here at home, he eats chicken nuggets here at home. Well, he now eats chicken fingers almost anywhere we go out to eat, which is nice, but I want to expand his dining out palate now.
We are still spinning our wheels with toileting- no further successes since that one time. *sigh*
Moving back
14 years ago
4 comments:
Have you tried those Peter Potty urinal thingies? My son refused to be potty trained until we got him one of those like the big boys. I think he preferred to 'stand and shoot' and the little flusher was an added bonus.
No, I've not seen them- is that the thing that is like a mini urinal? Frank does love to flush, so that might be an incentive.
I approve of being more assertive in expanding Frank's palate -- it makes sense that it gets to me as much behavioral/psychological as anything else. Even though my supersharp hearing had receded to normal by the time I was five, I still wouldn't talk in school until my kindergarten teacher finally forced me to. Now no one can shut me up! ;-D
Big, I've thought about what you've told me about your hearing, and wondered if you would have been diagnosed with SPD, had it been a recognized disorder at that time. It certainly would have qualified- from what you've told me, it did interfere with your quality of life to a degree.
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