Appointment to see a new occupational therapist

Today I made an appointment to see a new occupational therapist next Tues.

She had given a talk at the Parent Support Group a few months ago, on handwriting skills. She seemed knowledgeable. After the talk (& even before the talk) I asked questions. She paid attention to what I had to say. We communicated easily.

She was such a contrast to the OT whom I took my son to last year.

Last year's OT was helpful to a certain extent. But I felt that she didn't really answer my questions nor took the effort to really understand my son's needs.

With all due respect, she has years of experience and is highly regarded. But, I found it hard to be part of a team with her, in helping my son.

After a few sessions, and realising I could do most of those activities with my son at home & that there's quite a lot of OT related resources on the net & also from another non-OT therapist, I stopped.

I felt it was the right time now to seek an assessment from this new OT.

My son would start attending nursery/kindergarten in January. That leaves me slightly under 3 months to work intensively with him on his fine motor.

I specifically want to target his self care skills and handwriting (or maybe pre-writing skills, in his case). It will definitely take more than 3 months to achieve those targets, but I must start now, especially when I know that it'll take a long time for him to achieve it, given his gross & fine motor impairment.

His speech therapist did say that this lady is good in the area of preparing kids for school. So if I consider school as in Primary 1 instead of kindergarten, then I have a 2-3 years timeframe.

I pray that God gives her wisdom & sensitivity in dealing with my son. I pray for God's guidance and help in the areas of self care & handwriting.

The emphasis on self care came about after Sunday's talk by a dedicated mother of a teenage special needs child, on "Preparing for School".

In terms of self care, I mean for e.g.:
- putting on his shoes & socks (he is now able to take off his shoes & socks),
- taking off & putting on his shirt, shorts & underwear,
- going to poo & pee in the toilet,
- opening & closing his tupperware & tumbler,
- taking out & putting back his things into his bag (e.g. books, pencil case, tumbler, tupperware)
- wiping his face after eating
- twisting on & off the tap (taps at home are the lift up type, not the twist type)
- squirting soap onto his hands to wash
- getting his hanky to dry his hands
- self feeding of solids and liquids (he can use a fork to stab at cut pieces of food & put it in his mouth. He can put a spoon that already contains food into his mouth. He can't shovel food onto his spoon yet. He can't yet estimate the amount of food or liquid to put into his mouth)

When I think of it, the list is endless! It's overwhelming too. So, I'll stop here & submit my plans to God. The load is too heavy for me to carry on my own.