Ryan's Headstart Meeting

I have tried to decide whether to post this or not and have decided to do so in hopes of your comments, thoughts, prayers, and concerns. The meeting with the Headstart therapists went well. They felt like all areas of development that will effect his learning, although not perfect, are within a range that is progressing in the right way. His speech, fine and gross motor skills, although not as high as some his age, are still progressing and in the normal range, and also have improved significantly in the past year since he was last evaluated.

Another thing that was suggested that we investigate, by our pediatrician, was his significant issues with sensitivities concerning his head, neck and other parts of his body. He still to this day does not want anyone touching his head, whether it be washing, combing, playing, cutting, or whatever. He also has started having issues feeling like he is choking when anything touches, even lightly, his neck. So I discussed this with the therapists, and Paul, myself, and Ryan's teacher filled out a questionnaire about his behavior. The result of which found him to have some sensory integration concerns.

I looked online at information on "sensory integration" and found quite a bit. Concerns like Autism, Aspergers, etc... were mentioned but not a concern in Ryan's case. Sensory integration is something and many children with the mentioned disorders suffer with. Truly, a number of the characteristics of "sensory integration" do fit Ryan well. Here is a quote that I found that seems to make sense to me.

"Sensory integration dysfunction is a problem in processing sensations which causes difficulties in daily life."

The recommendation is that we take Ryan for further evaluation and maybe some occupational therapy to help him with coping skills early on--to avoid stresses later in his life. The idea is that if we can help get through some of these issues early on that they may not be such a concern to him later in life.

Although, of course I feel stressed a bit that something might be wrong, I overall feel relieved that we are moving forward and searching for answers and strategies to help make this issue better long term. When he is evaluated further it may be that they will feel that these issues are not significant enough for us to be concerned about, that will be great--but if not we will move forward and seek the therapy that is needed to support him in this challenge.

We all have our challenges in our lives, and we are all asked to rise to them and work through them. Ryan has amazing language capabilities and is also very much interested in the "whole" world around him. He is a wonderful, loving, compassionate, and gifted child, and I have no doubt that he will rise to the challenge of coping with any challenge that is presented to him.

I have talked about this on my blog some so I thought that I might should follow through and discuss the update. I will keep you updated. We will go on June 18th for further evaluations.