*highlight - classical music really is calming..use it and use it often!
Wednesday boy came out of sensory therapy wearing this huge contraption set of headphones on his ears and something resembling a back brace wrapped about his waist. It was very hard to keep myself from laughing! The therapist was walking behind him chuckling as he walked up to me and started talking extra loud (much louder than his normal level of loud).
Ms. Sue decided to start him with therapeutic listening to help with some of his anxiety and noise sensitivity issues. She was very impressed that he knew the music was Mozart before she even told him, which started a huge discussion (on his part) all about the wonders of the fabulous Baby Einstein...one of his huge previous addictions. I am surprised (and beyond thankful) that the therapeutic listening did not prompt a regression to the world of Baby Einstein...I'm not sure I could survive that!).
Ok so here is the info part - the therapeutic listening system teaches the body how to block out the noise that is disruptive. Has anyone ever said "Hey, do you hear that ringing sound?" and before they asked you didn't hear it, but after they asked you realize it was there the whole time? The fact that you did not hear it meant that your body, on its own, was blocking out the disruptive noise so you could continue doing whatever it was you were doing. Some children do not have the ability to do that. Therapeutic listening is supposed to teach their ear muscles to drown out that noise.
The headphones and CDs are what the program are composed of. We supply the portable CD player, which he can wear on himself so he can continue with his usual activities. The headphones are special in that they provide different frequency levels (high/low)in each headphone, sound comes in from different parts of the headphones and during the music it will change from normal to scratchy to staticy.
Last year I priced the therapeutic listening programs when we first really started seeing issues with noise. They were over $300. For this program through our sensory therapy we rent out the equipment for $10 for 2 weeks at a time. The $10 is refundable once the equipment is returned. Ms. Sue is going to get it ready for him to take home next week...I am super excited to start this and ESPECIALLY at the start of the year!!!
On another note, can I just express again how much we love our sensory therapist. Boy noticed a cheerios cookbook in her office and was so taken with it she let him borrow it for the week. We came across alot of really good sensory activities and have been working on them.
Sensory cheerio activities that are fun:
- String cheerios on pipe cleaner to make bracelets
- Make pipecleaner people and string cheerios on them
- Make a mask and glue cheerios to it -- make sure you use the palming technique where he picks up the cheerios with one hand (thumb and forefinger), palms them, then manipulates them out of his hand with his thumb and forefinger again to place them on the glue.
How Funny! Our therapist sent our daughter home with a CD and headphones for "Modulated music" sounds similar, though ours was Vivaldi. Please keep us updated on boys progress with the music, and hopefully it will be effective here as well!
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