DawnL

I posted this on another board. It's late, and I'm too tired to be original. LOL Tjhis is about Jeran.




My middle child is 5.5 year old ds, and he has a sensory processing disorder. he is a seeker, he has very poor impulse control, social boundaries are a bit of a blur to him, and he has no fear. (Are you scared yet?)

He has been "worse" than usual lately. Earlier in the week, he went out front to play, with my permission, with the neighbor. (we live on a quiet cul-de-sac) He knows the rules, but despite that, when the neighbor wasn't home, he took it upon himself to go to the skate park, by himself, without permission. This is 3 blocks away, and he had to cross the busiest street in our little town. I went out to check on him, within 15 minutes of him going out front, and he wasn't there. He came right back, though, as he ran up to me as I was going back into the house, to prepare to search.

As you can imagine, he was not allowed outside without an adult after this. On Friday, he went upstairs to the tv room by himself. This is allowed, and I allow him to watch Disney channel up there. I went to check on him within a few minutes, as I heard him in the bathroom. My "mommy sense" was tingling. He seemed fine. However, the doorbell rang. It was a grown up neighbor, telling me that she saw my son bust out the screen upstairs, and climb out onto the roof!! He climbed all the way near the gutter she said, and then went back inside. (Thank GOD she told me this!!)

My son was crying when I came back, because he knew he was caught. He told me that he was retrieving an action figure from the gutter.

Now, my son is in occupational therapy, once every other week. At our last visit, the OT started in on trying to tell me how to discipline my son. her suggestion was a timeout, and that he shouldn't have it in his room. Now, I know I am PMSing, but after stewing all day, I finally figured out why her suggestions made me so upset. Not only do I feel it to be insulting for her to tell me to put my child in timeout (like I'm some idiot who doesn't have basic parenting skills). but I also feel the most important part of taking him to OT in the first place is for her to help with a "sensory diet" type thing, and help us with a schedule of suggestions for him. (It doesn't help that the OT is younger than me, and I don't believe she has children yet. She is nice, though)

I am "getting it" at all angles, too. My mom, when we decided to homeschool Jeran, said "If you can't handle him now, how are you going to handle him all day for school?" gee, thanks mom. I can handle him just fine. I just need to get a good handle on a realistic, yet full, schedule for him.