Hello all!
I have 20 month old BBG, and need some advice. We have had the triplets in one form of therapy or another since we brought them home from the NICU (thru ECI). The boys are now in Behavioral once a week, OT once a week, Developmental once a week, and Carson and Cami r in speech every other week (Cooper is on the wait list). Cami is progressing wonderfully and will most likely be discharged soon. The boys, on the other hand, are not. We are having them seen by a Developmental Pedi in Oct. (We are having exhibiting some early warning signs of autism, but have made some advances with the therapies).

The reason for this email is to ask any of you mothers that have/had
your kids in therapy ever had to deal with really 'defiant' children
and how did you deal with this? I am not sure if that is the right
word choice, so let me paint a picture for you. Cooper is very
strong willed. He is only content when he is able to do whatever he
wants with his day, and when it is time for therapy, he pitches a fit the entire session. The Devel, OT, and Behav therapists all have the same goal-to work on the boy's focus and attention spans (both are lacking). They work on shape sorting, puzzles, coloring, stacking, etc etc etc--and any time they bring out one of these 'task' oriented activities, Coop throws a complete temper tantrum. He, nor his brother, know how to 'functionally' play with very many toys--but when you try to show them, they whine/cry, and run off. This (this therapy approach) has been going on for a few months now-3x a week when they r here, and then also when we work with him on our own. It's like he completely shuts down. Have any one of you ever dealt with this and found a successful treatment for it? It is not working, and I do not know where to go from here. HELP!!!

Thank you!!!
Amber

I think it is kind of normal behavior for kids with sensory issues and/or strong-willed children.

Two of mine had speech and OT, and it was EXACTLY as you describe at first with one of them. He screeched, ran around the room, and generally did not pay attention most of the time. He has sensory integration issues and needs to touch/handle everything in his own space and his own way to get comfortable with it. This is directly opposed to a goal-driven therapy.

We started having our speech and OT come on the same days so they could work together. When he needed a break, the OT would work with the speech therapist to show her techniques for 5 minute "sensory breaks". This might be bouncing on a ball, squooshing him between pillows, dropping him on the couch (to get that jarring feeling in the joints, which I guess is an organizing/calming activity). This worked GREAT in getting him refocused and re-energized most days and then he could continue on with the speech therapy.

It also really helped him to have his OT session immediately BEFORE the speech session.

We started therapy around 21 months and the tantrums during speech for the first 2-3 sessions were really bad. If you think about it, she's bringing in a bag of new toys and telling them they can't play with any of it but one at a time and only the way SHE wants them to play. No 20-month old is going to love this, and if you add in developmental delays (Making them developmentally younger) AND speech delays (making communication hard) AND sensory issues (so they NEED to run around and crash and get physical), then goal-driven therapy is very difficult for the child to tolerate.

It does get better as the kids get older, I promise. Also, I found it was MUCH, MUCH better if I was in the next room during therapy and not in the room with him. He did much better in a QUIET room, with no parents/siblings, just him and the therapist.

And again, having the OT, who was very well-versed in sensory issues, there with the speech therapist was really invaluable as speech/developmental, etc don't really "get" sensory issues.

BBB born 7/26/04 at 35 weeks