Friday, December 24, 2010

Therapeutic Listening

If I wasn't convinced that TL was working before, I sure am now.  With the Christmas approaching, I've been packing orders for my Etsy shop or writing and I've been in a serious time crunch.  Unfortunately, I haven't been as consistent as I should be with the headphones.  I don't know why I let myself lapse; I know how much it helps him.  I knew that skipping headphone would mean a bad day the next day.  By nighttime, I'm just too tired to fight with him to do the headphones.

Yes, it's a struggle to get him to do the headphones.  It's even worse after a few days off.  When he hasn't worn them for a few days they are scratchy and hurt him because he is more sensitive to the feeling of the ear pieces.  He also just doesn't have the patience to sit and listen to them.

We play games and do puzzles for headphones time.  It's special mommy and Caleb time and that makes him a lot more willing to sit with me.  I think he knows now that the headphones help him feel better.   He's almost five now, so he can recognize that he feels better after headphones and brushing.  He doesn't know why, of course, and he can't yet tell me when he is out of sync.  That's a big goal for us in the next year for him to recognize when he needs something to help him regulate.

Tomorrow, we do headphones.  Yes, it's Christmas Eve, but he needs to get back in sync.

2 comments:

  1. Oh I've been there! Our 6yr old HATED the headphones and it turned into a daily battle. It was exhausting. Then we got to the point where even the OT didn't know what music to try with him. We finally gave up. The psychiatrist who's doing med consults for us now tsk'd and shook her head and said "SO many parents tell me their kids got worse w/ Listening Therapy, because the OT's start it too soon." Maybe we'll try it again at some point. Anyway, I KNOW how hard it is to try to help them when they fight it :(

    Good luck getting the routine back in swing! I hope it helps center your little guy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We struggled with the headphones as well, but we did see a difference because of them. However, my auditory-sensitive son complained that the music was "hurting" his ears.

    ReplyDelete