It has been a long time since I have blogged and a lot has happened with our little Phoenix. What a lot of family and friends may not know is that Phoenix has had a hard time doing those normal 21 month old things such as pointing, clapping, talking, using utensils, imitating, etc. Because of this, we had an assessment done by the occupational therapist from the birth to three program on Aug 28th. After asking many questions and observing Phoenix, the occupational therapist came to the conclusion that he has a mild sensory-processing disorder.
On September 4th, a much anticipated visit with Children's Hospital's Dr. Bear came. We were there for 2 hours, which consisted of a lot of waiting and meeting with the physical therapist, occupational therapist, and speech therapist. After they evaluated and tested a very tired Phoenix in about 20 minutes, they concluded that Phoenix was at a 10-month level for expressing himself and a 16-month level of understanding. I know that the team of therapists are trained and have research to base their explanation, but somehow I feel they were off in their calculations, at least just a little.
The occupational therapist came to our home on Sept 9th where our 45 minute visit was spent observing how to "brush" Phoenix. Brushing??? What the heck is that you might ask yourself? Well, there is what looks like a surgical brush that is used, with firm pressure, on the arms, legs, and back along with joint compressions. Based on the theory of Sensory Integration, the brushing technique uses a specific method of stimulation to help the brain organize sensory information. Our skin is our largest sensory organ, followed closely by our muscles and skeleton, connected by our nervous system and governed by our brain. The sensory systems feed information from our environment, through sense receptors, and neural impulses via our nervous system, directly to the brain. The brain then organizes it, sends it back through the nervous system for use as understanding, adaptation, learning, and skill development.
After using the brush for a few days faithfully (3-6 times a day), Sunday Sept 13th came... It was filled with Phoenix talking! During the next week and a half, Phoenix is being more like a real boy, maybe not to the exact level of a 21 month old, but making great leaps toward understanding and expressing himself. He is making sounds back and forth to us, saying his N's, B's, M's and D's, babbling while he is reading his book (as though he is reading), clapping when asked, walking backwards, etc.
Is this a miracle brush? Did Phoenix just flip a switch in his brain that has put him on a path of development? Whatever it may be, we are so happy to have him progressing! We are having so much fun watching him discover new things and expressing himself during his daily activities. I am so thankful for my "little man." He has truly blessed our family and we are very thankful for the love that we are able to give him every day in the effort to help him be all that he can be!
