Week 2
THE CLINIC EXPERIENCE
The second week started of pretty much like the first, except there was little to no apprehension. We had a different trainer this week but I was looking forward to the appointment. Since O is timid of new people, I was invited into the session. Amanda had a vast array of activities for O to participate in. These activities are mostly centered on hand eye coordination and fixation. Fortunately they are also short in duration.
READING EYE Q
The first activity consisted of O looking at a screen. Amanda explained that the screen has a special sensor in which it utilizes biofeedback by detecting the movement of the eyes while the student is reading. The student is to quietly read a short story and then answer ten short questions pertaining to the plot of the story. These questions are then scored as a percentage to obtain a baseline of how efficiently the student can comprehend what they have read.
O struggled with this exercise. The results were immediate. In addition to the exact words O had read, a red squiggly line appeared on the screen marking the precise movement of O’s eyes while reading. The lines would jump from word to word, sometimes missing two or three words at a time. There was an instance where O completely missed an entire line of the story. She would fixate on one word then go to the third or fourth word prior then shift her eyes to the next line. Her eyes are all over the place like little plastic googly eyes used for crafting. O was having such a hard time, Amanda had to read the questions out loud for O to understand what was being asked. Even then she she mostly guessed. She honestly didn’t know the answers to these basic questions. Not surprisingly, her comprehension score was 40% but I am sure it would have been lower if she wasn't randomly guessing. The heart crushing reality is she really doesn't have any idea what she's reading.
ROSIE
Amanda introduced us to a new friend, whom O named “Rosie.” (sidenote, O names everything "Rosie" or "Lucy"). This particular Rosie is a purplish pink plastic monster that fits perfectly on a child-sized finger. Rosie is another tool used to evolve the game of steeple and keep the kids engaged in the activity so it doesn’t become monotonous. While the student has their fingers pointed in a steeple, Rosie goes along for the ride. Rosie also gives the child a sense of control as they are coordinating both hand and eye movements.
After putting Rosie in her new house (O’s pink eye kit that also contains her eye patch), Amanda brought out a balance board and showed O how to stand in the middle of the board to redistribute her weight to center the board in the middle. O tried to balance using very choppy and uncoordinated movements. O briefly managed to center the board in the middle so we both cheered her on to help gain confidence.
PALMS AND FINGERS
The final activity for the session involved a ball hanging from the ceiling from a string and was sized big enough for a child to grasp their hands around. This game is used mainly for fixation and tracking. The activity consisted of Amanda gently tapping the ball with alternate hands to O. O then had to mimic the motion by alternating with each hand while tapping the ball back to Amanda. When Amanda would randomly call out “palms” O would have to catch the ball in her palms of her hand then tap it back to Amanda. When Amanda would randomly call out “fingers” O would have to catch the ball with her fingertips and then tap it back to Amanda. At this point O had warmed up to Amanda and she was having fun. She started to casually chat while tapping the ball back and forth so she was forgetting to alternate her hands. With a little bit of reinforcement and praise, we got O back on track.
AND NOW WE PRACTICE AT HOME...
Home therapy was a lot like the first week with a couple of variations. We were instructed to continue playing snow angels and steeple for the next week. We would play steeple just like before except we were told to perform right eye-left eye-right eye to give that right eye a little more exercise. For the next week we would patch the left eye, then the right eye, and finally the left eye. Rosie was a nice addition to the game because O really doesn’t like the steeple game (and neither do I). Not only does she get to push the start/pause button on the phone timer, but she also gets to control Rosie. We were instructed to perform snow angels exactly like the week prior but when we call out multiple body parts O is supposed to move her extremities in unison without any forethought.
Andy has pretty much taken over home therapy because my late work schedule doesn’t correspond to optimal therapy practice. Practice should be completed as early as possible because once O becomes worn out from the day, her attention span is basically diminished. This results in a difficult practice session with an angry child (O) and frustrated parents (us). She seems to have incorporated therapy into her routine, sometimes practicing begrudgingly and other times excited to show off Rosie to her little brother.
I’m not sure if I have noticed this before but everywhere we go Olivia is trying to read everything. Whether it’s the white board at daycare announcing the weeks summer activities or words in a book detailing other title by the author she really wants to read. Although she is building more confidence with reading, she still hasn’t mastered the mechanics of reading. She is starting to be able to sound out letters with more skill but she continues to skip a large number of words. The fun thing to watch is when she sees a word and surprises herself. This is especially true when she realizes day care is planning banana split treats for the day.
On a side note, treats are becoming a regular occurrence after her therapy appointments. A week prior I mentioned to O’s best friend that I was taking O out for something special. Her friend asked me if I was going to take O out for a Slurpee. I replied by telling her that O has never had a Slurpee before and she looked at me with a look of shock on her face. She looked me square in the eye and said, “Slurpee’s are delicious, and I highly recommend them.”