Kai's Therapy

I forgot to mention everything we did in therapy yesterday! I've been so tired lately I've been a bit of a ditz. With Cruzito teething and Kai figuring out how to open his bedroom door I haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep.

Anyway, we had a great therapy session. We started with half hour in the sauna at 140 degrees. Marti took a little video of Kai before the sauna, and another one after the sauna and we both noted a huge difference not only in his jawline, but also in the way he walked (he has a wide gait).

She pulled out some cooking extracts - lemon and banana - and applied them to a mouth tool. We engaged him in things he liked (cars and trains) and then every few minutes touched the extract to his lips causing him to draw his lips in and also pucker. This was a great exercise for his mouth without actually invading his mouth space.

Marti also explained to me why it's very important we don't force anything with his mouth. It's a part of his body he is very, very sensitive about. He doesn't like me to brush his teeth or touch anything inside/near his mouth. About 3 times I week I force-brush his teeth, but all the other nights he gets to do it himself. She explained that this area is very sensitive for kids and is tied into the memory system heavily. She mentioned that often times when things are forced into the motor-system, children can develop eating disorders and other body disorder type issues. The mouth and nose are tied heavily into memory. She gave me the example of thinking of Christmas and instantly the memory is tied to the smells of Christmastime, not just the visuals. So I have to be very careful of how we approach Kai's mouth area.

We also put him on an exercise ball (which he didn't like at first) and Marti held him on the ball in front of a basketball hoop while I passed him balls to swish into the basket. As he was throwing the balls into the hoop, Marti was moving the ball to engage his trunk muscles to hold him upright. It was really, really good for him.