Therapy, therapy, and more therapy

It's been a while since I've mentioned Gavin's physical therapy and his tip toe walking, but after months of PT and evaluation, we're finally connecting the dots on some of his behaviours. The PT didn't seem to help with the tip toe walking and as we noticed that Gavin's gross and fine motor skills seemed delayed (he couldn't dress himself, draw, or cut with scissors) and that he has trouble "connecting" with other kids, we decided to have him evaluated by a pediatric neurosurgeon. Her recommendation was to start him in occupational therapy for sensory integration issues.

And so we recently began the journey of additional therapy for Gavs. He is going to OT twice weekly and I can say that after six weeks or so that it is beginning to make a difference. We also work with him at home each day to keep him on a sensory diet, and this is also helping. It's been a rough few weeks, though. We've had--and still have--many questions about where this is all going. Do we need to change schools so he gets daily therapy next year? How can we best help him? How do we handle the frequent temper tantrums? How can we distinguish between typical four-year-old behavior and sensory issues? This has all felt overwhelming to me lately.

This past Tuesday morning I was at my breaking point after Gavin has a meltdown when I tried to put a shirt on him for school. A big meltdown, complete with yelling and hitting and scratching me. I found myself near tears most of the morning, asking God to change something, to provide some encouragement to our family and to make things better. He poured out encouragement the very same day in the form of friends visiting from out-of-town. These friends have been going through the exact same situation with their young son, and the details they shared with us are so similar to our situation with Gavin, that we were amazed. We walked away from our dinner with them feeling so very encouraged. The next steps don't seem as daunting today.

And speaking of next steps, Gavin will be joining a supervised play group at his OT's office next week and we are super excited about it! The group will consist of three little boys and they will learn, well, how to play!