Roo's Big Sis had a relapse of her medical condition the last couple of weeks of the school year. It was probably triggered by a virus that led to her missing multiple school days, which led to extreme stress & anxiety over missing said school days, which ultimately led to the relapse. Her school was terrific and jumped right in with an accommodations plan. I had not asked for one previously because she was in remission all of 8th grade and most of 9th, but they offered and we took it, just to help her finish out the year. The acute pain cycle subsided fairly quickly once the pressure was off, but now I'm dealing with her reticence to follow through with a treatment plan. Her plan consists of 2 hours of intensive PT and 2 hours of OT each week, along with a visit to a clinical psychologist for cognitive behavioral therapy. Not exactly what she had in mind for enjoying summer break. She will get to see friends a bunch and we are still planning on going on vacation later in the summer, but it won't be as carefree and relaxing as she had hoped.
Roo had yoga camp last week and that was a wonderful experience. She also went to a dress up birthday party for a girl in her class. She does pretty well at parties for a while, but then she usually excuses herself and goes off to play in the girl's room, invited or not. When I got there to pick her up, Roo was in the girl's bedroom, playing on the floor with dolls with the little girl's Swedish grandmother. That was quite lovely, even if she was excluding herself from the party downstairs. I always have to remind myself to not over think what she is doing. She did enjoy seeing the girls from her class. She had a good lunch and some birthday cake, and she stayed with the group for most of the party. These are all pluses. If she needs to leave the pack for a bit, so be it. No harm done. This week brings a martial arts themed birthday party for a boy from her class. It will be interesting to see how she does in that environment. She loves being active even more than playing with dolls.
All in all this summer has been pretty good so far, even with all the added appointments for Big Sis. We've still had some nice experiences, some decent weather for our neck of the woods, and lots of down time. My goals for the summer are to downsize, downsize, downsize and finally get rid of piles and piles of stuff we no longer use, if we ever did; and to get the yard back to looking like someone actually lives in this house. Even if that's all I do, I'll feel I've accomplished something when I'm done. Time does fly, and I'm hoping to have something to show for it.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
The sadness of transitory relationships
Today was Roo's last day at the PSU speech clinic for this school year. The clinic offers speech sessions run by students in the graduate SLP program, with supervision by a graduate advisor (and the parent) in an observation room. We were on a wait list from last spring until this past January and then we were offered a spot. We jumped on that. The first term she had Karissa, a wonderful 20 something graduate student. She did a great job with Roo, even from the start, but Roo took a little while to warm up and start towing the line. By the end of that term Roo really loved Karissa and we were both sad to see the term end. I wondered what the new grad student would be like when we started the next term after spring break.
This term we had another lovely 20 something graduate student named Marjorie. The only thing I would say even remotely critical about Karissa is that she was at times not firm enough with Roo. I told Marjorie that when we talked before the term started, and she was on top of things from the get go. She wasn't too harsh with Roo, but she quickly got the upper hand, in a loving way. Both students were excellent in working with Roo, patient with her as necessary, and open to trying lots of different approaches while keeping the sessions fun. The added bonus this term was that there was a younger girl in the room next door having speech therapy with another grad student. After a few weeks, Marjorie and the other grad student decided to let Roo and the other girl play together with clinician led games at the end of each session. Now we are planning to get together with the other little girl and her family over the summer break. Not bad - social skills training while receiving speech therapy. I'm all about "multi-tasking."
I was sad to see this term end because we grew to love Marjorie just as we had Karissa. We will go back for the fall term and I'm anxious to meet who is placed with Roo then. So far so good though.
The other person I grew to like very much was the Clinic Director. She was the graduate advisor for the women who worked with Roo both terms. Every time we were there, she would come and sit with me in the observation room for 20-30 minutes at a time, and we soon started to chat about all sorts of things, mostly about Roo and aspects of her disability, but often about far-ranging topics as well. I really enjoyed talking with her and had hoped to strike up the conversation again next fall. Today she told me she is retiring next week after 21 years working at the clinic. I was sad to hear and told her I would miss her.
I always have a feeling of loss for a while when we are switching therapists, even if I know whom we will be seeing next. This idea of transitory relationships isn't an uncommon thread throughout our lives. We graduate from school, switch jobs, move out of state, etc., etc., and have to say goodbye to people we have grown fond of; but I have often felt an extra bond in relationships with Roo's therapists. These are people who have chosen to and have trained hard to work with kids like mine. These are almost always kind, welcoming and supportive people who totally have my child's best interest at heart. You don't become a PT, OT, SLP to pursue fame and fortune. You do it to make a difference in the lives of those who would have a much harder struggle without help. We have been truly blessed by the people who have come into our lives to help our dear Roo, and even though there is sadness when the relationship ends, it has always been worth it.
This term we had another lovely 20 something graduate student named Marjorie. The only thing I would say even remotely critical about Karissa is that she was at times not firm enough with Roo. I told Marjorie that when we talked before the term started, and she was on top of things from the get go. She wasn't too harsh with Roo, but she quickly got the upper hand, in a loving way. Both students were excellent in working with Roo, patient with her as necessary, and open to trying lots of different approaches while keeping the sessions fun. The added bonus this term was that there was a younger girl in the room next door having speech therapy with another grad student. After a few weeks, Marjorie and the other grad student decided to let Roo and the other girl play together with clinician led games at the end of each session. Now we are planning to get together with the other little girl and her family over the summer break. Not bad - social skills training while receiving speech therapy. I'm all about "multi-tasking."
I was sad to see this term end because we grew to love Marjorie just as we had Karissa. We will go back for the fall term and I'm anxious to meet who is placed with Roo then. So far so good though.
The other person I grew to like very much was the Clinic Director. She was the graduate advisor for the women who worked with Roo both terms. Every time we were there, she would come and sit with me in the observation room for 20-30 minutes at a time, and we soon started to chat about all sorts of things, mostly about Roo and aspects of her disability, but often about far-ranging topics as well. I really enjoyed talking with her and had hoped to strike up the conversation again next fall. Today she told me she is retiring next week after 21 years working at the clinic. I was sad to hear and told her I would miss her.
I always have a feeling of loss for a while when we are switching therapists, even if I know whom we will be seeing next. This idea of transitory relationships isn't an uncommon thread throughout our lives. We graduate from school, switch jobs, move out of state, etc., etc., and have to say goodbye to people we have grown fond of; but I have often felt an extra bond in relationships with Roo's therapists. These are people who have chosen to and have trained hard to work with kids like mine. These are almost always kind, welcoming and supportive people who totally have my child's best interest at heart. You don't become a PT, OT, SLP to pursue fame and fortune. You do it to make a difference in the lives of those who would have a much harder struggle without help. We have been truly blessed by the people who have come into our lives to help our dear Roo, and even though there is sadness when the relationship ends, it has always been worth it.
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